Jamie Garnica: Northeast Ohio's Dog Guru! By Mary Palmieri

Jaime Garnica is a leader who brings his talents and warm personality to his job. He stresses good leadership and respect, as well as an understanding of body language and pack mentality. Yes, pack mentality. Although a significant portion of Jaime's job involves humans, the primary subjects of his passion are dogs. Jaime trains canines – and their owners – through his franchise business, Bark Busters.

During his long and successful career as an engineer and business manager, Jaime grew tired of the stress and pace of traveling the globe on business. Ready for a new challenge, he reflected on the question, “What do I truly enjoy?” and found himself responding, “I love dogs!” Upon investigating the field of dog-training, he came upon Bark Busters, a dog-training franchise that began in Australia in 1989 and now has become a global presence in eight countries. Jaime was drawn to the Bark Busters approach. It is adamantly opposed to aggressively punishing a dog, depending instead on a blend of calm assertiveness and behavior modification, using classical and operant conditioning and reinforcing desirable behavior through intermittent rewards. Jaime has infused his personal approach with his emphasis on good leadership.

When listening to Jaime talk about his job, it is clear that he has two distinct sets of students: 1) dogs and 2) the humans that own them. Each student requires specific training of his/her own in order to create a working system. The training for owners is much more intensive as it is their responsibility to carry out the training Jaime brings to their canine companions. The schooling for a canine's human counterpart includes an education on how dogs think, act and read body language in order to provide a basis for understanding canine behavior. “Humans need to shift their perspective and understand pack behavior if they want dogs that are secure and well-behaved,” says Jaime.

Jaime's dominant philosophy of dog training emphasizes leadership. When dogs understand that the humans they live with are the leaders, they feel safe. A dog's nature is to live in a pack. When that 'pack' is a human family, the canine instinct is to either take leadership or surrender that leadership to the 'alpha' dog. When we allow our dogs to take the alpha (top) rather than the omega (bottom) position, warns Jaime, we run the risk of creating a neurotic, out-of-control canine. This occurs because humans are in charge most of the time – that is, we are free to come and go in and out of the house – whereas the dog depends on humans for everyday needs.

When dogs are given the alpha position, it becomes quite frustrating for them to watch humans 'stray' from the pack, knowing there is nothing they can do to bring them back. As a result, they engage in destructive behavior, sometimes so desperate to bring the 'pack members' back that they try to break out of the house to retrieve them. In other words, humans are often the culprit for creating an anxiety-riddled environment leading to a neurotic, uncontrollable dog. When a dog learns that the pecking order is humans first, dogs second, the hierarchy provides a safe place and puts dogs at peace. “For the most part, dogs are more than willing to cooperate as long as it is clear what position they hold in the human family,” explains Jaime.

Jaime also teaches humans how to communicate with their dogs and imparts skills that establish and maintain appropriate dog-human roles. For example, Jaime says that dogs are experts in reading human body language. Therefore, it is important that dog trainers and pet owners also acquire this skill. Vocal tone is also instrumental – higher tones for praise or affection and lower tones for correction. “Never is a dog hit or yelled at in my training process,” Jaime stresses. Instead, he uses low growling in the initial stages of training to 'reprogram' the dog into understanding that it is the human, not the dog, who is in charge. Once this order is established, the dog typically cedes the 'top' rank and accepts the omega position.

Upon his arrival to a customer's home, Jaime immediately models the alpha behavior he wants his human clients to adopt. He personifies patience, calmness, confidence, friendliness and firmness. With his thorough knowledge of canine- and pack-mentality, Jaime specializes in assisting families troubled by dogs with behavioral issues. He points out that he does not train the dog directly – instead, he trains the owners to train the dog. By helping his clients understand how dogs think and behave, he emphasizes the need for dog owners to adopt a leadership role in the dog's life. Jaime insists, “Leadership is not about 'barking' orders. Instead, it is about protecting the pack. A dog knows instinctively that a pack with structure and strong leadership will survive and thrive.”

Jaime's customers love him. They claim that his expertise and positive approach to dog training has changed their lives as well as that of their dogs. Jaime's love for his job is not merely based on the fact that he enjoys being surrounded by dogs, it also comes from the satisfaction he feels when he leaves the home of grateful customers and happy, content dogs. One of Jaime's clients, Joni Marra, an attorney from Avon Lake who volunteers at the OASIS Animal Shelter, proclaims that “Jaime was engaging from the moment we met him. Where other trainers failed us, Jaime succeeded and in a 100 percent humane and fun manner.”

Jaime Garnica is a living example of his own words, “once a leader, always a leader!” Jaime is a leader and a teacher, as well as a blessing to all humans who have been letting their dogs be pack leader. By following his passion for healthy, happy dogs and integrating his leadership approach from his work in business management, Jaime has helped families all over Northeast Ohio find peace with their pooches – and possibly has saved some furniture along the way, too!

For more information about Jaime Garnica and Bark Busters, call (440) 835-6937.

To contact author Mary Palmieri, e-mail mbpalmieri@yahoo.com.

Photos by Bob Perkoski, www.Perkoski.com.