Archie went to camp with Gina for three weeks and came home a different dog. I'm still a little…read moreamazed.
He's a five-pound chihuahua who shakes when someone new walks in the room and basically lived on my lap or behind my knees. I'd worried a trainer would either give up on him or scare him worse, but from the very first day Gina put so much thought into making him feel safe. She texted that afternoon to say he'd already jumped into her daughter's arms. When he barely ate the first couple days and I got worried, she talked me through it and told me he'd come around, which he did. She took him on long walks around the park and the neighborhood to burn off his nerves before she ever asked anything of him. His crate became his safe spot at her house, a familiar place that was all his in the middle of a busy home with other dogs and parrots and training going on. And she started him on tiny, predictable rules, sitting before a door, coming when called, so he always had something he understood to hold onto in a new situation. She explained that for an anxious dog, knowing what to expect is half the battle. She also refused to pick him up every time he got scared, and warned me that part would be harder for me than for him. She was right.
Somewhere around the second week he started smiling in the photos. He was hanging out with her little dogs and her family, going on field trips to the park and coffee shops, staying on his place while she walked away, heeling next to her. He knows sit, place, heel and here now, and he does them for me too.
The turnover at my apartment took a couple hours and it was real work. She sat me down and explained everything before we ever touched the dog, then had me practice with Archie while she corrected what I was doing wrong. She's kept sending reminders and answering my questions since, including a few dumb ones about shampoo and brushes.
Here's the part I still can't get over. We went to a party a couple weeks after he got home, which is a huge deal for Archie. He sat on other people's laps. He licked hands. He barely cowered. Six weeks ago he would have spent the whole night shaking under my chair. Everyone at the party noticed and commented on the change in his demeanor. I was a proud mama that day!
If your dog is the anxious type, the one who hides, trembles, won't eat around strangers, or has to be carried everywhere, I really want you to hear this. A lot of trainers are set up for big confident dogs and don't know what to do with a scared little one. Gina does. She never rushed him, never forced him, and never made me feel silly for babying him all these years. She reads a nervous dog and meets them where they are, then slowly builds them up until they can handle the world on their own. That's exactly what Archie needed.
I honestly feel like Gina is just getting started with him, and I'm already thinking of when I can work with her again. If you have a tiny, anxious dog and you're on the fence, go with Gina. Archie is a different dog and so am I.
Thank you again for everything you did for him, and for me. Archie sends smooches.
Sheri
