Writing reviews for dog training is hard, because I strongly believe it is very subjective to the…read morepersonality of the owner, the dog and the trainer. Everyone has to be comfortable with one another and on the same page to work well together, if it's not right, it's not right.
Stacey was very thorough in her session with me, but I made the decision after much thought to not pursue working with her further. There were a few reasons for this decision, not all having to do with her specifically and more for the best interest of my dog. I don't think she'd disagree with my choice either, as one of her recommendations was to rehome my dog (which I did a month after our session).
My dog is rescue, about 4 years old and has a combination of leash reactivity (reactive rover), human aggression and separation anxiety. The newest addition to his laundry list of behavioral issues was separation anxiety, my dog went from having only having leash reactivity to then human aggression at around age 1 to then separation anxiety this past year. I could manage the first 2 with avoidance, distraction and vigilance, but the final addition of separation anxiety that developed in the last 9 months was the last straw. I could not handle my dog peeing in the house and digging at the door because of his utter despair that he "lost his human" every time I left him home alone.
I called Stacey at the recommendation from another local trainer/walker who endorsed her for handling separation anxiety. And I would strongly agree, Stacey is amazing at working with owners and dogs with separation anxiety. She has had 2-3 dogs of her own who were much more difficult cases of separation anxiety than my own dog's. She put in place a very logical, thorough plan to help navigate through and help my dog adjust to a difficult big city environment as well as my chaotic work/life schedule. It is exactly what he needed, also, I knew that. I learned, however, that what needed to be done/changed quite frankly was outside of my capability - whether it was time, money, patience or changes to my own life that needed to be made to help him adapt, I couldn't afford and wasn't willing to make the sacrifice. That is not on Stacey - it's was really what my dog needed, big more intensive medication therapy or a new home away from the city.
However, another important reason for not working with Stacey, was my gut feeling that her firm tone/manner may not lend well to a dog that also happens to have reactivity/human aggression in the mix. She is 100% about positive reinforcement, the same methodology I use with my pet, but as soon as she walked in the door the energy, body language and way of talking was off for me. What had mostly surprised me was that while being positive reinforcement in approach, she showed up to our house without treats. Walking in as a complete stranger, without treats or a ball to distract, it tends to be a nightmare for my dog. No guest comes over without the arsenal ready. While I had those items ready and at disposal for her, I've found it takes the trainer likewise employing treat exercises and distractions in conjunction to ease the introduction process. That never happened and I was so shocked by it that I faltered in my execution as well. Her reaction was to immediately launch into a dialogue about preventing him from going out the door (which considering a bunch of variables that happened all at once quickly before the door was opened, I wasn't able to grab him in time), then asking me a bunch of questions about when he would settle down or what we could do to keep him locked up and away, which distracted my focus on managing him as well as moved away from our set routine of managing his discomfort with a new guest. I had a very hard time relating to her style and because of my discomfort my dog couldn't relax around her either. I had to put him on a leash, which being a leash reactive dog and rarely tethered up in his own home only made matters more uncomfortable for him.
Also, one of the reasons things got off to a rocky start was that she was difficult to calendar an appointment with (only one window given for 3 weeks time frame that I had to move my work schedule around to accommodate) as well as the fact that she was 20 minutes late to our appointment and didn't call. Her heads up instead sent over email had gone to spam, so by the time I was aware of her delay I was already frustrated. I did tell her that I didn't feel comfortable with how the meeting started and had some concerns about her style being a fit for us, before we parted ways. She did apologize.
In all, many variables set me on edge, not all of which were on Stacey, but combined diminished our ability to work together. I think Stacey and I found a groove in the end, found a flow to our conversation, but my dog wasn't having it.
Her final assessment follow-up was spot-on, which at least showed to me that she knows her craft. I just couldn't go forward
