What our clients say about It's Pawsible

Meet Wally

Very soon after bringing home Wally, our lab mix puppy, Scott and I started to notice some serious aggression issues. He was only 9 weeks old and he would bite and act viciously towards us. He wouldn't let us pick him up and if we tried he would have serious freak outs and try to bite and squirm out of our hands. Needless to say we were very concerned.

I started to read all sorts of information on behavior and aggression in puppies on the internet. I came across the It's PAWSible! website and was extremely impressed. I called and talked to Wayne Parks for almost 45 minutes and he agreed that there was some reason to be concerned and suggested we sign Wally up for the August Puppy Pawsibilities class.

Scott and I packed up Wally and we trekked all the way to Westhampton from West Springfield (over a 30 minute drive). During the first class, Beth let all the puppies play together and mentioned she noticed some aggression coming from Wally towards the other pups. I told her we were having some difficulty letting him know who is boss and she suggested we meet one on one.

During our one on one meeting Beth befriended Wally and assessed his relationship with us. While Wally would completely ignore me and Scott if we called him, he would immediately respond to Beth. He was however, very aggressive when it came to getting picked up or restrained from doing something he wanted to do. Beth informed us something that nearly broke my heart - Wally did not respect me or Scott. She gave us directions to gain his respect - basically limit his freedom and make him work for everything - and she introduced us to the Gentle Leader which went to work immediately. At the end of the meeting she told us we had a 50/50 chance with him and would have to keep on him.

I can confidently say that meeting with Beth saved us from having to give Wally up - or worse. It wasn't easy, but we took everything Beth taught us to heart and worked hard to gain Wally's respect. After Puppy Pawsibilities we signed him up for Basic Obedience and then Canine Good Citizen class. He loves it! Soon he'll start another Intermediate Obedience class. He isn't perfect and sometimes tries to win back his dominance but he's still young and I'm committed to the training.

There are other facilities we could bring him to for training that are much closer to home but wouldn't even think about it! It's worth the drive to train with Beth at It's PAWSible! and would recommend it to anyone!

Jenn and Scott H.
West Springfield, MA