MARION COUNTY, Fla. – A program designed to help adopted dog parents keep their pets in their forever homes is getting results in Marion County.
Employees of the Marion County Humane Society noticed adoptive dog parents were returning their dogs.
"The biggest thing that we kept getting didn't have the time or didn't adjust well," dog trainer Stephanie Roberts told News 6.
The group decided to create a six-week training class called "Stand by Me." The class is offered in a seven-week cycle.
The goal is to help both dogs and their owners. The first step is for the owner to meet their dog at their current skill level and get rid of any preconceived notions.
"You actually have to teach them their name. It's not something that they were born with. You have to teach them what come means," Robert said.
Each week, they are taught new skills and owners see a steady improvement as the week's progress.
In this class News 6 attended, they're learning sit, stay and stand.
Owner Carol McCurdy wanted to teach her pup Sadie to stop jumping up and to keep her from running out the door. McCurdy said she now sees a difference after a few weeks.
"This is amazing today. She has even completed the tricks that they are showing us, after a few times. It's been an amazing time watching her grow," McCurdy said.
The dogs not only go through obedience training. Owners also learn how to read their dog's body language.
"Initially, it's about building a relationship," Roberts said. "A lot of the people that are bringing these dogs here rescued them, and they didn't have a puppy that they got at eight weeks, and bonded with them automatically to the family. That is why some of the behavioral issues that exist and what the body language of the dog is telling them."
While the owners are learning body cues, the dogs are learning proper leash behavior.
"The goal with them is to get them to pay attention to their handler and not other dogs. So in my class you are not going to see other dogs playing with each other," Robert said. "There is two ways to socialize a dog. One is make friends and the other is you are on a leash and the No. 1 person to pay attention to is the person holding the leash."
Roberts has seen the program's successes firsthand, especially for one family, who was in the program's first graduating class. They were on the verge of returning their dog, Willow.
"We were in desperate need of it. She was really unfriendly to strangers," dog owner Ayana told News 6.
Willow's unfriendly nature prevented the family from having visitors and they weren't sure if the program would even work. But each week, the family saw progress.
"From the first class, I was like I didn't think she was trainable. And by the middle of the class, she was actually just laying down and being relaxed around other dogs. So, that was the biggest improvement that I saw," Ayana said.
Roberts said small improvements are something to be celebrated.
"Sometimes you have to mark those little successes that snowball to bigger ones," Roberts said.
For more information on the Stand By Me program, visit http://www.thehsmc.org/register-for-group-dog-training-classes/