The Leszczynski Family – “Zoro” Portuguese Water Dog
In 2009 we decided to add a dog to our family. I had been researching breeds for several years and we chose a Portuguese Water Dog puppy. We have had dogs before and were really not expecting any large upset. We enrolled ourselves in the Beginner's training with Canine Academy and missed a few weeks because Zoro was in the hospital and almost died but they really did not know what caused it. We joined the Intermediate training course and made it through 2 sessions before he was rushed to emergency again. This time he had eaten 3 articles of clothing and had to have them removed from his intestines. We still thought we could watch him better and handle it ourselves; he became our whole family's nightmare. After the 5th vet visit, thousands of dollars, and too much heart ache we called Lisa and met with her about Off Leash Training.
Zoro is now 18 months old and the Off Leash Program truly saved his life. He would never have stopped stealing and eating things that were not ingestible nor were we able to watch him every second of every day and enjoy life. The Off Leash Program is not a way for someone else to train your dog, but rather a way to get the core skills taught in a controlled environment so that they stick. It did take another good 6 months of enforcement at home to really get our crazy guy to think before he acts but no more over night stays in the doggie hospital and he really is a joy rather than a burden now. Zoro is a very happy dog and we are very happy dog owners!