I do not remember a time while I was growing up that we did not have a dog in our home; 12 to be exact.  

Out of the 12 dogs 5 were re-homed, 2 were euthanized, 1 was hit by a car and 1 was shot by a neighbour; all because of behavioral issues.   1 of the dogs lived to the ripe old age of 18 years and the remaining 2 are my current dogs Coda a Border Collie/Shepherd and Mocha a Pit Bull X.

Coda was a rescue; she came to us with issues and over 6 ½ years I tried everything to gain some control over her behaviour  without much success.  I would walk her in areas where I knew there were not many dogs because she was so aggressive when she saw another dog even from a long distance.  She would bark and snarl at people and dogs as they passed our home; if she was outside she would charge any dog passing by.  She would jump up on guests as they came into our home and many times almost knocked my mother down the stairs.   We would end up driving  all over the neighbourhood to find her when she would jump the 6 foot fence in the back yard.  I tried multiple collars to control her including, a choke chain, a gentle leader and even a prong collar without success!  I took her for treat/clicker training that only worked somewhat indoors; outside, I could have had a steak in my hand and she wouldn’t care.  It was embarassing not to mention physically painful to try and manage her. 

Then one very late evening I happened to catch an episode of  “At the End of My Leash” on Slice TV and was completely amazed at what I saw Brad Pattison do with some very unruly dogs.  I contacted Brad and signed up for one of his seminar in Coquitlam, BC.  What I experienced that day changed my life and has made each day since a complete joy with my dog.  It wasn’t enough  for me to just watch Brad help families and their dogs live a better life I wanted to be a part of the change so I signed up to become one of Brad’s Certified Trainer Educators. 

During the course I worked with Coda to make her a better dog and me a better owner and now we have an amazing relationship!  I began applying the training techniques to Mocha the day I brought her home to ensure that she will have a long and happy life as a respectable canine citizen!

Because Brad is all about total human and dog well-being he has developed a program called 6Legs to Fitness™  for owners and their dogs to workout together improving mental and physical vitality.  It was a natural progression for me to gain my certification to instruct 6Legs to Fitness™ classes as  it keeps me fit physically and mentally making management of the dogs and owners in my life and training classes easier.

It has been a blast helping my clients enjoy living their life with their dog/s and staying happy and healthy. 

I look forward to seeing some new faces in SST classes and at 6Legs to Fitness™ classes.

Cat