Kim Vanderheiden - Castro Valley, CA

“We are new dog owners who adopted a young, stray Rottweiler from the animal shelter. The shelter had her marked as an easy pet for beginners. She is a friendly pup, but was missing out on some training and was very strong physically as well as strong willed. When we planned to adopt her, I had been counting on generally bringing her to work with me. But she was reactive to the machinery in my shop, and wouldn’t stop lunging at it, which is extremely unsafe for her as well as whoever is operating the equipment. I am her main person that she’s extra attached to, and she was anxious to always be near me, even when other family was around. After a couple of weeks, she began jumping on me constantly, out of excitement, wanting to play, and also trying to assert her own will over me. When I held her harness to make her stay down, she would reach around and nip my arms. One day it came to a point where I had to call my husband to pull her off of me. I didn’t think I could be alone with her the next day. My arms were covered in bruises. My body was so tired that it felt sore to breathe. And I was no longer able to control her. I feared her life might be in danger where I had to bring her back, and my kids had wanted a dog for so long. I didn’t want to have to find a new home for her. A friend referred me to Manny. He came over to my house first thing the next morning and began working with her, and took her that day to board her for four weeks. What an incredible difference it made! He brought her back periodically to work with our whole family, and taught my two daughters how to work with her, too. He also came to my work place to work with her and made sure that she could be calm and safe around the equipment. After three weeks, she reunited with us, and having a dog was so workable after that point. After Manny’s training, it was easier than I imagined as a best case scenario of being a new pet owner. Manny continued to meet with us for more sessions afterwards. I’m also really happy that my daughters feel very comfortable maintaining the training and working with her, even though she’s a strong, sometimes stubborn dog, who is intimidating to some. Even if she is acting up a little, they feel like they can work with her through it.”