'Bad Dog Challenge' takes on leash puller

Marj Santoro, of Raleigh, volunteered Mugsy to find out if a trainer could turn her big bad dog into a good one.

Mugsy, weighs 95-pounds, and is as sweet as he can be. However, his bad behavior on the leash is hard to handle.

“He has pulled me onto the pavement. He has pulled me down the greenway (and) almost into the creek. I've come home with pine straw in my hair,” Marj Santoro said.

Mugsy's bad leash behavior is so awful no one in the Santoro family wants to walk him.

“No, I definitely don't want to walk him, but I'm forced to,” son Patrick Santoro said.

“Oh, he likes to jump up, but you have to be ready for it. One time I wasn't and he knocked the wind out of me and I'm a big guy, you know,” father Dom Santoro said.

Mugsy also gets overly excited when other dogs cross his path.

“He like props (sits) up and sees the dog and then he goes crazy,” Tony Santoro said.

Mugsy isn't trying to terrorize other dogs, he just wants to make friends. The problem: other people don't know that.

After witnessing Mugsy's bad leash habits, dog trainer Jenny Marconyak, of Bark Busters, talked with the Santoro family about their four-legged family member.

“He's very friendly, very outgoing and unfortunately that makes a highly distractable dog,” she said of Mugsy.

She then offered advice on how to correct bad habits – and not just Mugsy's.

“So you're going to have this nice and loose," Marconyak said as she showed Marj how to hold the leash. "We've got to get out of that controlling habit."

Dom and Marj Santoro then took turns walking Mugsy.

“If he's trying to walk in front of you, cut you off to stop you from walking or doing those kind of things," you need to offer "a correction and then encouragement," Marconyak said.

After a couple of walks where Mugsy's bad behavior was corrected, Marj Santoro said she saw a lot more good dog than bad dog.

“Good job Mugsy. Very nice. Now that was a different dog," she added.