We wanted to let you know about a fantastic dog trainer (Nikki from alwaystrainingk9s.com), who transformed our fearful and frozen rescue into a playful, average dog. We adopted Pippin from a Wags and Walks, who had taken him in from a terrible hoarding situation. Pippin was neglected, malnourished, infected and so paralyzed with fear and anxiety that he couldn't function in a home environment. He also became maladapted and resource-guarded one parent against other family members in the house. He was terrified of passing cars, too scared to go to the bathroom outside, and was not able to engage with the outside environment. Instead he would have acute urine and bowel incontinence in the house with the slightest noise or provocation. We had visits with two different trainers and the best advice we got was to send him to a board-and-train program with Nikki.
Nikki has a soft spot for neglected and abused dogs. In 2 weeks, she earned his trust and built his confidence by having him face and overcome his fears, including walking near people, entering a store or visiting a park. She videotaped and made highlights videos of each day of training so that we could see what was going on day-to-day and also so we could observe and learn strategies to make him successful. After two weeks of in-house training, he emerged as a vastly transformed dog, and we were equipped to help him progress further . He was also able to follow a range of commands (e.g. "sit", "down", "crate", "break", "place"). Now he is able to interact and thrive in his new home and outside environment, and has turned into a very happy and playful dog. He still has residual "stranger danger", but that continues to improve.
In sum, we would highly recommend Nikki, and are grateful to her for enabling Pippin to have the life of a happy dog. read more
