Jonathan Sarhad
5/5
The bottom line on A+ Dog Training: They help keep dogs together with their owners, and out of animal shelters.
A+ Dog Training is excellent all around, from their one-on-one training to their group classes to their monthly public pack walks. They provide a huge benefit to our community---to all types of dog owners, their dogs, and to the public, in general (better trained dogs serve everyone). Tom and GiGi of A+ Dog Training are (not surprisingly) great with dogs of any age and temperament, but they are also great with owners any level of experience (and temperament!). Most dog owners and dogs can benefit from training; however, I suspect many who seek training find themselves in the predicament I was in a few years ago: In over my head, desperate, and close to throwing in the towel.
I adopted a 10-month-old Husky-Malamute in September 2021. Luna’s former owner had taken good care of her since adopting her as a pup, but a career/location change forced the owner to rehome Luna. Luna was extremely well-behaved in many ways, especially for a young dog with high energy (for example, excellent behavior inside the house; not once did she even knock anything down in the house, let alone try to destroy anything). She loved pretty much everyone she met (family, friends, and most strangers). Then came the big shock: This large and powerful pup quickly decided that she didn’t like obeying me when we disagreed. Most of the time, we agreed. However, during leash walks when she wanted to go somewhere and I wouldn’t let her, she started acting out---biting the leash, jumping on me, mouthing me, trying (successfully, sometimes) to escape her leash or harness, refusing to move, etc. I had never in my life met such a stubborn and strong-willed dog. On advice from friends/dog owners I know, I began looking for trainers, and in the meantime I was trying to get her a lot of exercise off-leash in addition to on-leash; I was taking her to the dog park 4 hours per week, walking her on-leash 10-15 hours per week (as difficult as it was at times), giving her puzzle toys, playing games with her at home, basically doing everything I thought I could do to expend her excess mental and physical energy. I spent a lot of time with her (my work schedule allowed me to not have to leave her alone for long blocks of time). I wasn’t getting anywhere, and we were just getting worse on walks. Her bad behavior towards me on walks also began to occur more frequently at home, in the yard (not indoors). I was frustrated and confused---how could a dog that is so well-behaved and fun so much of the time, get so belligerent with me?
I had been in contact with A+ Dog Training (Tom and GiGi) for a few months and we had planned to begin private training in January 2022. Our start date got pushed back to February due to uncontrollable factors. I reached out to them in January, letting them know how much I was struggling and that I had no clue how to proceed even in the short term. With the help of a family member, I was able to get some video of Luna acting out on a walk and I was able to pass it along to Tom and GiGi. That same day, both Tom and GiGi got back to me via text and phone conversation. The encouragement, analysis, and advice/tips they gave me that day likely saved Luna and me from much a worse outcome for both of us. I will be forever grateful to them for their help that day. By the time Luna and I started our first private training session with Tom a month later, we were already doing better on walks. By about training session 8 (of 10), Luna and I were leash walking all over my neighborhood (and other places we’d drive to), up to 1.5 hours at a time, without issue. After that, we did a few group training classes with A+ Dog Training. They were a lot of fun and helped improve command response, impulse control, and other aspects of behavior.
In conclusion, I give A+ Dog Training my highest recommendation. Please do not give up on yourself or your dog before reaching out to them!
