Dear Ralph,

We wanted to write to you on the 2nd year birthday of our dog Bear. As you know when we brought him to you one and a half years ago we were in the middle of a disaster. A very cute golden retriever puppy was uncontrollable — at least by us.

The best move we made was to leave him with you that day and start on the training program that allowed us to keep him. At our rope’s end, we were seriously considering finding him another home, which was breaking my heart. On that day we never thought we would be the family to celebrate even his first birthday, let alone his second.

There are many things to appreciate about your training methods, the first of which is success. It was also helpful that the training was for us, not just the dog, which taught us to work with him. We especially like that the goal is good behavior for its own sake and not just to get food rewards. Finally we appreciate that there are no special shock collars or other mean methods used.

Now we have a wonderful companion that is a joyous part of our home and also is a great watch dog. We cannot thank you enough for your help that allowed us to keep Bear. Please feel free to use us as a reference because we truly can testify to the success of your training methods.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and “woof’ from Bear.

Bill and Barbara, Pelham, Alabama

Ralph,

Maggie and 1 are sending this letter to express our sincere gratitude for giving her a second chance for life. As you are well aware she was abandoned on the road to my home after suffering years of abuse and neglect. She was very traumatized and unable to trust me or anyone else including Dr. Michelle Johnson our veterinarian.

I continued to try and work with Maggie for an entire year with very little positive results. After exhausting all of my efforts I was given your name by Dr. Johnson and I immediately contacted you.

After talking with you for quite sometime you informed me that you did not make house calls but in this case you would make an exception. On the day that you arrived at my home, we spent an entire afternoon trying to get her into your car. After approximately five hours you were able to transport her to your facility where you worked with Maggie for three months. The results have been amazing.

Ralph, without the countless hours of dedicated work you invested in Maggie she would not have recovered from her traumatic past. She is very important to me and I am sincerely grateful that you prepared her to enjoy the balance of her life as a happy, fun, well adjusted member of our family that lives in our home, loves car rides and is happy to meet anyone.

D.E.W., Vandiver, Alabama

"Mr. Gibson's services have helped with numerous problems between pet and owner. He is highly respected among animal welfare organizations. Friends of Cats & Dogs Foundation would never hesitate to recommend this capable and competent professional."

Dixie Knight, Operations Manager, Friends of Cats & Dogs Foundation

"I have been totally pleased with Ralph's commitment to the humane education of both our sweet Mak and us. Ralph continues to be an inspiration - his interest  in promoting proper animal/human education does not end with the completion of the initial training session Ralph check on his students periodically and always responds to concerns that may come up as home training continues. Save yourself some time, visit Ralph first - then visit another school and see if they can measure up!

K.B.M., Birmingham, Alabama

"I have always loved animals, but did not grow up around dogs. I knew cats, but dogs were a different story, in my mind. Then one day I found myself with 3 very special, but unruly dogs in my life! I loved them, but my home life was chaos, and my cats were being terrorized by the two larger dogs. I found I had no clue how to integrate these dogs into my life. I was at the breaking point, so I started asking people with dogs about trainers and different methods. That's when I heard about this man, Ralph Gibson, who "had a way with dogs", he could "read them". Well, I was skeptical, but wanted to know more. I had one dog in particular that really had problems that we didn't understand how to deal with. She was fearful of just about everything and everybody that she didn't know well, and I knew she was the test case. So, I called "Ralph Gibson's World of Dogs" for an appointment and off we went.

As soon as Ralph opened the door and I noticed that my dog wasn't bolting, I knew something was right. Then, when I saw my dog quickly respond to the gentle guidance of Ralph's leash work, I was even more impressed. But what really did it for me was when my dog voluntarily went over and laid down at Ralph's feet while we were talking about the training techniques and schedule. She was so relaxed that she started to nod off. Well, I was shocked, and I'll admit, a little hurt ... I couldn't believe that my untrusting dog was lying at the feet of a complete stranger. Suffice it to say, I left my dog in Ralph's hands that very day, and then two weeks later, I enrolled my Border Collie in "Ralph Camp", as we now affectionately call it. It has been quite a journey, and one of the things that I have come away with, in addition to dogs that I enjoy living with now, is a better understanding of dog behavior in general and more confidence in my abilities to communicate with my dogs effectively. Ralph has been a patient and kind teacher and has taught me more than he has taught my dogs ... of course, because I'm the one that needed the most work, and training dogs is more about reorienting people."

S. B., Birmingham, Alabama