We took Mowgli, our 5 year old Catahoula to Shala, after she was recommended to us on two…read moredifferent occasions. Not knowing her at all, and only communicating briefly over messenger, it was definitely hard to leave our boy with a complete stranger. For context, we do not have kids, aside from him. Mowgli was reactive, protective, and dominant. We would never take him anywhere that we would encounter other dogs as he was very unpredictable. December 22nd, we dropped him off to her. She recommended a MINIMUM of 2 weeks, but after further discussion we ended up deciding to leave him with her until we were back from vacation, which would be a total of 5 weeks.
Our first impression of Shala was a little intimidating, and she was very to the point, but she did warn us of this. (Only reason for mentioning this is I really hope this does not deter others from her, because once we got to know her, she is truly kind heated person!) She was very good about keeping us posted on Facebook with updated pictures, and letting us know how progress was going. She was very responsive, and helped put our minds at ease when we would have our doubts, and asking ourselves if we were doing the right thing.
On January 27th, Shala came to our place, to drop off our dog, and to go over what types of changes would need to be made at home in order to maintain these new behaviours. She spent half a day with us showing us what he was doing, why he was doing it, how to correct it, when to give praise and so on. We ran into other dogs on the walk, and she showed us, in person, our once reactive dog interacting with others without any issue.
Today I walk though little mountain, hoping to see people and dogs. Mowgli is so much more comfortable in his now skin, and his demeanor is way more relaxed. I will still message Shala for advice and she is quick to respond and help. We will without a doubt be sending our dog back out to Shala when ever we need boarding, day care, or even just for a day to get some socializing. I cannot say enough good things about her. She is stern and direct, but she has a big heart and is EXTREMELY knowledgable.
Thank you so much Shala.