A PROBLEM dog who has cost his owners £95,000 has finally been retrained.

Four-year-old Patches hated being left alone, and his constant barking while owners Beverley and Eric Greathead were out was upsetting their neighbours so much that the couple decided to move to Fatfield, Washington, Wearside.

Their new home cost the couple £93,000, but the fresh start failed to solve Patches's problem, and forced the couple to pay £1,500 for training and £400 for a luxury kennel.

His behaviour got so bad the family even swapped shifts to work weekends to leave him home alone as little as possible.

And when they went out they paid £15-a-time to take the pet to a canine creche at a total cost of £200.

The family were also restricted to where they could walk Patches, an Australian cattle cross-breed, because he lunged aggressively at other dogs.

Patches was rescued from a rehoming centre a couple of years ago.

Mrs Greathead said: "We took advice from two animal behaviourists, one of whom suggested a herbal tranquiliser, which initially helped, but Patches gradually reverted back to his anti-social behaviour. There was no way I could have got rid of Patches, but my husband admited that if it had not been for myself and Owen, our five-year-old son, who absolutely adores Patches, he would have returned him to the rescue centre."

In desperation, the family contacted Bark Busters, whose Newcastle area therapist, Liz Johnson, visited the couple and soon had Patches under control.

She said that Patches was stressed and showed them how to behave so that he understood that he was safe.

A few lessons later Patches was transformed into a happy, fun-loving dog, whose darkest days are behind him.