On Sunday, I attended Brandon Fouche’s seminar, “Establishing Alpha” at Blue Collar Working Dog Supplies in Echo Park.
Brandon believes that establishing yourself as the “alpha” is the key to having a harmonious relationship with your dog(s). Most dog behavior problems (including aggression, leash pulling, bolting, excessive barking, house marking, fighting, destructive behaviors, etc) cease completely when your dog regards you as the alpha. However, few people truly understand how to attain and maintain this position. In the seminar, Brandon spoke in detail, his step-by-step method for attaining effective pack leadership. He brought two owners with three “problem” demo dogs that we were able to observe him demonstrate his techniques. Because the group was small enough in size, we all had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss any problems or concerns that people in the group were currently experiencing with their dogs.
For those of you who might not know who Brandon Fouche is, he has been touted as LA’s miracle worker. Rescues and shelters all over the country have employed Brandon’s services in turning “problem” dogs into adoptable dogs. He has saved the lives of thousands of dogs with his method of dog psychology called “The Fouche Way”. 
If you had read about the seminar on Facebook or Twitter, what is written above is pretty much what you would have discovered about the seminar. It all seems very straight forward, easy to understand, something that can be easily followed. Well, not exactly. Brandon makes the extremely difficult look easy. Take for example the first client with the “problem dogs”, Ivan owner of two German Shepherds. The dogs were growling and actually trying to bite anyone that approached him. Brandon explained to the group why the dogs felt they needed to protect their owner and how to stop the behavior. Once Brandon took the leashes, the dogs began to walk behind him, people could approach the dogs and Brandon. Ivan watched and learned. Soon he was walking the dogs behind him and people could now approach him and the dogs. This happen in a period of about fifteen minutes. No training, no sits or stays, none of that was necessary.
Next came the dog aggressive Boxer, “Frankie”. He was a very typical dog aggressive dog, wonderful with people, very relaxed until he saw the black chow in the parking lot, 10 feet away. He roared and tried to stand up, going crazy on the leash to get at that Chow! With a pinch collar on, the owner could barely control Frankie. Brandon took over, removing the pinch collar, placing only a leather slip lead, putting the dog in a submissive mind set, he walked the dog past the Chow, next to the Chow and now Frankie wouldn’t make eye contact with that Black Chow. Magic? No way, Brandon can teach all of us, who want to learn, how to work with aggressive dogs. His methods are not for every dog, but for an aggressive dog, he might be the dog’s last chance. He was certainly the last stop for many of our rescued dogs, who now have their forever homes, thanks to Brandon. He has been my teacher for the past five years and no matter how many times I attend his seminars, speak one on one to him, I always learn something new. Perhaps, it’s more about me, I’m ready to learn something new because I have more experience with dogs each time he is ready to explain a new challenge and how to best resolve it. Because of Brandon, I can release 12-15 dogs together, 99% of them pit bulls.
Training works great for some dogs but there are many dogs that will fail because training methods are used to overcome aggression. Take our rescue dog Edwina, all the training in the world will not resolve her leash aggression issues. It’s only through domination that I have been successful in working with her on leash. Is she terrific 100% of the time? Hardly, but she is doing so much better and actually enjoys going on walks now. She is just one of the many examples of dogs that need domination work instead of conventional training. For more information on Brandon and The Fouche Way, I encourage you to visit Brandon’s website. If you feel like giving up on your aggressive dog, don’t, please give your dog one more chance, call Brandon.