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Manny's Story
When my fiancé and I went to the mall on that cold winter night, we had no intention of coming home with a new addition to the family. We made the classic mistake of wandering past the pet store and peeking in at the always cute puppies. As if peeking wasn’t enough, we had to actually take one out and play with it. Amazingly, we resisted the temptation to take the little yellow lab home…or at least we did for the next ten minutes. We soon left the pet store with Manny in tow.
From the moment we got our new puppy home, we realized that our fantasy of having a cuddly family dog might never be in our future. Manny was a bottle of uncontrollable energy, just waiting to jump onto or into whatever he came across. We were in shock. We didn’t know what to do. Then one day, we decided to just get online and find a trainer to help us tame the beast that was our dog. This eventually led us to Leader of the Pack Dog Training. From the first time we met Mark and Rodeo, we knew that they were the one team that could help us to better understand our dog and how to harness his energy by understanding ours. We flew through the beginner class and felt like our fantasy might still become our reality. There were still issues that needed to be dealt with, but we were off to a great start and Mark and Rodeo were there to help show us the way. They are amazing. Mark would focus Manny’s attention with a calm confidence that Manny responded to immediately. By the end of the course Manny would “sit”, “stay”, “lie down”, “leave it”, “heel”, and “watch me”. Soon summer was upon us before we knew it and we scheduled a motorcycle trip for a few weeks in July. We began to wonder who would watch our high energy lab for us. We couldn’t ask family because we wanted them to continue to talk with us and we didn’t want to impose on any of our friends. Then we found out that Mark, Lia, and Rodeo provide Live-in Training for extended periods of time. Fantastic! Our problem was solved. We quickly booked up the few weeks and Mark discussed with us the things that we would like him to work on with Manny. He made a mental checklist and assured us that he would do his best, including taking him with him on his many different training sessions with other dogs and taking him to work with him. Mark also promise to post pictures of our boy on his website so that we could check on him from the road to see what he was up to. Mark was true to his word in all areas. He posted pictures daily to show us the things he was doing with Manny. We were shocked to see the way that he was behaving and felt so lucky to have our dog in such great hands. It was so nice not to have to worry about our boy. Mark also held true to his word about working with Manny on the things that we had concerns about. When we returned from our trip, we returned home to a dog that was completely different than when we left. Mark had made more progress with Manny in the few weeks that he had him than we could have made all year. The best part is that when we picked Manny up, Mark and Lia walked us through the entire stay and told us how we should respond in certain situations. We must have talked for close to an hour or so and we appreciated it so very much. By being filled in on what they had done, we have been able to remain consistent and on the same path to having the dog of our dreams. Manny isn’t perfect, no dog is. What Manny is now though, thanks to Mark and his team, is the dog that we were hoping to get when we took that little yellow lab home on that frigid night in January. We would recommend Leader of the Pack Dog Training to anyone with any sort of concern about their dog They are professional, kind, understanding, knowledgeable, and most importantly, patient. Thanks Mark, Lia, and Rodeo. You are the best! |
