Uncategorized

Another important thing to note is that I mentioned to Jeff that I am an avid mountain biker and that I wanted to teach Rita how to ride with me and eventually with a group of riders. Jeff explained that he would come down and go on a ride with me to help. I decided that I would have a try myself and then call Jeff if I needed to. I never had to call Jeff. I never had to call him because of the basic behaviors that Jeff taught Rita and explained to us provided such a good foundation that it only took 3 rides for me to teach her what was expected on the trail.

I don’t even know where to begin with how much Jeff Gellman has helped Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue. Jeff has literally saved the lives of two dogs whose aggression had gotten so bad that no other trainer would help and the option presented to us was to put them down. In both cases the dogs went to board and train and are living healthy, happy, loved lives. I always thought of Jeff for the toughest cases, but he is great with all dogs and I have become a believer that all dogs can use the basic skills that Jeff teaches.

I took him to puppy classes, dog training classes, worked with several different trainers, took him to 2 sets of Feisty Fido classes at St Huberts in NJ, took him to 2 different vet behaviorists and tried at least 5 different medications (prozac, paxil, amitriptyline, xanax and valium) with very little improvement in his behavior.

I am shocked. Astounded. And on that first day, they came home — in tears. And that evening, a simple “kennel up” and both dogs walked peacefully and willingly into their crates and I was able to shut the doors. No whining, no crying, nothing. They slept, snoring. I don’t know whatever became of that other Hermione and Angus, but these new “improved” dogs, these wonderful creatures that are a joy to be around and who look to us now with love and respect, so willing to please — we think we’ll keep them!

Thank you again for your help with Finn in your Walk Guru program. I continue to give him two 20-30 minute walks a day and he is making such great progress with heeling and his reactivity to other dogs. When I need to get his heeling in check I use the “follow” protocol for a while and that does the trick. Everyone at the SmartPak office is so impressed with how he doesn’t react to other dogs now, even when they react strongly to him.

A week after we brought Rocky home we began working with Jeff. When I say there were instant results, I am not exaggerating. After addressing our issues on the walk, we moved inside to learn the Place command, which immediately began to change his energy in the house. From there on we were able to build a really solid foundation based on Jeff’s philosophy that dog training is not learning a series of tricks, it’s teaching your dog how to make good choices in the real world.

Mookie and I enjoyed a beautiful morning in Prospect Park. Before I found solidk9training a trip to the park on a busy weekend with dogs and people everywhere would have been impossible. After years of trying positive training with no success, I was so grateful to find solidk9training. Your balanced training works for Mookie. He gets out to enjoy the park and I am free from carrying a baggie of chicken in my pocket!!

After three weeks in the Board & Train program, his confidence had skyrocketed. He is still a naturally nervous dog, but the team at Solid K9 gave him a base level of confidence which I could simply never have provided him in a very short amount of time. They gave us the tools to work together and communicate.

The dog that came home from Jeff’s facility was not the same dog who I had dropped off there three weeks earlier. Using the commands I was taught, along with the remote collar, Boomer has become the dog I always wanted him to be. He listens, he holds commands until released and wonder of wonders, he was able to remain calm and in place when the doorbell rang. I am learning to use commands and the remote collar more efficiently and in a calmer manner thanks to ‘my’ training with Jeff.

I reached out to many trainers and “dog specialists” and not 1 of them said it was fixable, I was told that 2 female dogs that do not get along is the hardest thing to make work. They left me with literally zero hope. I even went on multiple forums and Googled everything imaginable and again all I found was the same….no hope. Then late, late at night I came across Solid K9 Training and couldn’t believe they were so close. I immediately messaged Jeff with my story and he replied almost instantly and assured me my situation was totally fixable and I did not have to relocate Maggie. He was the ONLY one that gave me hope.