My husband and I have been loyal Wags customers fo...

My husband and I have been loyal Wags customers for about 6 years now but until recently, did not need to take advantage of the training offered. We adopted a puppy in October (our other dog that attended wags was older) and realized right away that we needed to be proactive with training (anyone with a hound puppy can attest!) We decided that In-home sessions would be best since many of our concerns focused on the home; we were put in touch with Joy to begin scheduling.

My husband and I set up the training sessions to mirror 'puppy pre-school' in the home. At our first session, we weren't sure what to expect but Joy was very nice and extremely professional throughout the entire session. It was amazing to see our puppy learn right before our eyes! Throughout the 5 weeks of sessions, Joy really listened to any concerns, shared in our excitement when our puppy consistently obeyed and was very patient with us! My husband has never had a dog from puppy stage, so he was also a bit nervous that he may do something incorrectly, but Joy would assure and praise him (just like the puppy!) that he was doing a great job (he was).

After each session, Joy would give us homework (reminders for the different commands) and encouraged us to reach out if we had any questions or problems.

When we started training, our puppy was CRAZY when we would put the leash on her (very vocal, tugging at the leash, resisting the leash) and after showing Joy exactly what we deal with, she gave us great suggestions that we have been following and now we can put on the leash without it being a big scene! It may not sound like much to an outsider, but this was something that was a huge concern for us, so Joy was able to modify some of the course content to address specific concerns we had.

After this session, our puppy now knows the basic commands (sit, stay, down,etc) and we're still fine tuning others (heel & come [when outside]). I can say that our puppy has officially graduated puppy Pre-school! The in-home sessions really helped jump start our pro-activeness for training and open our eyes to realize that we cannot expect her to learn things overnight and that it takes both owner and dog to achieve the command.

We are looking to take the next course at Wagsworth but just have not decided when!