She's a 'dog whisperer'
Published Saturday November 29th, 2008
Annette James's life has literally gone to the dogs.
Some of her earliest memories include a Newfoundland dog named Fay who was both her playmate and protector.
"She took care of me because we lived right on the water in a very small community in one of the outports in Newfoundland."
The dog died when James was 17. A devastating loss, she recalls. In fact the deaths of all of the dogs she's loved have been difficult. When she talks about the passing of her "fur babies," she gets teary-eyed.
Her passion for all dogs has brought her to her current profession. Some people call her a 'dog whisperer.' She doesn't think of herself in those terms. Rather, she says, she works to help dogs and people establish healthy, happy relationships through behaviour modification training.
She left her secretarial job in May 2007 to start with Bark Busters after her husband showed her a magazine advertisement for the company.
"He said 'This is for you' because he knew my love of dogs and because we were having some issues with (their dog) Abe. I said, 'You're crazy.' There was no way I was leaving a steady job to go into business on my own."
But after a while she agreed to meet with a franchise owner in Nova Scotia to learn more about the company and its techniques. She applied them to their own dogs.
"It was amazing how quickly speaking dog, establishing (oneself) as leader of the pack was getting results. What's missing in every home usually is that the communication is not clear between the human and the dog of what's expected and what's not expected. The reason you're not getting the results you want is because you are trying to talk human as opposed to talking dog."
Dogs, James says, have a very simple language and live in a hierarchical pack environment. When a dog thinks it's the pack leader, it will do as it pleases, she explains. Since she and her husband learned to speak dog, she says, and the dogs have learned their place in the pack, everyone is happier and the dogs, she says, are now respectful of them and their home.
"What we teach is proper voice, tone and proper body language and how to use that with your dog and how to communicate what it is you want effectively.
"When you live in a happy, healthy pack, it makes things a whole lot better."
A dog should never be corrected physically and the hands should only be used for love and attention, she says.
What she does now is very different from her 20-year career as a legal secretary.
In 1994 she was also a part-time bartender at the Sundance Saloon on St. John's famous George Street. She met hundreds of people there. Then in walked Greg James with a bandaged face. He told her he was a peacekeeper who'd been injured during a land mine clearing accident in Croatia.
She thought it was a bad pickup line. The next night he returned with a Maclean's magazine article about the accident that killed another peacekeeper. Over the next week they developed a friendship.
"It was only a month after the mine strike. He was in pretty rough shape and a very raw, vulnerable man. We parted as friends. He went back to his base in Chilliwack, B.C."
Over the following months they got to know one another better through phone calls and letters. Those conversations solidified their friendship which blossomed into romance.
She visited him in British Columbia for three weeks. That was 14 years ago and they are still very much in love. They married three years ago - the day after she turned 40.
They moved here in 1997 when he was posted with CFB Gagetown's school of military engineering. They bought a home in Burton with over an acre of land.
They agreed when they got land they'd get a Newfoundland dog.
Over the past 11 years they've had four of these gentle giants along with an adopted SPCA dog and some foster care cases.
They share their home now with Able Seaman and Isthmus along with Redford, who's a foster dog and Max, the cat.
Their days start very early.
"Feet hit the floor at five. The coffee pot goes on and the doggies go out to do their morning routine."
After breakfast everyone goes for a walk. Then it's time for work. Now retired from the military, Greg James works as a civilian on the military base and works with his wife at night and on weekends whenever there are dogs and dog owners in need of behaviour training.
She wears a pager on her waist. It's always on in case there are desperate dog owners dealing with emergency cases.
She knows how important it is to spend time with her husband, their family, friends and with their dogs at home. So they try to fit this into their schedule.
Friday afternoons they meet friends for a beer at a pub. Every Saturday morning they go to the Boyce Farmers' Market where they shop for fresh produce, bread, butter, cheese, meat and vegetables.
They are both busy but always take time to eat dinner together every evening. Usually their conversations involve dogs; either theirs or the dogs and people they work with.
"We're not big party people. We like to have friends in for dinner. I love sitting around with a nice bottle of wine. Sitting around with friends who love my dogs."
Their closest friends own Newfoundland dogs, too. Wherever they go and whatever they do they like to include their dogs.
With Christmas approaching their dogs can expect to find presents under the tree.
This holiday they will also celebrate with their two adult daughters, Amanda and Jessica James. When both of the girls are at home, it's all about family time.
Within the next five years, they look forward to travelling throughout this country with their dogs in an RV.
"When you talk to me it's hard for me not to talk about dogs. They are always a big part of my life because it's what I love. When we first got Newfoundland (dogs) as a family I didn't realize what peace and tranquility they give me. It's a real memory from my childhood of that companionship. They give so much love and that's an awesome feeling when you have that connection with your dog."
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