Ben Kersen & the Wonderdogs Reviews and Highlights: student

Saturday, 1 December 2012

Sharon Toews - Graduate PTP Spring 2012

Sharon Toews, graduate of PTP Spring 2012 sent us an update, check out what she did to make her first puppy training job a success. Way to go Sharon!

Enjoy, Ben

Hi Nancy and Ben,

I have really been enjoying training dogs of all sizes - yes I finally did get the hang of working with a small dog. (You may remember how totally lost I was on the first free training day when I got a Yorkie mix, after only working with Scout and the big dogs in our class.) Soon after getting home my first puppy training opportunity was a 9 week old Havanese. I was very excited because I had done my class presentation project on the Havanese but had never even met one!

I didn't know where to start so I re-watched your puppy training video and couldn't sleep that night with doubts whirling in my head. However, you guys really do know your stuff and I should have trusted your encouragement when you said: "Remember you have more to offer your clients because there is no other method out there that compares to ours....".

Well, this little Havanese puppy responded exactly like your Border Collie did - "sit" to "stay" to "sit" to "down"... fortunately she was really food motivated! I can't even begin to describe my excitement! The owner was flabbergasted and sputtered, "Isn't that too much for her to learn?" I managed to hide my own incredulity and replied, "Well look at her! She's doing it all and I'm not even touching her."

Over the next 4-5 weeks I praised her for her puppy's progress and reassured her of being a good owner. The puppy is well on her way to being a dream dog but she still hires me for walking consultations and advice. I finally told her she no longer needs me because she has done a great job raising her pup. She admitted she just likes having me around for reassurance. Score one for holding my tongue!

Sharon Toews

"Toews Training Paws"