About Jack
About Jack
Ziggy’s TLC was born out of Ziggy’s love for me and our experiences together with traditional dog training. This is my story…
Ziggy acquired me when I was just a cute 8 week old puppy. At first, things were really great, but before long Ziggy came to find me a rather testy and challenging puppy. I was just really a dog that knew what he wanted!
I went to a traditional training school that used the correctional training methods of check chains (well, to me it was a “chocker” chain!) and this was when the real problems began. During the training I just became more unwilling and uncooperative – what did she expect? I was being told to do things that I had no idea how to do and I would get a correction for not obliging! The more corrections Ziggy gave me, the unhappier I became until I finally had to resort to aggression. Well, that got her attention and then she heard me loud and clear!
You see, dogs communicate through body language and we are always giving signals about how we are feeling. The problem is that humans are not aware of our language, and although so many people do not take the time to learn it, they still expect us to understand.
To cut a very long story short, by the time I was 2 years of age I had many a yanking on the good old chocker chain, been tethered down for 20 minutes with a tent peg in a hole that I had previously dug, and yes - can you believe it, I had an anti-correction static collar used on me. The collar was used to stop me from stealing things I should not have taken, but if only Ziggy had known then that a simple “leave it” would have been much easier and nicer! I must say though that Ziggy was not the one that pressed the button on the collar each time… it was her partner at the time who had to do it because she did not actually have it in her to do such a thing to me.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I had a bone which I really wanted and I was not prepared to give it up. Ziggy was told by her so-called dog trainer at the time to put the chocker chain on and keep correcting me until I gave it up. Well, she did this but the only result was that I was hanging by the check chain and my back legs were off the ground! The trainer had told Ziggy that this technique would make me give up the bone. Well I didn’t because I really wanted the bone and I just didn’t understand what the check chain was meant to be telling me! Thank heavens Ziggy only persisted with this for a few seconds, otherwise I may not be here to tell this story.
After that day Ziggy threw away the chocker chain and cried for 3 whole days in despair and guilt. Ziggy and I left that training school and Ziggy started to research other methods of dog training. She then enrolled in a course at TAFE where she met her teacher and mentor (and my saviour) Gaille Perry, an animal behaviourist.
The journey to a happier and healthier Ziggy and Jack had begun! Ziggy and I started off on a clean slate and before long she was speaking my language and our bonding began. I learnt to trust her and the communication between us became so clear. Ziggy and I soon became inseparable and Ziggy wanted to teach other people how to achieve a happy and healthy relationship between dogs and humans.
I am now twelve years old and throughout my life I have helped Ziggy to nurture the Ziggy’s TLC business. I provide constant guidance, friendship and inspiration (that’s what Ziggy tells me anyway!). By being regularly involved in Ziggy’s training sessions, I have developed extended friendships across her many clients and their dogs.
A grand old gentleman now, I represent the loving passion, integrity and understanding that is Ziggy's TLC.
