My name is Jen and the cute boy in the picture is my dog Ollie who is a 5 year old Boxer/Shepherd mix. I adopted Ollie about 3 years ago from the Michigan Humane Society. From that fact, you can probably guess that we just moved here a little while ago. The Humane Society had no clue as to where Ollie was from except for the fact that he came from a rural Ohio shelter that had a flood and needed a place for their animals. By the looks of him (few scars on his nose), we think that he got into a few fights while he was a runner. Ollie has a great personality. He loves humans (big and small) and considering that he was taken away from his two sisters (lab mix and a border collie) and his home, he is doing quite well. So you are probably wondering why am I training with Jeff? Well, Ollie has an issue with other dogs (aggression to be exact) especially Shepherds. My parents owned a Shepherd and every time they would come over, I would have to lock Ollie in another room so that he would not attack Bear (my parent’s dog). He would lunge at the window when they pulled up and I could not even keep him on a leash in the same room without him wanting to attack Bear.
I never had done formal training with Ollie and thought that it would be a good opportunity to bond with him when we moved out here. I considered places like PetSmart or community classes, but with Ollie’s dog aggression issues was not sure if it would work. My sister happened to come across Jeff’s website and forwarded it to me. After reading about Jeff and his teaching methods, I thought that I would give it a try. After meeting Jeff, I knew that I wanted to become his client. I must admit I was a bit nervous that first night because I did not know what to expect. Within the first session, Jeff had Ollie (and me) sitting and walking (heeling). The next session he brought out Max and though Ollie growled at him with correction he stopped. Jeff was able to bring Max within about 3 feet from Ollie and he did not move or become aggressive. You just can’t imagine my astonishment, but also my joy in seeing that. We have had a few session now and Ollie is making tremendous progress. I know that I would have never been able to do this without Jeff’s help and guidance.
Jen Stanislawski and Ollie Wakefield RI