Meet The Pack

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I put Garth first because ultimately, he is the one singular dog who really pushed me into dog training.

Garth came into our household 8 years ago as a puppy from the Cleveland APL. All of my dogs have taught me many lessons when it comes to dog training, but Garth has taught me the most.

When we first brought Garth home I was not a dog trainer, but we knew something was a little off. We chalked most of it to him being a very young puppy (about 8 weeks old). I didn't have the knowledge I do now, I had no clue what I was seeing out of him at a very young age. We quickly realized as he got older that what we were seeing was no longer a puppy issue. Garth had separation anxiety, and bad.

Garth's separation anxiety manifested in some very traditional ways. He would whine and scream any time he was crated, he always liked to be close to us, or more accurately on top of us. He would pace and panic anytime he saw us getting ready to leave the house.. and so on, but his separation anxiety also manifested in some less traditional, severe ways as well. He would immediately defecate anytime we would put him in the crate, panic, and then cover himself in said poop. At the peak of his anxiety we were bathing him and cleaning out a crate 3-5 times a day, not ideal. We also couldn't trust him outside of the crate. He would find things to ingest that he shouldn't. No matter how clean I kept the house, he would try to find and eat things that could potentially kill him. He has ingested socks, underwear, and at one point ate an entire 6 foot leash in 2 inch sections. The socks were an emergency obstruction surgery.

I tell Garth's story because most people think dog trainers have perfectly balanced dogs, and some do. Most don't. Most dog trainers I know have dogs with some sort of behavioral issues, and we have them because we know very few people can keep them safe.

We did what every dog owner does and googled any way we could help Garth. So much googling. So much research. We tried every trick in the book; get him another dog (enter Wayne) aroma therapy, music, thunder shirts, our own clothes for the scent, medication, CBD oil, something called nesting, I tried to tire him out with long runs before we left, NOTHING WAS WORKING. This was YEARS of changing up our approach with him. We went to several dog trainers who told us we have already tried everything they would suggest, and sent us on our way. It wasn't until I got into dog training myself that I started to make real progress with him.

Garth will never be "fixed". We will always have the occasional accident out of him when we are gone, now more like once a month rather than 5 times a day. He taught me to work with the dog in front of me. Garth doesn't fit into any training box. He has taught me to adapt, and think outside of the box, but he has been completely worth all of the hours of frustration. He is part of our family and one or the most kind, loving dogs I have ever met.

We brought Wayne into our household a week after Garth, also at 8 weeks old. Truth be told we thought it would help Garth to have a companion when we were not home, and as we established in our bio for Garth, that is not quite how it all worked out.

Wayne is a Cane Corso mix, and extremely well balanced. We really lucked out with him. When we initially got Wayne I wasn't super familiar with the Cane Corso breed, but I became familiar, very quickly. After doing some research I realized extremely quickly that this is a guardian breed that needs a lot of leadership and socialization at a young age, and that's exactly what he got.

Wayne is the calm, stoic glue that holds my pack together. He is the Alpha of our pack, and really has been the "easiest" dog we have had come into this household. I like to think it was life realizing we needed a little relief after Garth. He is a very calm presence, and I often call him the "fun police". If my dogs are outside running around wrestling a little too hard for his liking he will calmly walk up and shut it down. I envision him as an older gentleman hollering at kids to get off his lawn.

Wayne has been my dog tester for every foster I have brought into this house. He is an excellent judge of energy, and regularly can pick up on small energy shifts that I may not see initially. He is very much my dog. He listens to everyone in the house, as he should, but ultimately he looks to me for guidance. He is the reason I fell in love with the Corso breed. The majority of fosters I pulled from shelters were Corsos. When given the correct leadership they can be amazing dogs. I feel as though my path in life would have been very different had Wayne not come into my life to show me how amazing this breed can be.

Bear was a foster fail of ours, meaning we started off just fostering him, and eventually decided to adopt him. We fostered 3 puppies from his litter, including him. He is a Newfoundland mix, and now 5 years old. Bear is my wild card.

Bear very much marches to the beat of his own drum. He is strong-willed, confident, and extremely stubborn. We started to notice some behavior changes with him when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter. He started to be protective of his yard, and started to show some signs of food aggression with the other dogs in my pack. 

Bear has taught me that behavioral changes can come at any age, not just when they start to reach maturity. Change in environment (such as having a new baby) can alter the dynamic within the pack and household. I had to really go back to the foundational skills with him when I started to see this change. I had to forget everything I thought he knew, and re-evaluate him as though he was a newcomer in my house. With the proper communication and direction Bear is back on track. He still tries to push the limits with the dogs in my pack, but ultimately knows my husband and I are the ones in charge.

Scarlet is my 9 year old Female Cane Corso. She came to me at 6 years of age. She was seized as part of a humane case. She is what I fondly refer to as a "cupcake Corso". She has yet to meet a single person she doesn't like.

When she first came to me she had quite the list of fear based issues we had to work through. She has never shown any signs of aggression with these insecurities but rather avoidance and trembling fear in certain situations.

 When Scarlet first came to me she was scared of cars, car rides, carpet, stairs, ceiling fans, and the sound of a crying baby. She very much looked to me for comfort and guidance whenever she was feeling insecure or uncertain of a situation or environment.

With Scarlet, we did a ton of confidence building with her to help her feel comfortable in her own skin. I took her everywhere with me for the first year. I was positively associating any item she may find fearful. It was a very slow and steady process with her, working at her pace, not mine. Sometimes this meant taking her to the same parking lot multiple times a week to show her that a moving car wasn't out to get her. 

About a year in we had Scarlet pretty "bomb proof", she was no longer trembling at the triggers that once would send her into a panic. Then COVID happened.

I bring COVID up because, much like many of my clients, COVID effected my pack greatly as well. Scarlet took the biggest hit. When the world shut down I was no longer able to expose Scarlet to many of the stressors that would trigger her fears. I could no longer take her to stores, get her used to new sounds and people. Those parking lots I once took her to were now empty. Everything was different, life as a whole was different. There was regression.

The first time I took Scarlet out in public again, when they started to open everything back up her fears started to come back into play. She was scared of cars again, scared of loud noises, we had to work very hard to get her back to where she was prior to COVID.

Scarlet is a good example of how easily regression can happen. If you stay patient, and put in the work, the reward of having a confident and happy dog is unlike anything else you have ever experienced.