​"I adopted Kieran January 23, 2018. I knew he was only a year and half, had heartworms, was found running the streets, and was incredibly cute! What I didn’t know was that he had never been socialized, didn’t know any commands, and had terrible separation issues. Those first few nights he spent with me were not the happy and fulfilling times I had envisioned. He lacked any understanding of submission.
I could tell him No! I could cry and scream at him. I could completely ignore him. He just kept being a pushy, bratty dog. It was like I had taken a 6-year-old child who was used to getting his way 100% and started imposing rules. He was throwing tantrums! I knew how to do some basic training: sit, down, heel. I knew nothing about what to do with a dog who didn’t respect me. I didn’t understand him. I had people telling me I needed to take him back, try to re-home him, anything but keep working with him. I didn’t want to give up. I was going to win!

I started diving into YouTube, watching 100s of videos on how to rid him of his bad behaviors. Some things worked. Most didn’t. I even ended up with a broken finger! I needed someone to teach me how to teach him. That’s when a friend told me about Maria February 26th. I called her on Tuesday, probably sounding hysterical over the phone, and she was able to meet us on Wednesday. Kieran greeted her at the door like he was a 4 pound chihuahua: jumping and licking and mouthing. Not something acceptable for a 75 pound German shepherd! Thankfully, I had been able to teach him to sit & lay down. While we talked at my kitchen table, Maria helped me recognize and reward the good decisions (at the right time!), instead of fussing and yelling trying to correct the bad behaviors. We had a lot of work to do & we went to work! I work from home, so I was able to get a lot of training time in. 10 min at a time, 10 times a day. I had so many questions & emailed the poor woman to death, but she always responded with positivity and encouragement, giving me pointers all along the way.

​The next week Maria came back, the door greeting still needed a lot of work, but we were able to have a pleasant conversation with Kieran laying at my feet. There was still a lot of encouragement with treats, but he was just lying there! I wish I had before & after videos! But things weren’t always this easy. That week he started acting up every night around sunset. I started calling it his “witching hour”! It was terrible. Biting on my arms. Barking. Running and jumping on the couch. Despair and doubt started to creep back in. Had I made a mistake? Again, Maria responded to my email with sympathy and encouragement! She told me this was normal and we would get past it. She gave me a couple of things to try and I started to breathe easier, knowing I had support.

Then things really started to improve. Kieran and I started working together! He would look to me for direction. When we were on the walk, he wasn’t lunging as much or as hard to chase after squirrels and cats. He was getting better about following my lead and staying to heel. We started having fun together! For our last session with Maria, instead of working on the walk, I needed direction on how to desensitize him to my kitty. They had been kept separate for over a month now and I didn’t want to make that our way of life. I knew trying to change a natural behavior like prey drive (chasing something small and furry) was going to be the most difficult. It started with us being like a Pez dispenser, dolling out treats for every little good decision, working our way from just him turning away to him choosing to lay down to him choosing to walk away from the room. We are still not to the point of independence, but I’m confident we’ll get there!

Now a month after our last meeting with Maria, I’m still emailing her and she’s still responding! We’ve had some crazy experiences and adventures and at least now, it’s more questions of how to fine-tune my training and about understanding his psychology. My ultimate goal is to go camping and hiking with him. Without Maria helping me understand him, we wouldn’t have the relationship we have now, and I wouldn’t have the hope of being able to have him off-leash."
​- Jen & Kieran