Cariad the Spoodle

I knew I needed help when my adorable obedient spoodle puppy morphed into a lead pulling adolescent who greeted all visitors by putting her front paws on their shoulders. Everyone said she was just a puppy and would calm down when speyed and grew older - I was given more advice than I ever had over bringing up children. I decided I was not prepared to wait and found Sally's website. I was attracted by her confident approach and that she would come to my home - no more church halls! Once I was over the shock of the no toys, no treats rule and had accepted my harness and lead were not helping I settled into recognising why Sally was able to sound so confident on her website. Like others have written within 5 minutes of meeting my dog Sally had her calmly sitting, hanging on her every word - it was really irritating! But it showed me that the dog wasn't the problem - it was me. Probably the major thing for me to accept from that first session was that Cariad was a dog and shouldn't be demeaned by treating her as a human (eat your heart out famous pet supermarkets) and with that came my elevation to pack leader.

In the subsequent sessions Sally has shown me how to train her to walk without pulling - this is definitely improving although it can be variable and I have to accept that it will not happen overnight At the end of the last session when we walked around a football field off lead  with Cariad just following because she wanted to be with me - I felt like the bees knees! She is still desperate to put her paws on visitors but is moving away to command and staying with the use of a hand signal so I feel we are moving in the right direction.

With Sally's help I can at least see the corner which has to be turned although it will take a while to turn it. In the meantime I am loving the change in the relationship I have with my dog as she begins to accept the submissive role as I become more assertive with her.

Maggie