An update from Michelle, our trainer in New Mexico, who is working with Terryn, who suffers from panic disorder, agoraphobia, and bipolar disorder.

“I worked with SDIT Sadie and her mom, Terryn on Saturday 6/28. Training went well. Sadie is now approx 5 months old, and had a couple sessions with the puppy obedience class. She is a bit skittish around the other dogs (approx 30 in her class), so the socialization will help. Sadie was a little nervous around my dog, Ms.Abby, however, Sadie warmed up to her after they sniffed a bit and did the proper dog introductions!

We worked on the commands “Sit with Stay” then “Recall”, and “Down” and “Leave it”. She is doing great based on her age! Sadie is still attentive to everything around her. I think that with Abby there with her showing her “the ropes”, she was able to focus a little more on the training, and learned that she got treats when she did what was asked of her. She got better and better with commands as time went on.

We eventually got Sadie to sit and stay with me, I dropped the leash, mom walked about 20′ away and called her, and she returned to mom with no issues. She never tried to go astray. Great JOB!!!!

Sadie is not used to the treats, as her puppy class does not use them. So in teaching her “leave it” with the “down and stay”, she was tempted, but finally learned that she had to not take it, and focused on other things.

Sadie is very aware of her surroundings, and Terryn kept trying to make Sadie focus on her with “watch me”. I explained that Sadie was just on alert for those that could potentially walk up to mom without her knowing.

After training, we treated both Sadie and Abby with a run in the dog park, to help Sadie socialize with a few other dogs – and she was great! She was not skittish and followed mom – even off leash.”

WONDERFUL WORK SADIE, TERRY, ABBY, AND MICHELLE!!