June 15, 2008

Dear Barbara,

We are writing to express our sincere appreciation to you for your expertise with the training of our dog Molly. Molly came to live with us in November 2007. We were her fourth owners. She settled in quickly, but we wanted to work on some aspects of her behavior, such as leash walking and “not jumping up on visitors”. After doing some reading and trying things on our own we didn’t feel like we were getting very far. We needed professional help.

We attended your “Family Manners” class in January. Your professionalism and knowledge put us at ease at once. We were amazed within the first class. It was like we had a new dog! And in a confined space with 5 other dogs! It felt like we had a place to start from, such as learning to “sit”, “down stay” and “watch me”. Your philosophy of positive reinforcement fit with our personal values. The class helped us to modify our behavior so we could modify hers. The size of the space and number of class participants lent itself well to personal feedback from you. Your enthusiasm and positive energy made us really look forward to your Sunday classes.

Once spring came we wanted to spend more time with Molly outside and in public places. We signed up for your “Around Town” class and just had so much fun! Thc class continued to build on the basics we had already learned and “upped the ante” by putting them to use in busy locations with many distractions. The locations were typically places we would frequent such as Wascana Park, busy downtown streets, outdoor cafes and even the airport. The class tested our training skills and increased our expectations of Molly’s behavior. At times this was a real challenge, but increased the bond between us and Molly.

At times Molly reverts back to some of her old behaviors but we now have an understanding of them and the confidence in our training skills to manage them.

We cannot thank you enough Barbara for sharing your knowledge, skills and love of dogs with us. See you again in the fall!

Sincerely, Nicole, Jason and Molly Pylatiuk