During National Dog Bite Prevention Week, May 20 to 26, Bark Busters of Englewood, Colo., launched a series of free dog behavior workshops that will be available to qualified community groups at its 220 locations in 40 states for the remainder of the year.
“We hope that with education and training we can reduce the number of attacks,” says Liam Crowe, Bark Busters USA chief operating officer.
Fear is the most common cause of aggression in companion dogs, she added, so the hour-long workshops will teach participants how to recognize the signs of fear and aggression by reading a dog’s body language. Safety guidelines, specifically aimed at parents of small children, and canine pack behavior will also be on the agenda.
Getting people to understand their dogs better could ultimately prevent owners from turning over their pets to shelters – part of the company’s overall mission, Bill Marino, executive vice president and chief marketing officer said.
Within the first week, Bark Busters received more than a dozen requests from groups as large as 500 to as small as five, including a boy scout troop and a chamber of commerce, said Marino.
To request a workshop for your group, e-mail Workshops@BarkBusters.com (include name, zip code and contact information).
Bark Busters, founded in Australia in 1989 and active in the United States by 2000, was ranked as Entrepreneur Magazine’s 105th best franchise this year, the top spot for a pet-related company.