Emily Bonikowske
Jul. 29, 2024
Mary has made a world of difference for us with our dog, Pippin. Pippin has fear and anxiety induced reactivity which made it hard to have new people visit our home, and she would growl/bark at other dogs on walks. With Mary’s help, we’ve now been able to work through a lot of Pippin’s fears. She still doesn’t necessarily like strangers, but she will sit next to us as we talk to people she doesn’t know, and will ignore their dog. She also now allows us to have new people over through the use of the Place command, which Mary taught us. Mary was extremely patient with all of us as we learned, but also pushed us to focus on the training. She took her time with Pippin and genuinely cares about all the dogs she works with, which is obvious during our group classes. There aren’t a ton of other dogs at our group class (4-5 currently) which is perfect for us. Each class combines some consistent activities and something new usually. Pippin actually now loves going to group class where she used to be nervous. Mary also encouraged us to consider an anxiety medication for our dog, which we talked to our vet about who strongly agreed. Overall, Mary is extremely knowledgeable, fun to work with and has helped us so much!
