Dog’s Name: Sasha
Gender: Female
Age: 2 years
Breed: Lab/Pit Mix
Owner: Janice Watson
Location: Phoenix
Trainer: Devon Oaks
Package Provided: House Call 5 Pack
Janice has been given a scholarship to Paws for service dog training due to being 100% disabled from injuries sustained while honorably serving in the United States Air Force. They will not continue service dog training without the dog reactivity issues being resolved. That is where we come in to help! In our package with Sasha we are going to be focusing on leash reactivity to dogs and obedience to help aid in that.
Summary of 1st Lesson: For our first lesson, we worked with Janice on how to handle Sasha around other dogs outside of the home. We worked through all of our basic obedience on leash and collar and worked a bit with the E collar that Sasha has previously been using. Once Janice felt better properly handling Sasha, we worked on some dog passes. We got all the way through letting the dogs sniff each other & face to face interactions. At the end of the lesson we even had both dogs in down stays next to each other. Janice said Sasha has never been that well behaved or that close to a dog!
Summary of 2nd Lesson: During our second visit together, Janice and I met at the Quail Run Off leash Dog Park in Mesa. To our surprise, the park was closed for maintenance. We started with some basic obedience/long distance come commands on E-Collar at the playground. We utilized Phoenix, a dog that is currently enrolled in our BnT Plus program, as a distraction. In addition, Janice was able to introduce Sasha 3 other dogs at the playground durin the lesson. The other dogs even got face to face with Sasha. We ended on a good note with Down-Stays from a distance.
Summary of 3rd Lesson: The Phoenix, AZ territory manager Katelyn joined us at Janice’s apartment for our third lesson. Katelyn was instrumental in helping out as both my camera person/human distraction. We started on a more somber note as Janice mentioned that Sasha was having a hard week of regression with her basic obedience. She mentioned that the Down-Stays were nonexistent for the week in-between training sessions. So Katelyn and I set out to remedy the situation right away. With our help, Sasha got all the way up to 25ft away from Janice for a Down-Stay with dogs walking around. After getting Sasha back up her basic obedience, Janice’s mood changed completely. We were clearly able to see improvement in both Sasha and Janice’s confidence!
Summary of 4th Lesson: For our fourth session, Janice and I took Miss Sasha and my own dog Annie out to a few different stores. Our initial bit of time was spent at Petsmart in Mesa, AZ. This was where we practiced basic obedience with heavy distractions (such as Annie, other dogs, people, toys/treats). Miss Sasha really excelled at the off leash heel while in the toy aisle! When we were finished with Petsmart, we walked next door to Michael’s to work on Sashas introductions with people. She was the sweetest girl to all of the staff working there other than jumping up on one of the cashiers who really loved her. With our main goals accomplished for the lesson, we set out to finish up at the Home Depot. Janice and I helped work Sasha through some of her bigger insecurities about loud noises/large objects. I had Janice put her in a Down-Stay while we moved the large metal carts around her to which she accomplished. Sasha was only able to handle it after we had practiced in a couple of different scenarios around the store. To round it out on a good note, we had Sasha doing some long distance Down-Stays combined with a Come command.
Summary of 5th Lesson: For our final test of Sasha’s reactive nature with other dogs, we took her to the Countryside Dog Park in Mesa,AZ. Our goal by the end of the lesson was to have Sasha off leash and running around with other dogs on just the E Collar. To help accomplish this, we started in the smaller fenced area with just Sasha and my own dog Annie. After some passes and face to face interactions, we let them both off leash to play around with each other. I then had Janice practice some Come commands while Sasha was sniffing the dogs on the other side of the fence. Once Sasha showed us that she could be trusted, we moved to the larger side of the dog park with 3 other dogs. Janice was great at heeling around off leash and letting the dogs come up to Sasha with no reactions! Janice’s confidence has really transfered over to her dog. We could clearly see the results of our training once Sasha was off leash and running around with the 6 plus dogs there. We rounded out the session by having Janice sit down and have Sasha underneath her. I then encouraged all of the dogs there to come up and say hello. Sasha had zero negative reactions, even in such a tight space.
Recap of Sasha’s Gives Back Package