Out Loud

Bad Dog to Best Friend

Bad Dog to Best Friend: The Book

The Transformation of Dakota

From bad dog to best friend, Dakota’s story is a must for anyone with a problem dog. From pottying all over the house, chewing and destruction, Dakota was transformed into a dog who could actually be trusted with full run of the house all day.

She came to us as a used dog, abandoned by owners who couldn’t handle her. When we first adopted Dakota from the dog pound she couldn’t be left alone for one single minute. One year later we were able to take her on a road trip and she was a model citizen. Dakota now brings us joy and laughter instead of “Don’t Kill the Dog” sticky notes. Every technique we used, both the successes and the failures, we offer in the hopes of helping other dog owners.

Don’t give up on your dog and abandon him to a shelter. You have the power to save your dog from a life of revolving doors and people who don’t want him. Locked inside of every bad dog is a good dog who just needs a bit of encouragement to come out. Transform your problem dog into Man’s Best Friend as he was meant to be. Bad Dog to Best Friend will help you learn the ropes.

Bad Dog to Best Friend is full of dog training tips and advice and gives step-by-step methods for potty training your dog, weaning your dog from a crate, teaching your dog not to chew, and you’ll get the inside scoop on why your dog doesn’t listen to you. Learn about the Boss Dog syndrome and common mistakes dog owners make. All it takes to have a good dog is to be a good teacher.

For those of you with Australian Cattle Dog/Siberian Husky mixes, there’s a whole chapter devoted just to the Ausky breed. If you own an Ausky you’re in for a wild ride. Learn what to expect from your Ausky and how to handle the quirks of this unusual breed.

Bad Dog to Best Friend: $14.95 paperback book

Bad Dog to Best Friend: $4.99 Kindle book

Bad Dog to Best Friend: About the Author

Like so many dog owners, we adopted a dog expecting fun and games but what we got was a dog who turned our world upside down with bad behavior, dirty tricks, frustration and destruction.

Adopting Dakota was like adopting a street-wise teenager who’d bounced from foster home to foster home leaving mayhem in her path. She was ready for us but we weren’t ready for her.

I don’t know why we chose to commit ourselves to transforming this dog. We aren’t professional dog trainers and we had no experience in dealing with such a problem dog, but we learned.

We shared our trials and tribulations via several internet articles, offering detailed instructions on how we potty trained Dakota, kept her from chewing our home to pieces, and how we finally succeeded in transforming her into a dog who could stay home alone for many hours with our full trust.

So many people left feedback telling us how helpful our articles were that we decided to compile the articles into this book, adding many chapters that we hadn’t before shared. We did not set out to write a book; we simply adopted a used dog, one who needed fixing, and soon after Dakota’s story found its way into words.

Bad Dog to Best Friend: $14.95 paperback book

Bad Dog to Best Friend: $4.99 Kindle book