It has been a busy couple of months. There have been moments of despair and miracles of wishes coming true. When I received the letter below very recently, it broke me down to tears and melted my heart away. One of my most memorable cases. She was a great testimony to the determination of the human spirit. When I first met with her, I didn’t believe that she would need my help due to her exceptionally strong command of the theory of dog psychology.

Testimonial:
I have been following your recent media attention and blogs and feel compelled to write to you.

I find the negative attention that you have received very sad but also as an opportunity for us all to grow and learn, whether we are dog owners or work in the canine profession.

Before I adopted my rescue dog my pack was living in harmony. I had 2 contented old dogs, a cat, 2 kids and a husband…life was sweet. Then I discovered a rescue dog who was about to be euthanized and because of the way he came into my life there was no way I could turn him away. And that’s when harmony turned into chaos. My new dog thought my cat was lunch and he was a hooligan on the walk. He appeared aggressive on the leash and off-leash he would charge at other dogs which, although he was not aggressive, could easily have triggered a fight. Walking my 3 dogs was very stressful, my cat’s life was hell and it caused tension in my marriage.

Fortunately my friend told me about your self and I immediately booked an appointment. The first thing you did was not assess my dog’s behaviour but my own behaviour!! I was very tense and carried a high anxious energy. You gave me tools to calm my energy, to be an assertive pack leader and taught me how to walk my dogs. Now I love to walk my pack, it’s the best part of my day.

As for the problem with my cat…it was beyond stressful, particularly for my cat. I could not have my dog and cat in the same room and the only advice I had managed to get from animal behaviourists was to either euthanize or re-home one of them. When I was overseas my husband left the two animals together and my dog literally tore my cat to shreds, he was lucky to survive and although the physical wounds healed the mental scars were deep. You came to my house and with no tools or aides you took my cat and put him on my dog’s back. Not only was it amazing that my dog stood calmly whilst you did this but that my (usually terrified) cat was calm too. For myself it will always be a work in progress but, as long as I stick to what you taught me, I have harmony and peace in my house again and that is priceless.

My rescue dog came into my life to teach me so much and what I have learned from him has had a major influence in my life as a whole. Without you I would not have seen his message…..my family (four legged and two) can never thank you enough for that. I look forward to working with you in the future when I adopt a new rescue dog and introduce my pack to my horse…I will not do either without you by my side!!

Kind regards

XXXX XXXX (and Sierra and Twiggy the cat!!!)

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During the chaos of a storm we are required to dig deep, look at our strengths, our achievements, setbacks and accomplishments. Interviewing one’s historical timeline, we are reminded of the people that were part of that journey and what significant memories stand out. A client of mine that I saw many years which whom I’m still in contact with recently sent through this testimonial letter. It is one of my most memorable cases due to the extreme history and journey that my client and his dog had prior to seeing me and then the magical transformation that quickly took place after. Even today, I still don’t believe how at the blink of an eye there was this magical transformation. No one would believe it to be the same dog from before and after.

Testimonial:
 I have pleasure in stating that, having known Mr. James Lech and his varied circumstances for the past two years, I have a very high opinion of his general character and capabilities. I believe him to be thoroughly high principled and trustworthy.

I was a first time dog owner and received a Rottweiler as a gift from a close friend when I moved into my new house during July 2008. Our dog was three months old, at the time, and he will be four years old on 25 April 2012. “Tiger” is thorough bread from a certified breeder and is registered with the Kennel Union of South Africa.

Being a first time dog owner, we attended dog school for approximately sixteen months with a local trainer and then joined the Doberman Club for another six months. By this time, Tiger was just over two years old and I was advised at the Doberman Club to put him down because he was uncontrollable. I believe it important to point out, at this juncture, that to date he has never attackedlbit anyone or any other dog. When I think about it retrospectively, I believe that both these schools simply did not have the ability to train either one of us. Eventually, I made enquiries and joined the X Rottweiler Club in Eastgate. My first experience with them was absolutely devastating because the trainer (whom I must add was most senior) beat Tiger with his own lead. The reason being that Tiger, even presently, will play with a stranger but as soon as you touch him and try and be-friend him he will give you a horrible bark. By this time, most people back down and say his dangerous and will attack. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. He simply wants to show his dominance and you need to know how to deal with him. The trainer at the Rottweiler Club considered this bad behavior and beat Tiger. What he did not understand is at the previous two schools, whenever he showed his dominance he was rewarded with food, so it instilled this behavior in him and we did not know any better. I continued to attend the training sessions and at the fourth or fifth training session I met James. At the time, he also attended class to socialize his dog. James approached me, witnessing my difficulties with Tiger first hand, and asked if he could visit me at home with a view to training me on how to deal with Tiger.

This was the best day of my “life.” Tiger displayed the exact same dominance with James at my home. At first, he allowed James to play with him and finally he resorted to his unkind bark. James got Tiger to submit to him without any form of violence or aggressiveness and trained me accordingly. Prior to this, I was unable to walk Tiger anywhere (even at the Rottweiler Club) and more specifically on the road because he would bark at other pedestrians and cars, but today I walk with him in my area sometime even off lead. I pass many pedestrians and cars because I live around the corner from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and usually when I walk with him either in the mornings or evenings, it is always busy, even on weekends.

I continued a while longer at the Rottweiler Club and eventually left because there was no benefit. Before I left the Club they also commented on Tiger’s good behavior, but had no knowledge on how my handling strategy had changed. It was as a result of James and not by virtue of any contribution made by them. I just used the club a socializing place. Tiger is fine and James visits occasionally whenever he is in Johannesburg for other work. To this day Tiger respects and submits to James unconditionally. He is the only person, whom I know, can get Tiger to submit to him totally and rub his feet between his paws. I challenge any dog trainer to attempt this with Tiger, even today.

We are a family of five and my youngest son is now thirteen years old. He plays with Tiger to the extent that he makes him lay down on the ground, like a sheep, and pretends to slaughter him and Tiger gladly plays along. Our Tiger has never been a threat to us or to our two domestics and gardener who are at home daily by themselves since we are all out at workfschool. He certainly is dominant, but his there as wonderful pet (Teddy Bear) and protector, which we believe he will live up to if circumstances prevail. We undoubtedly owe our gratitude to James. Furthermore, he has displayed great care in advising us to feed Tiger correctly (organic food) and put him on a medical aid (Petsure since August 2010). In almost four years, Tiger has not had the need to visit a Vet once other than for his annual vaccinations.

I would unhesitatingly recommend James to any dog owner since I have had the opportunity of witnessing a number of other trainers fail, and I know that I am not alone in my parish in my very high opinion of him. I would always trust James with my dog or any other dog for that matter.

Click here to download the original testimonial.

It has been a busy couple of months. There have been moments of despair and miracles of wishes coming true. One of my recent clients was kind of enough to submit a testimonial. His story reminded me of the joy of witnessing a miracle.

I got a call of tears just after Christmas from a recent client’s wife of mine. A guest’s small girl had climbed the step ladder 3 stories, over the one wall, the fence and into the enclosure where the dogs were. Unfortunately, the girl sustained some puncture wounds but is fine and healthy now. The client’s wife was in a state of concern, panic and trauma after the incident. I was called in to council the family and discuss the route forward. There were a coupe of complicated dynamics. One of them that there were 2 separate dog packs within the house. Therefore the dogs were kept separately. The two packs were walked separately 1-2 times a day. The owners had been for training, were extremely responsible owners but the separation and difficulty did cause strain on the relationship, especially with now new negative stigma towards the one pack after the incident.

With great trust given by my client, we first worked with the female of the one pack who had aggression towards other dogs. We walked her with the other pack and it was amazing how quickly the transformation was. Two days later the client told me how he was walking her in the forest and she paid no attention to any of the other dogs at all, even dogs in the past that showed aggression, she showed action to avoid them instead of confront them.

After each session we would take pictures and have them presented to the client’s wife as she would not believe the results. For humans, seeing is believing. This is exactly what happened. The miracle of belief occurred in my client’s wife and all thanks to his faith. This new belief resulted in a new road of union between husband and wife as they are now able to comfortably enjoy walking one giant pack of dogs together daily.

Testimonial:
I have two Rottweilers, a male and female. My female dog that is 6 years old bit a 3 year old child on Christmas day of 2011. The child entered the separate enclose where my dogs are kept. It was not a vicious attack on the child and she only sustained puncture wounds. This matter was seen to and settled. I then acquired the services of Mr. James Lech and within 3 sesslons with him, my dog has shown a remarkable behavioural change.

She is calm, has no aggression towards humans and interacts well with other dogs.

Mr. Lech used no abusive treatment towards her rehabilitation. 

I am extremely happy with the result and his professional service. I will highly recommend Mr. Lech’s services to anyone who requires it.

Click here to download the original testimonial.

It has been a busy couple of months. There have been moments of despair and miracles of wishes coming true. One of my recent clients was kind of enough to submit a testimonial. Her story reminded me of the joy of witnessing a miracle.

She called me in to assist with her dog’s aggression issues as well as being able to walk her dog. In the session she expressed that her biggest wish was to be able to walk/run her dog on a beach off lead without it attacking other dogs. Helping her achieve just that, seeing the expression in her soul, brought tears to my eyes.

Testimonial:
The reason I needed James’ help was that my dog was aggressive towards other dogs and people. I felt if I could drain the energy of the dog, then she would calm down, but walking here was near impossible.
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My dog had also nipped at a child when the child had food in her hand and on another occasion went to pat the dog. My dog bit another dog that came running at us when we were on a walk. My dogs were on a lease and the other dogs were not. My dogs got nervous and so did I and they went to bite my dog and my dogs defended themselves.

I had 2 trainers come in – Karis from Happy dog who helped me bring my dog back from the shelter and reintroduce her into our household with the cats and dog –was very happy with her

I went to another session with another dog behavourist to use therapy using circular motions to calm dog. Cant for the life of me remember the techniques, by the trainers name was Debbie Conradie.

The important things James showed me was to show the dog who is the pack leader in the home, by establishing rules, boundaries, and limitations. This will help when taking the dog for a walk. Dog needs to drain energy through exercise and also to establish the bond of pack leader. To show reward of affection to the dog when the dog is calm. Ensure dog does not invade your space.

James remained calm in the 3 sessions that we have had together. He even picked up on my anxious energy and took the dog when I was too anxious. At no point did were you abusive, or did you hit or kick the dog.

For the first time, since I have had my dog, did we take the dog for a walk on the beach. That has been a dream of mine and it felt great. I am so greatful and happy with what we have achieved, just in 3 sessions. I cant express my gratitude to the fullest.

Click here to download the original testimonial.