Dog training should be just that, training. Meaning teaching a dog what we want from him to make our life with the dog a pleasant one. We know first hand it does not take torture to teach, in fact we see more and more dogs coming to us that have been tortured with shock collars. So sad to see them. We work diligently to help them find there lost personality and give them an opportunity to see the world without having to submit to torture.

  Let’s talk about Abby, a two year old German Shepherd. She came to me six months after a two week shock treatment at an inboard, well, let’s just say torture chamber. She in the beginning peed herself while entering our training center. I approached her and immediately asked if they knew who had abused this sweet dog. Their reply was that they paid two thousand dollars to a man that promised shocking doesn’t hurt dogs and there dog would know all commands and be a perfect house dog. When they picked Abby up she seemed happy to see her family at first, and they were able to walk Abby to the car on a perfect heal. Although she was walking well she would only look to the ground, which was odd since Abby always liked to look at everything around her before. Once in the car she sat like a perfect angel but would not take a treat or look at her family in the eyes. At home the usual game of ball was a disaster. Abby simply lied down and looked away. Abby seemed to be a robot on commands but wanted no part of being loved, in fact she withdrew more and more each day until the family called the so- called trainer. He told them that he could re-shock the dog  for half the original price. Thankfully the family declined. Next Abby started to growl at the children in the home as she always wanted to be left alone. As a result of this the owners were considering putting Abby down. First they consulted with a German Shepherd Rescue who referred Abby’s family to us. Soon after, I met Abby and put her into a special class designed for extremely shy dogs. At first it was hard for Abby to be a part of the pack I designed for her, by now all of her command work was lost. She didn’t even know the sit command. Her eyes were filled with a vacant stare and she seemed so scared of everything. It was the third class when she lifted her tail from under her legs and the fourth class she began to show enjoyment and started to interact with the dog pack and even accepted the other handlers reaching out to her.

 I slowly implemented the family’s children into Abby’s training until Abby began to accept and respond to them as she once did as a very young dog. Eight weeks later she began to come back to her old self. Now she is an agility star and grabs every opportunity to show off. We taught her that training is all about bonding with her family. Abby still visits us and will be coming to our walk in the park workshops this summer.  We never rushed Abby. We slowly spent the time needed to teach her how to be loved again by giving her a fun place to learn and teaching her how to be a useful family member. Thanks Abby, you always make my day!