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Training For A New Life

December 4, 2005 : 4:17 PM
Lee Mannix looks and acts like a good 'ol boy west Texas red neck . That's 'cuz he is, right down to the chewing tobacco can wear mark on the back pocket of his jeans.

He is also one of the best dog trainer / behaviorists in this or any other country. In addition to his own operation in Austin, TX, Lee is, among other things, a training consultant with the famed Battersea Home for Dogs in London, England.

Lee has worked with Best Friends in the past so when invited he jumped at the opportunity to get involved with helping to train and place some of Tylertown's more challenging dogs.

He visited our operation in Mississippi this past week and worked with our team to design a program and choose the first group of dogs to head for Austin for training and foster care. The program will, "Training For A New Life", will give special needs dogs a leg up on a new life in a great home.

Lee is Texas to the core and arrived wearing one of his big black cowboy hats...not the best thing to be wearing while doing evaluations of dogs with behavior issues, so he hung it on a corner post of one of the dog runs. Well, that was just too irresistible a challenge for one little dog with an exceptional vertical leap. In the accompanying photo, Lee offers his $300 Resistol alá Canine Cuisinart to aptly named Munch who earned his name by chewing his way out of an airline crate.


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December 9, 2005 at 2:27 PM
posted by: oxtotl
<i>Irresistable Resistol!</i>

LOL!

So, now Lee needs a new hat! :-)

My dog hated it, too...

I am grateful to Lee for his lessons with my dog...

Heather-you are also to be thanked for your role-

Aggression is a complicated thing..

you are on track with breeding, treatment and trauma, though.

thanks for keeping the dogs in the news.
  
December 5, 2005 at 8:28 PM
posted by: Heather
I was wondering just how do you know if a dog has an aggression trigger. I was in the pen with the black pit in early Nov. with all the scars that was designated ,staff only recently as a precaution. He never seemed aggressive or afraid or anxious. He was very excitable. He didn't have any obvious food aggression either. He seemed to ignore the dogs around him that barked alot. I took a pic in the cage of him and put my arm in the same position that Mr. Mannix did without aggression. I did notice as I was cleaning pens and feeding in Pooch Alley that this dog did seem to have issues when men walked by. Is this a case where you just don't know what could happen when a dog has obviously been involved in fighting. This dog had many scars on him and its seems he was either a fighter or a bait dog. Is it the luck of the draw I didn't trigger him. Is this a combination of effects ie breeding, treatment and trauma. I hope he continues to get the positive social support he deserves in his new digs. Pit bulls, Its such a hard issue to get your mind around. I learned so much about them and yet know nothing while at Tylertown. I am glad that this dog was moved before or in case something happenend. Its better for him and his future. I hope someone like Mr. Mannix can give him what he needs. Then there is the rest of them! Wow. Thank you Best Friends for trying your best. I will never forget how much I learned and how much more we (humans) have yet to learn.
  
December 5, 2005 at 5:02 PM
posted by: kdotson
this story was great as well as Lee being great too. I also had a cat that chewed trough a crate to escape, so I found this story quite amusing....keep up the great work, Lee.....
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