So, when she asked me if I would be willing to be part of her practitioner training, I agreed to be one of her case studies with my own dog. I truly did not know how it would affect my relationship with my dog. I really did not think I had any significant concerns with him– he did not have any aggression issues, or anything that would make someone reach out to a trainer. However, I did know my young dog was not as confident about life as he could be. He can be sensitive to noises, he hated the crate, and sometimes when I worked on training with him, he would just shut down and no longer take food from me or play with a toy with me at all. I was getting frustrated, not knowing how to get through to him that this could be fun. Since building my relationship with him by using the tools introduced to me by Sue, I have noticed a change. He is now calm in a crate, and he is more confident in general. He will actually play with me now, every day! He looks to me when he is unsure about something, and I think we have a deeper connection. This journey has changed something more for me as well now….when I see dogs out there in the world “acting out” I realize that in that moment, that animal is simply showing they cannot have a quiet mind. It has made me more patient with them in general, understanding that they are struggling with a situation vs interpreting it as trying to give their humans a hard time. Thank you, Sue, for inviting me to be part of this journey of yours. It truly is like nothing I have ever seen before to build a trusting relationship between people and animals. May you have the opportunity to teach this to many!

Cathy and Ryker