No More Bad Dogs - Bark Busters Home Dog Training

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● MIDWEEK No More Bad Dogs ● Classified Ads
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r Feature Story Scott Argus and Bark Buster techniques can change the ● Coupons
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r Coverstory Wednesday - April 11, 2007 Advertising information
r Feature Story By Kerry Miller
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● BUSINESS
r Round Table | RSS | Del.icio.us
r Entrepreneurs
r Movers Scott Argus gives Rufy hand signals Visitors to Scott Argus’ home in Kaimuki are
promptly greeted by his four-member dog-
● COMMUNITY Busters Home Dog Training. squad. There’s Rufy, the big giant teddy bear;
r Central Chili, the pup of a Queensland healer and
r East Catahoula McNab/border collie mix; Chico, an
r West Australian blue healer, and little Lucky, a fox
r Windward terrier and Chihuahua mix.

● EDITOR'S DESK “This is a big dog house,” laughs Argus. “The
r Column dogs just let us live here.”
r Letters
r Specials This well-behaved crew of canines can
attribute their good manners to Argus’ dog
● ENTERTAINMENT training methods, afterall, their master is also
the owner of the local franchise of Bark
r Spotted
r Uncle Tom's Gabbin' Argus openly admits he’s “not a business man” by nature, but when it comes to
r Xposure running Bark Busters, everything has just come naturally. The longtime dog
lover migrated to Oahu from California in 2000 when he decided to leave behind
● EXPERT ADVICE his career as a biomedical engineer to “be my own boss.” After that, Bark
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No More Bad Dogs | MidWeek Feature | Midweek.com

r To Your Health Busters Hawaii was born. Roy Yahya and Janelle Fujii
r Vino Sense As for his “helpers,” Argus is the fourth
owner of Rufy, whose full name is Canis were spotted at the Dave
● LIFESTYLE Rufus Giganticus (Latin for “big red dog"), & Busters
r Applause once a three-time turn-in at a California
r Click Chick Humane Society. Because the Alaskan View more photos >>
r Good Neighbors Malamute and Great
r Guest Column Dane mix had been adopted and taken
r Hot Shots back so many times, Argus was not allowed
r Moonlighting to bring Rufy back to the Humane Society,
r MWRides and luckily, he doesn’t want to.
r Old Friends “He’s the Bark Buster demo dog,” says
r Pa'ina Rufy’s proud dad. “He’s an example of what Jodi Erickson and yawning Lucky
r Susan's Page you can do.”
r The Young View
r What's Next Besides Rufy, Argus also brought Chili, short for City of Chili Cothe, with him
when he made the move to Hawaii. While here, he got Chico from a customer in
● MOVIES exchange for training the dog’s mother. Lucky and Chico belong to Argus’
r Hot Ticket assistant, Jodi Erickson, a senior at UH-Manoa, who’s been working with him
r Show Times for the last six months. Erickson aspires to become a dog trainer and is
r Reviews currently majoring in Resource Management.
Bark Busters training methods help dogs who are nuisance barkers, have
● MUSIC aggressive behavior, pull on their leash, toilet in the house, have separation
r Music Montage anxiety or other deviant behaviors. The training is also ideal for puppies
r The Lowdown because the methods accelerate their learning curve in the first four to six
months of life.
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Del.icio.us Argus travels to a person’s home
for a one-time three hour visit. If a
customer has been referred to Bark

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No More Bad Dogs | MidWeek Feature | Midweek.com

Busters by their veterinarian,
chances are they’ve already filled
out a prepared quiz inside the
company’s brochure - to give Argus
an idea of what their dog needs
help with. He then makes a
presentation on the Bark Busters
system and later works one-on-one
with the dog(s) using techniques

with voice tones and body language.

“I teach the owner a whole bunch of techniques on how to work with their dog.
At the end of the session, I give them a homework package,” he explains.

ATfhteerauhtihsorvmiseite,tsARrugfuys emphasizes the importance of the dog owner following the
homework package, which involves working with their dog for 10 to 15 minutes
two times a day, for five to eight weeks.

“From then,” says the Ohio native, “the dog will recognize the owner as the
‘leader of the pack.’ It’s basically a new way of dog training.”

The leader of the pack reference comes from studies done by Bark Busters
founders Sylvia and Danny Wilson. In 1989, the Australian couple learned there
was a poor adoption to euthanasia ratio, that too many animals were being put
down at Australian Humane Society branches. No one wanted to adopt dogs
because their behavior was out of control, Argus explains.

The Wilsons studied wild dogs and learned that packs of dogs behave
according to their leader, the alpha male. Going with the idea that dogs are pack
animals with an instinctual way of communicating, the Wilsons’ method of
training is to teach through the use of voice tones and body language.

“The techniques are
natural,” says Argus.
“People see huge
changes in their dogs
while I’m there the first
day.”

Out of the many

customers he’s taken

care of - currently about

200 - Argus recalls a Tone of voice, hand gestures and body language say it all to
couple of instances that dogs

were a bit different from the rest.

A woman had a dog that bit someone, and the person filed a lawsuit. Argus was
able to help her out by going to court appearances with her, to show she was

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No More Bad Dogs | MidWeek Feature | Midweek.com

making an attempt to work with her dog. His advice to others who think they
could be in this situation: “Don’t wait until it becomes a catastrophe.”

Through their vet, Argus became acquainted with an elderly couple whose
Italian mastiff had bitten another dog, badly injuring it. The couple contemplated
giving the dog away, but were worried it would wind up in the wrong hands.
Their vet suggested that because Mikey was only 2 years old, they should call
Argus. Scott then worked with dog for three weeks and saw good results.

“He now lives in a big home in Hawaii Kai,” he says. “He’s a really happy
ending.”

To contact Argus, call 734-3440 or check out www.barkbusters.com

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