He served twenty years on the police force, five of which were in a canine unit. Three of those five years he was the sergeant running eight teams of police dogs. "Those were my best years on the force," Sam Wike says. Sound like a guy who’s been places? Oh yeah. And now he has another mountain to conquer; one that should be no problem for a fellow with his background. Sam has to teach a shy dog some confidence. …

Sam Wike is retired from police service. He now spends his days training dogs, many of them with behavioral problems. "Relationship-based training is the only solution," Sam explains, when talking about his approach to training dogs. Put another way, you can’t teach a dog anything if the dog doesn’t trust you. And that trust must be earned. He’s real big on the trust thing, which is a great training philosophy. The same basic approach, as it turns out, that Best Friends uses. In short, he’s a perfect match for climbing this particular mountain.

Sam is the first trainer to participate in the new Best Friends Community Training Program. This is a trial run to see if the new program is ready to go full-steam, or if instead there are some kinks yet to iron out. So far so good, though. Sam makes it easy.

He came to Best Friends to stay for a week and work with three different dogs. The trainers and caregivers at Best Friends selected the candidates. Rufus, Boomer, and Obed all had different issues to work through. During the week Sam was at the sanctuary, he’d go on regular outings with each dog—caregivers or trainers in tow—and he’d take the dogs on individual sleepovers every night. All along the way, Sam worked in combination with the Best Friends staffers to create different plans and training approaches for the dogs.

At the end of the week, they all decided Rufus was the best fit. Rufus really bonded with Sam, hogging the bed on the sleepovers, and all thought he could do well in the relationship. Rufus is shy around strangers, but Sam feels he can help him past all that.

Even so, picking Rufus was only the first step.

Rufus

Next, Sam flew back home while the Best Friends team strategized. Just like with any adoption (though this was not an adoption), they arranged for a home check as well as a facility check. Sam passed with flying colors. Everything was green-lighted and—whoosh—Rufus was on his grand adventure and the new program got its first field test. Thus far, things have been great.

Part of the goal of the Community Training Program is to develop a collaborative approach in helping dogs with special needs. That requires a lot of back and forth communication between Best Friends and the trainer. Not a problem for an ex-sergeant! Sam is in daily contact with Best Friends about Rufus’s progress. Maybe it’s his professional background, but Sam pays some serious attention to detail. "I’m going to give you guys way more info than you’ll ever want, believe me."

True to his word, Sam has been sending daily notes detailing every stitch of the training program and how Rufus is progressing. Make no mistake, if anybody can help Rufus past his shy ways, it’s Sam.

So far, Rufus has been coming right along. He’s happy, and he’s learning more about the world. "It’s baby steps," Sam explains—a lot like the training at Best Friends, really. A dog can progress at his own pace. In this environment, though, Rufus will have a lot more one-on-one time and can improve at a faster rate. All his trainers back at the sanctuary feel Rufus is going to make big strides. While they all miss Rufus terribly, they are pulling for him.

Here’s what everybody is hoping will happen. Once Sam and Best Friends feel Rufus is ready—which is totally up to Rufus—Best Friends will take over and put his name out for adoption. The hope will be to find a home near Sam. That way, Sam will be able to check up on Rufus and help teach the new family all of Rufus’s little quirks. This is a serious push to make sure that his next home is his forever home.

After that happens, Sam already has another Best Friends dog on the backlist ready to go. Again, this has been the trial run, but so far everything has gone like clockwork. The ultimate goal is to develop a network of quality, reliable community training partners like Sam who can work with Best Friends dogs on an individual basis. They’re still Best Friends dogs and guaranteed the same high quality medical and other care as sanctuary dogs. The trainer just has to focus on helping the dog past whatever hurdles lie ahead.

Training with Sam

The program is only getting started, but should be unfolding very soon. For anybody interested in becoming a Best Friends Community Training Partner, please contact Mike Harmon at trainingpartners@bestfriends.org. Or, feel free to call Mike with any questions at (435) 644-3965, extension 4536. Rufus may be the first dog in the program, but he certainly won’t be the last.

Thanks Sam, for being willing to run the gauntlet so successfully. And Rufus, you’ve got a whole army of people pulling for you. Your ship is coming soon.

Story by David Dickson
Photo by Gary Kalpakoff

Learn more about canine behavior and training in the Best Friends online dog library.