Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by clients do not necessarily reflect the views of Dog Remedy, and accordingly cannot be held accountable for the views of some content contained herein. Original letters and pictures are in our office and available for review.

Dear David and Tatiana:

We can’t express how enjoyable you’ve made our lives. Everyone said that living with three dogs would be overwhelming and that raising two puppies together would drive us crazy. We had this idea that our love for the animals, along with everything we had invested in training, would make things run seamlessly. We had already spent thousands training our 5 year old Vizsla—surely that would help. Besides, I was working at home, finishing my novel. I’d have plenty of lime to give each dog the individual attention and training required create a cohesive pack.

A year later, the novel was complete, but the rest of us were insane. We were being overrun by our 65 pound Vizsla and our two 100 pound Cane Corso Mastiffs. Our Vizsla should not have been a problem. Three years ago, he spent four months at the National Institute of Dog Training (Uncle Matty’s). Though he came back eager to do obedience work, his underlying fear aggression was still a problem. Thinking back, we should have suspected that Uncle Matty’s method of leash correction wouldn’t work. Once, Uncle Matty and Seamus got into a power struggle as Uncle Mattie was trying to make a point for some potential clients. Seamus growled, Matty corrected, Seamus growled again, Matty corrected again, and on and on until Matty declared that Seamus was the most hard-headed dog he’d ever seen. He then sent Seamus home to us.

When we got our two Cane Corsos (Romeo and Tessa), we started them in puppy classes with Shelby MarIo almost immediately. Through a series of three courses, everyone, including Shelby, thought they were the best dogs in class. She even wanted to use them in her spots for “Good Day L.A.” When Romeo got to be nine or ten months old, however, everything changed. Every male dog that saw him lunged at him and tried to put him in his place, and when he lunged back, everyone talked about how dog-aggressive he was. Even in our own home, Seamus wouldn’t stay in the same room with him. We were being terrorized by the loves of our lives, and only Tessa could keep things from escalating to the point of full-blown dog fights.

At our wits’ ends, we finally followed up on a flyer that we had found at TLC. We called David and Tatiana at Dog Remedy because it was obvious that the things we’d learned from Uncle Matty and Shelby Marlo weren’t working for us. David started immediately with a completely different approach. He talked to us and got to know our dogs by getting to know us. When it finally came time to deal with Romeo, all it took was one simple, 5 minute demonstration of the “off’ command. Romeo ran to the back door with his tail between his legs and his ears down. The next day, I took Romeo for a walk down Melrose Avenue. I saw another dog staring him down from the next block, and all of my old anxiety came back. But I simply followed David’s example, and said, “off” with a firm, soft voice. Romeo looked at me instead of at the other dog. When we got to the other dog, I asked if that dog liked other dogs. The owner seemed unsure but not necessarily alarmed. I looked at Romeo and said, “OK” As soon as he approached the dog, it lunged and tried to bite him. I said “off,” and stepped away, and Romeo lay down at my feet. The owner of the other dog was amazed. She said, “Your dog’s so well behaved.” I said, “You have no idea. This is all because of one lesson with David and Dog Remedy.”

Since then, we’ve met with David a couple of times to fine-tune our training with the dogs. We no longer worry about dog fights during our favorite TV shows. The dogs nap peacefully with our two cats while I outline my next novel. For Christmas, we took all three dogs to Sacramento, Reno, and Lake Tahoe to see our families. They played with infants, toddlers, seven-year old twins, and their cousin, a 150-pound Great Pyrenees. Thanks to David we have a method that works with all our dogs. We are finally living happily, and peacefully, with three loving dogs.

Sincerely,

Jason (and Katy) Sabich-Robison
West Hollywood, CA