Testimonial 33 - Bailey

I was referred to Mary in 2012 when my dog, Bailey, was 5 years old. He had begun reacting aggressively to people coming into our home and to other dogs when we were out walking. His anxiety was the cause of many of his problems so Mary gave us a plan to help us deal with it, eliminating many of his triggers.

At Mary’s suggestion, we signed up for her Hollywood Tricks class. Bailey loved the class and so did I. The small class size and individualized attention was wonderful and we were able to eliminate some of Bailey’s anxiety by redirecting him to wanted behavior. He improved with each class and I learned a lot from listening to Mary’s suggestions for helping the other dogs. We signed up for the Hollywood Tricks II class and enjoyed that as well.

While taking a fairly long break, I had several embarrassing incidents where I could barely control Bailey when we were passing other dogs. Fortunately, during that time Mary had started offering the Professional Handling for Everyday Obedience class that was geared towards my and Bailey’s needs! We recently completed the course and I couldn’t be happier with the results. We learned skills we could apply to everyday situations, like teaching Bailey to stay in the car until I tell him to get out and how to pass a distraction. 

I learned to recognize when he is alerting on something – dog, squirrel, cat, person – so that I can redirect him before he got out of control. As Mary often told us, if he can look, he can work! So I keep him working! 

Bailey’s anxiety is still an issue, but Mary had great suggestions on ways to make him more comfortable. I feel much more confident in my ability as a handler and am looking forward to our next class!

Marcia M. from Westminster, MD