The great thing about dog training is that every day is unique! It’s an office without walls. Each training session brings it’s own successes and challenges. One day I might be educating a new dog owner about house-training their new puppy. The next session I might be coaching a client how to teach their rambunctious adolescent dog some better manners. Another day I might be helping a reactive dog overcome his/her fear of people or other dogs. It’s all in a day’s work and when the day is over I reflect upon how the particular client or dog has progressed and overcome some obstacle to make their relationship more satisfying.

In this photo my client’s dog Bella (on the left) was struggling with an overabundance of excitement upon greeting other dogs. I worked with her owners on how to re-focus her attention away from the distraction and onto them. Within a few sessions Bella was able to calmly greet my Sheltie, Sadie Mae, and even lie down side by side. This was a huge breakthrough and gave my client the confidence to continue working on Bella’s reactivity. Looking at these happy faces makes all the hard work worthwhile!