I wanted to update you on how things are going with our Maggie. One word: GREAT!
She is doing so wonderfully in our family!! It is hard to believe our previous trainer advised us to return her to the Humane Society due to her “dangerous behavior”. Our puppy (6-7 months at the time) was nipping at and jumping on our kids, barking at us trying to demand treats, pulling on her leash during walks, scaring our guests with her barking, and only getting worse with our previous trainer and her “all positive training” methods. Anyone who met this dog now would be shocked and swear she is one of the most obedient and sweetest dogs they have ever met! What a difference a good trainer makes!
Maggie’s on-leash walking is phenomenal! The collar you gave us along with the tricks to keep her attentive to us when walking her have transformed our daily walks!! She walks casually at our side with the leash nice and slack…even when the children are on scooters or bikes or running around her! And now, it is the other dogs we meet on our walks that pull on their leash, and bark, and act out-of-control, not Maggie! She hardly seems to notice the distractions at all! Now, she is just a normal, relaxed dog out for a leisurely excursion with her family!
As you know, before your in-home training session, we could not trust Maggie out in public. She would bark and pull on the leash, etc. Now, she goes to the pet store with us, the Farmer’s Market, the park, etc. We feel comfortable taking her anywhere…..because she is trustworthy now and we all know who is in charge….us! We even had her at an open green space one Saturday and were going to let her have some “free-running” time. But, when we dropped the leash, she still stayed right at my side….no matter if I ran, walked, changed directions, went in circles, or just stopped. We couldn’t even make her run away from us!! 🙂
She is doing much better at the door as well. She still barks when people come, but she responds well to being “backed up” by us walking toward her and “stays” (with reminders) while we answer the door. She now greets our guests with eagerness to meet them instead of meeting them with fear and nervousness.
She is not nipping at the kids anymore and responds well to our commands both inside and outside our home.
Honestly, words cannot explain how grateful we are to you and the teaching and encouragement you have given us!! You were able to step into our desperate situation and get us back on track so that Maggie is now a permanent, secure, loving member of our family!
Thank you from the entire family and from our faithful companion!!
