What do you get when you combine an inexperienced owner with a large breed of dog from a working line? Problems, plenty of them. As an new owner we had a few concerns with Genève as a puppy. She was “mouthy” (biting hands, feet, or anything else she could get a hold of) and jumping up on people when meeting them. This is not ok, especially with a large dog. As you can imagine my wife and two young daughters did not appreciate this. This was heartbreaking for me, I love my dog! There was no shortage of advice from people directly or on the internet. I was never sure if what I was doing was helping or creating more problems down the road. The things I was trying were not working all that well. It was obvious that we needed someone with experience to help us, and a class at the local pet shop wasn’t going to be quite enough. I started looking around and calling trainers to ask questions. I am very happy we found David at iWorkDogs. We decided to go with the immersive in kennel training and it was the right choice for us. We couldn’t wait for 3-4 months and hope some of those issues would just go away. I would highly recommend the in kennel option.
After our dog returned from training it was clear we needed to reinforce the training David did with our dog. He is very good at following up and providing feedback. In the followup sessions he made some very small adjustments that made a big difference when handling our dog. His advice was very clear and straight forward for both the handler and the dog. Straight forward, consistent and fair for the dog. Subtle adjustments can go a long way, I had no idea how some of the things I was doing were inadvertently effecting our dog. It’s good to work with a trainer who is an experienced pro, he was great with Genève and she enjoys working with him.
A good trainer can mean the difference between a destructive and frustrating troublemaker and a solid quality relationship with your dog. If you are having any doubts at all, I recommend you contact him. The immersive in kennel training and the followup sessions made a huge impact on our relationship with our dog. She is still a bundle of energy, but I needed to know what to expect and how to channel that all that. Dealing with some of these behavioral issues can backfire if not done properly. There was a steep learning curve for me as well. You don’t know what you don’t know! Training will be an ongoing process, David set a great foundation for us. At this point training with Genève is fun and rewarding for myself, my family and our dog as well.
David thank you so very much!
