Julia Day 1 year ago
I have two extremely stubborn, high-energy bully breeds named Misty and Moose. They both pulled like crazy on the leash and lunged at other dogs, and had a tendency to rush the door, jump all over guests, and get mouthy when they weren’t getting attention - But the scariest issue by far was Moose’s extreme blind-rage dog reactivity.
I had intense anxiety every time I took them for a walk, and basically stopped ever having people over because of how overwhelming they would be - I researched training options for over a year and I knew a shorter, more intensive board & train program, as opposed to private lessons over the course of months, would work best for our situation, but I kept reading horror stories about B&Ts where dogs would come home obedient, but timid and sometimes even traumatized as a result of rushed, impersonal training, or worse, overuse of aversives in a way that wasn’t fair to the dog.
I worried that positive reinforcement alone wasn’t going to cut it to change my dogs behavior, particularly because of how highly dog-reactive Moose was, but I wasn’t willing to risk their confidence, trust, and enthusiasm for fearful, mindless obedience. Tayah’s balanced approach to training is perfect - My dogs came home from their board & train with the skills and tools to succeed, and honestly even happier and more confident than they were before. Tayah spent several hours with me making sure I understood the how and the why to master each new skill, and taught me how to create the structure they needed to thrive back at home. She even continued reaching out in the days and weeks after they came home to check in and make sure things were going well, and answer any questions. Every step of the way, Tayah has been there supporting our success.
This has been the most amazing experience, and the best investment I’ve ever made in mine and my dogs happiness. Our quality of life and bond is better than it has ever been! I truly cannot recommend Tayah highly enough!
UPDATE 1:
My dog had a medical emergency yesterday and Tayah was the first person I thought to call. She calmly explained exactly what to look for, where to take him, and what the visit would entail. I probably could have gotten that info by googling, sure, but her help saved us precious time so I could get him the help he needed quickly. The time saved probably meant the difference between a relatively easy and straightforward procedure that fixed the problem, vs. a costly, risky, and life-threatening surgery. So grateful I can count on Tayah in situations like yesterday.
UPDATE 2:
I moved away almost 2 years ago, so my dogs hadn't boarded with Tayah during that time and it showed. I had kept up with *most* of the training practices she taught me, but where I lived was remote with zero neighbors for miles so we weren't really doing any leash walks, and my dog-aggressive guy hadn't had much exposure to other animals during that time. I recently moved back to Seattle and boarded both dogs with Tayah for 2 weeks during the move. Despite the time away, Tayah picked up right where we left off, reinforcing the foundation we had built and fine-tuning their skills. It was amazing to see how quickly they fell back into the structure she had originally taught them. They came back with a refresher on leash manners, impulse control, and a noticeable improvement in their overall behavior. Specifically she worked with Moose, my reactive boy, on his ability to stay calm around other dogs and maintain focus on me/ignore triggers. This was such a big weight off my shoulders and I'm so grateful she worked with him again before we got back to city living.