We did the Eight Week Reactive/Aggressive Training (This is long). We rescued a blue nose pitbull who was becoming very reactive as she reached maturity. She was fighting with our other two dogs and lunging at our neighbors. My partner and I felt we didn’t have control of our household anymore. Giving her up was not an option for us, but we were stressed out, frustrated, sad and scared. Realizing we needed help I began calling a LOT of trainers. This included companies and individual trainers. I won’t go into detail about what everyone said, but I will say this, Joanne made me feel the best about our situation. She told me that our Ruby was unsure of who was in charge in our household. That she is not a true alpha-dog, but since she didn’t know who was in charge she was trying to take on that role. This stressed HER out and that was why she was acting reactively (a true alpha will not act out unless absolutely necessary). Joanne stated that once we learned how to handle the situation, Ruby would find relief that she no longer had to be in charge. I can’t tell how much better I felt just SPEAKING to her. We had a few concerns about what training we wanted and pricing and she worked with us on figuring out and option that worked for us. I truly felt she wanted to make sure we got the help we needed. Now on to the training…We had three facility lessons and five in-home reactive lessons. All of the trainers at the facility were very knowledgeable and helped us get the basics down in no time. We worked the most with Mike Trimble as he was our in-home trainer and we are so pleased with the results! Mike is wonderful. He is incredibly knowledgeable and helps you to understand YOUR dog. He is always calm. He never tried to touch our dog (which we really appreciated!). He was respectful to her and taught us how to work WITH her instead of having her work FOR us. He taught us how to respect Ruby’s needs. Ultimately, it was a training for us 😉 I can’t even begin to explain how comfortable we are handling our little love now. Will she always be reactive? Probably. She still needs to be highly monitored. But we don’t freeze up or freak out when she reacts anymore. I have rescued dogs my entire life and I must have gotten very lucky, because I never had one that didn’t like other people or dogs. It’s so hard to have a dog that you have such a strong bond with and who is so sweet to you and your partner, but put simply, just doesn’t like anyone else. I thought I had done something wrong. I thought I wasn’t as good of dog owner as I thought I was. And maybe I wasn’t. But after working with Mike, I feel like I know so much more than I ever did before and most importantly I have the knowledge and tools I need to respect and handle my dog effectively and appropriately. Ruby is the easiest dog in our household now and she used to be the most difficult. Oh man, I could continue to go on and on and on about all of her progress, but to sum it all up…I am so happy I called and talked to Joanne that day and I am thrilled Mike Trimble was our in-home trainer. I can’t imagine where we would be without Off Leash K9 training. Our quality of life has improved having gone through their program. If you are looking for not only an affordable, but a high quality program for your reactive dog I highly recommend checking them out and if you are in the Marietta area, you will not be disappointed with Mike. Thank you Mike and Off Leash! You have created one happy, relieved and satisfied customer. Ruby thanks you too! More…
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