“Last winter, we decided to “look into” training for our two labs (Buddy, age 2 and River, age 4) to help us correct some behavioral issues (separation anxiety) and have the ability to recall if off leash. Our primary concern going in was losing/altering the dogs’ personalities through this process.
Upon meeting Shawn for the initial in-house meeting and after the first training session, we knew we would be in good hands.
We went into this knowing we needed training just as much as our dogs. Shawn was able to help us become better dog handlers.
Throughout the training process Shawn always listened to our concerns and at-home experiences and tailored the training to fit our needs. His ability to connect to the handlers and the dogs is truly an amazing experience. His extensive experience with dogs shows and he does not push the training beyond each dogs individual stress limits. If there is a “dog whisperer” his name would be Shawn.
Our dogs are always excited to go to training and the SMASH K9 facility is set up perfectly for a learning environment.
The results we received from the on/off leash obedience training were immediate throughout the training. We were absolutely amazed at the progress we would see every week. We're able to walk our dogs through our busy neighborhood without them reacting to distractions (pulling, barking, and whining). We are also able to take them for walks off leash and recall when needed. We constantly get comments on how well behaved River and Buddy are.
Shawn is amazing and we cannot thank him enough.
We highly recommend Shawn and SMASH K9!!!!”