We were so excited when we met our pup Guava at the shelter. He was 10 months old and seemed playful, affectionate, and the shelter left us under the impression he was sociable, with some occasional play nipping. When we brought him home, it was a very different story. While still playful and wanting our attention, he could become overstimulated very easily, and often begin biting us instead of the toy; the shelter had told us to just “turn our back to him” for him to stop, but he continued to bite our legs leaving bruises and marks. While we enlisted a trainer who got us through the first few months, we still struggled with his play biting, and began seeing increased reactivity with other dogs and people, especially men. I would come from walks crying, anxious and paranoid after an afternoon of hiding behind trees and tugging Guava away from loud men on cell phones, or children on bikes. It was getting harder to take him to the dog park, and have him play nicely with other dogs. We worried about how he would be perceived as a pit bull mix.
And then we met Sabrielle.
From the moment I spoke with Sabrielle on the phone, I felt like someone finally understood what we were going through, what Guava was going through, and how to help. Even from the first 2 hour in home meeting, Sabrielle taught Guava (and us) some new commands and tools for walks and we saw an immediate difference that week. Moreover, my boyfriend and I felt like we finally understood why Guava was acting the way he was, and how we could support him and begin to reshape the behavior. Over the past 5 months or so working with Sabrielle, we’ve finally reached a place where we can go on a walk with 0 incidents – in fact, Guava now actively ignores or looks at us when many of his old triggers pass us by.
Sabrielle has also been such a wealth of knowledge for me and my boyfriend, and has always been available for phone calls to discuss issues we are working on and give us scenarios and commands to go through. She walks you through why your dog is reacting the way they are and why the corresponding training will help. She helped us form a training routine for Guava we use almost every day, and impressed upon us how important our consistent efforts are to seeing improvement.
While we still have a ways to go, we finally feel like we are on the right track. Especially in these times of quarantine, I feel so thankful for the progress Guava has made, and that I can finally enjoy going outside with him or cuddling with him on the couch, and not worry about him reacting or nipping me. I could not recommend Sabrielle more to anyone who is going through similar struggles with a reactive dog, and is committed to making a change!
Jennifer W.
Snot (middle) came to us for basic obedience. After he finished his classes with us, he went through training to help teach other dogs. He is now an active member of the pack with a job. He is one of my go-to dogs when training other dogs not to be reactive as he is completely non-reactive. We used Snot to help Chloe (left), Sabrielle’s own dog, who went blind at 3 years old due to a medical condition and became dog reactive. Chloe then helped tiny Tater Tot (right) learn how to coexist also!
Little Buffy was terrified of a leash and never been trained to walk on a leash before. Buffy is proof of the power of positive rewards based dog training. The Canine’s Voice was walking Buffy successfully within 15 minutes. Buffy had a reason to move forward when she was given a reward with each new step.
Fiona is a service dog in training for her human, who has balance problems. The Canine’s Voice helped Fiona with her training for her Good Citizen Test so that she can be an advocate for fellow pitbulls everywhere and show how wonderful they are.
Dogs like Brutus, who suffer from doggie-PTSD, are often deemed hopeless. The Canine’s Voice actively seeks to help these dogs. Brutus’s aggression stemmed from the abuse he received as a puppy. He never asked to be hurt for being excited about a human or another dog. He never asked to be attacked by his housemate or to be given up on when that dog damaged his chances of being a show dog. Brutus came to us with severe dog and people aggression. He was only a puppy himself. His new human could not get her other dog, Missy, to coexist with Brutus. They would erupt into violent fights, going in for the kill. Eight months of intensive training changed everything. They now sleep together and play together even unsupervised!
12 year old SAKI came to The Canine’s Voice with people and food aggression. We did mastery of the walk and taught him to look to his owner for instruction. The bond with his owner taught him to trust and let go of his aggression. He’s a very tolerant and patient dog now.
Timmy grew up in a hoarders home confined to a cage and by the time I met him, he was afraid of everything. With super socialization, we introduced the world to him in positive ways. He is now a happy social dog living with his new family.