Romeo...

Romeo….
By Robert Forto, PhD


For those of you in Denver, Colorado you probably have heard of Romeo’s story. He was the dog that was found standing stoically over his canine companions dying body on Chambers Road last fall. He was given the name by the local media and the story became a firestorm.
Romeo’s owners did not come forward and he was taken to Maxfund Animal Shelter and put up for adoption. He stayed there for a couple of months and many people came by to look at him. He was not adopted for one reason or another.
A story ran in the Rocky Mountain News by reporter Bill Johnson and it caught the eye of Dr. Robert Forto’s P.R. guy, Steve Caulk of ProConnect Public Relations. Steve spoke to him and then to Mr. Johnson and an idea was born: Denver Dog Works, owned and operated by Dr. Robert Forto, would offer training for Romeo with hopes of producing a good story and providing a second chance for Romeo to find a good home.
Surely all of you had to read Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet when you were in high school and you know that the story is labeled a tragedy. In the story Romeo falls in love with a young maiden named Juliet and they stay together until the end. Well the story of Romeo the dog does not end tragically. He is actually doing well and remains a work in progress with his new owners in Thornton, Colorado and I am here to tell you how Denver Dog Works got involved with Romeo and how he has changed my training school forever.
It was late January and Romeo was adopted by a single mother, Kim, and her adult son, Chris, from the Maxfund Animal Shelter in Denver. Denver Dog Works, offered a 30-day board and train program to whomever adopted him at no cost. Dr. Forto did an initial evaluation only four days after the new owners brought Romeo home so they didn’t know much about him. The first alarm however was in the brief time that he was with Kim and Chris he had bitten two people, her dad and her brother. We had our work cut out for us.
During Romeo’s training we put him through the rigorous paces of learning basic obedience and working on the behavior problems that we observed. It was rough going at first. It was an entirely different world for Romeo than his previous life on the streets. He was going to be with us for a month. Our goal was to prepare him to pass the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen Test. The CGC test is a ten obstacle test to assess a dog and his owner’s ability to work together in the home and in public. This would be no small task for a street-wise, Chow-mix like Romeo. We, at Denver Dog Works thrive on a challenge and we set out to have Romeo pass the test.
The days and weeks passed and Romeo took to training very well. As his send-home day drew closer we could sense the anxiety and elation of Kim and her family having Romeo to finally become a part of the family. We did our part at Denver Dog Works, now it was our job to pass along the leadership skills and training methods to Romeo’s new owners.
On the send-home class we taught Kim and Chris the in’s and out’s of obedience and how to work Romeo though a basic 15-minute routine. We taught them how to deal with behavior problems such as jumping and barking and digging. Then we taught them about canine hierarchies and leadership. We taught them about the Pack Leader Bill of Rights and how to handle Romeo in a calm assertive manner. We stressed the importance of exercise, discipline and affection—in that order—and how to assert that it was Kim’s house not Romeos and he had to abide by her rules. We gave them a list of commands, a list of practical rules and an appointment for the next follow-up class a week later.
During the week back home, Romeo went back into his own ways and bit one of Chris’ friends and then Kim when she tried to correct him. It looked like we would have to put the Canine Good Citizen Test on hold. When Kim, Romeo and Chris arrived at their next class we worked on Romeo’s aggressive and dominant tendencies and Dr. Forto was almost bit three times by him in the hour class. The next plan of action was for Dr. Forto to conduct an in-home class for Romeo and deal with his issues there. That class went remarkably well. We scheduled the next follow up class a few weeks out and that is where we sit today. We still have our goal of having a Canine Good Citizen Test in the coming weeks and we hope that he will pass.
Dog’s can teach us a lot about life and about the bond that we have built with dogs over the past thirty thousand years. With a lot of hard work and determination things can be accomplished. Dogs do not judge but they do accept. Romeo grew up on the streets and turning a street thug into an angel does not happen overnight. Romeo is a work in progress. The Romeo affair, as it has come to be known, has brought Denver Dog Works nationwide acclaim and many new customers since reading about us on the Internet and in the newspapers. We have a promise that we will uphold our commitments to training and Romeo and his new family will persevere. It is just a matter of time.
If we have it our way Romeo’s story will not end in tragedy like the Shakespeare story. We at Denver Dog Works are committed to our customers through the end. We are not a training school that graduates every student in eight weeks whether they do well or not. We do not just train dogs we change lives.
Dr. Robert Forto is the owner and training director of Denver Dog Works and he specializes in canine aggression. His training of aggressive dogs has brought him national acclaim and his articles are frequently published in national publications. He writes a weekly blog, The Gangline, and it is posted on the Internet every Thursday. If you would like to speak with Dr. Forto he can be reached through his website at www.denverdogworks.com or by phone at 303-752-2810.