Topper came to TAPS in December 2003 as a six week old puppy and went into a foster home to be cared for until he was old enough to become available for adoption. When he reached eight weeks, he was neutered and adopted, and we thought he would be set for life. About three months later, Topper was returned for playing too rough and nipping when one of the family's children tried to take something away from him. He was adopted three more times into families without resident children, and each time he was returned for nipping. There didn't seem to be a pattern to what was causing Topper's misbehavior. At the shelter, we tried to evaluate him and see if we could figure out what was causing him to randomly nip, but, try as we might, we never could get Topper to nip at one of us. We even were able to take away toys, treats, and food from him.

We were stymied. Topper was a model citizen with us, but we knew we couldn't continue adopting him out with his history of nipping. Wanting to give him every possible chance, we decided to enroll Topper in our prison training program. When he joined the program, Topper was paired with Denise, and it was mutual love at first sight. They worked together, and Topper learned basic obedience as well as some fun tricks. Denise was within a couple of months of being released from the prison camp and expressed her interest in adopting Topper when she got out. Denise knew Topper's history and still felt that he would make a wonderful addition to her family.

After her release in spring 2005, Denise went back to her home in northern Illinois to get settled in. On July 23, Denise and her husband returned to Pekin to adopt their new family member. Updates from Denise told us that Topper loved his ride home and did very well the first couple of days he was in his new home. On the third day, he developed a bit more confidence in the unfamiliar situation and decided he would try to establish his place in the pecking order. Denise has two previous dogs--Louis, who is a bit timid, and Buddy, who was not at all threatened by Topper's posturing. Topper took advantage of Louis's docile personality and tried to dominate him, but Denise used the great training techniques she had learned through the prison program, and . . . THEY WORKED! Topper and Buddy became best friends, and Denise reports that they love to share toys and play tug-of-war. With positive reward training, Topper was taught not to bully Louis, and the family now lives happily ever after!

Topper and Denise get ready to start their new life together.

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