We adopted Bella (1/2 Doberman, 1/4 Staffy and 1/4 Weimaraner) when she was six months old. Bella has always been full of personality, loving and enthusiastic. However she was not very disciplined, she jumped on people, licked faces, barked relentlessly at other dogs and vigorously pulled us along on her walks. She would occasionally even snatch unguarded food (potentially off plates!). She did all of these things in the best of humor often looking at back at me or licking my hand to say “aren’t we having a great time?” Her rescue organization had recommended obedience training and I located Canine Academy on the internet. We began beginner classes and day training. The classes changed a lot of Bella’s behavior and things were really improving at home, but if you added any distractions (other people or dogs) she would not respond to commands quickly, or at all. I left a few pet stores to put Bella back in the car and then went I back in to the store complete my purchase. People were intimidated by her behavior and it was embarrassing. The trainers in Birmingham suggested that off leash training would help Bella overcome distractions. I was very nervous about a six-week separation and worried that all of Bella’s personality would be trained away. But I read a lot of other testimonials on Canine Academy’s website and I thought that it would be unbelievable if Bella could respond to all the commands described in off-leash training. So after meeting with Linda and Lisa who explained the whole program, Bella attended off-leash training for six weeks in November and December. All of the Canine Academy trainers and staff helped me survive the six weeks while Bella was away at “boot camp”. I watched the blog and the Facebook page and made an occasional phone call and the time flew by. When Bella came home, I had the same experience that other people described. She still had all her quirky and endearing traits (somersaulting into you for cuddles and defining her conditions for watching television as a family (must be touching!). She immediately sought out and began playing with her favorite toys. The difference is that she does all these things in a well-behaved fashion and listens and responds to all her commands under all sorts of distractions. Her behavior is amazing and we continue to take her into more and more new situations with great success (she even recently attended a party and did not sample anything off the buffet). Bella is now a Great Dog! We wholly recommend off leash training. Everything Canine Academy said was true and we am very happy we did it!
Paul, Jane and Bella