We did a consultation with Nancy, specifically looking to train our dog to be less dominant and aggressive around other dogs. She gave us great advice during the consultation and then after understanding our specific case, recommended us to another trainer to us who has access to many dogs we could practice with to meet our specific training goals. I have no doubt we could have made great progress with Nancy, but that is a mark of an excellent trainer who truly cares about dogs and meeting a client’s goals in that she would recommend us to go to someone else. Nancy truly cares about making your dog the best they can be!
– Laura Mullaly
Reply from Awesome K9:
Thank you Laura! I appreciate the response. I would love to be able to have offered the exposure I feel you were looking for and give your dog the opportunity to make better choices in a controlled environment. Since I am not offering that kind of social exposure at this time, I am happy to suggest what I feel might be a better fit for what you were looking for. My goal, is to be helpful in resolving your issues as best I can. In this case, a different venue I feel was more of what your were looking for.
As discussed, becoming a member of Awesome K9’s controlled pack walk group, would be a good addition to building your confidence with other dogs and out in the world in a controlled environment to get you started. Just let me know if you wish to look any further into that option as well as the referral.
My pleasure!
We really enjoyed working with the very experienced and energetic Nancy at Awesome K9. She has a ton of professional and personal experience with helping dogs with difficult behaviours. She also uses a variety of training methods and was very aware that a dominance based method would not be appropriate for our Vizsla.
We really enjoyed her training style and she also offers group walks which have been so helpful in helping reduce our Vizsla’s anxiety in groups and work on her loose leash walking. We see huge changes since working with Nancy. Highly recommend!
Here is a recent Grad student, that was almost fearful of his dog going after him and challenging him when the dog wanted to rule the house. Luc never felt confident that his Standard Poodle Jack was not going to try to snap at him or continue jumping at him. By the time they were done their program, Jack was much easier to handle.
Luc was able to put a stop to Jack’s bulling him and gained much more confidence and control of Jack. They now have a much better relationship, bond and control. Luc worked hard at doing his homework and it paid off in the end! Good job. Even a smart stubborn dog, can make changes if you do the work.
Here’s What Luc had to say at Graduation:
“Nancy,
Thank you again for the great training you provided to help us to better control our family dog Jack.
Your advice and training has produced excellent results!”
Thank you again
Luc & Pascale
I use to watch Warren struggle with his 2 French Bulldogs on his daily walks past my place (the same neighborhood where I teach) in the central West end of Ottawa.
The dogs were pulling in every direction, distracted and have no focus. I remember Warren with a zip lock bag of chicken, waving it in their face to try and get them to look at him.
After watching him struggle for a few week, He finally called me and suggested that it was time he got some help. I was super happy to finally give him some relief!
Here’s what Warren had to say when his program was finished:
I had issues trying to walk and train both dogs at the same time. Since the training program, both dogs are much more obedient both at home and on walks. Working with them has become much easier and more effective for the results I was looking for. Nancy-Lynn is very knowledgeable, and the experience was wonderful. The majority of work still needs to be done by the owner to practice repeatedly, but the skills I leaned have helped greatly! Thanks Nancy-Lynn!
Warren
Alaska was a shelter dog here in Ottawa, that was adopted between the age of 1-2. She was extremely destructive when she was left alone and suffered from anxiety and containment-phobia. She would break out of her crate and literally destroy the house trying to get out. She could not be left alone at all. When I met Alaska, I suspected that she was a Hybrid (with wolf in her) This was not a normal dog and her behavior was very concerning. She had previously been put on anxiety meds and was almost lifeless when I initially met her. She was underweight and her physical demeanor, was lethargic and her coat was falling out in handfuls. So, I knew we had not only behavioural issues, but nutrition was a concern as well. Motivating this dog was a tough job and I was so glad that Brandon stuck with it for the long haul. After months of work, she was making progress!
Here’s what Brandon had to say:
“Alaska is a much more confident and calmer dog. After a lot of patience and techniques that Nancy helped me learn I have been able to leave Alaska alone for hours compared to five minutes. Training really helped me bond stronger with Alaska and helped me become a better leader for Alaska. Training really helped Alaska to be able to trust me more to help her become more confident in herself.
Training with Nancy not only helps your dog but really helps you as an owner to be the proper leader that your dog may need. It was a pleasure dealing with Nancy on a personal level while seeing her deal with my dog with nothing but positivity and patience. I highly recommend training with Awesome K9 as I never would have gotten my dog to where she is today without Nancy.”
Brandon
Pat called me with hesitation, she had inherited a 6 yr old dog that she was worried could be a problem with people mainly because Sadie was a bully breed and was not well socialized. She wanted to be more confident to walk her in public and be able to manage Sadie’s strength and reactions to other dogs. Pat also knew she needed some structure for her to follow.
Here is what Pat had to say after completing her training program:
“Our walks now are very enjoyable Were working on meeting other dogs. Pack Walks help with that also was introduced to someone who could help with the socializing in a more intense setting Big thanks for that! I received lots of tips on jumping and manners when greeting at the door. Big improvement not perfect but much better. Small steps, but now we know what we have to work on to be consistent and are seeing the changes get better every day.”
“I would recommend Awesome K9 for any age dog even dogs with behaviour problems you will be directed in the right direction for your dog and you to solve the behaviour. Also, I loved the private lessons.”
Simon and their family were getting their first puppy. They were very concerned to do things right from the start. Their biggest concern was to do things fairly and functionally, so the puppy would learn good habits right from the start.
Every week they brought questions and brought examples of things they wanted to be sure was a good way of dealing with the puppy.
Simon said: “It really is about what and how we present ourselves to the dog. We have learned so much here and are grateful that Winston has turned into a fantastic, smart well-mannered puppy!” Thank you so much
Teresa got her first new puppy Jake, an 8-week-old Cockapoo. She wanted to do thing right from the start, which is most important in the development of a puppy. There is a short window of opportunity and exposure to things up till roughly 6 months counts in molding the dog’s responses to things.
Teresa’s comments: “Jake is lots of energy and I really have had to learn how to physically guide him, take my time and make sure he is paying attention. It took practice to get good at the walk, but it was mostly me that had to do more work to get it right. Over all, I learned so much, I had no idea, how much this was going to help us understand dog language and motivation. Thank you, Nancy!”
David came to me with a Shiloh GSD mix that was a shelter dog he adopted from a local facility in the Ottawa/ Gatineau area. She was very calm and quiet compared to the average GSD. David was an experienced dog owner in the past, but felt he needed some help with this dog because it was either overly passive or fearful. He was having a tough time figuring her out. When He came to me, her behaviour made sense, because she was very intelligent and even had some minor wolf traits that would explain the calmer demeanor. Having dealt with Hybrids before, we took the approach that more intelligent the dog is, the less they will respond to commands and even play in a normal fashion. He needed to challenge her and let her make decisions that had an outcome she would benefit from. So, play and training had to be more structured for her. She would get bored of an exercise quickly and we needed to keep her challenged. The passive or fearfulness was just part of her temperament because she wasn’t used to normal dog play antics. She was more of a watch and study type of character and therefore too much or heightened play with others could have been overwhelming for her.
David’s comments after their training program:
I had just got Shilah (a female Shiloh Shepard) as an 18-month-old Rescue dog. I thought it was important to start training with her soonest for both to ensure she understood that I was the alpha and a great way to also start the bonding.
Shilah learns very quick and she adapted to both me and the home very well. She had gone from a submissive, insecure pup to having confidence around other dogs and people. She has participated in the pack walks and is well behaved. Training must be challenging for her.
Shilah wasn’t (isn’t) interested in the normal training such as with my previous dogs where you can go and practice the exercises for an hour straight. Although she learns quick and know what to do, she gets bored easily and wants to play versus train. Nancy found ways for me to work with Shilah to ensure she was continually challenged while having fun. Nancy is evidently very experienced and knowledgeable about dog behaviour and how to work with them regardless of breed or size.