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Sam Ivy was such a gift for my dog Habeebi and I. I’ve had him for five years, and never had the discipline or time to really train him (and train myself). He was abandoned, so we don’t know much about his history. As a result of not training him early, he engaged in a lot of bad behaviors, the worst of which would include aggressiveness towards me (including biting) when he was stressed out. We’ve been through some very difficult times that left me feeling hopeless and trapped. I love him endlessly, and 80% of the time he’s a normal, fun and adorable guy. But that 20% made things unpredictable and at times a little scary. My trainer Hollie has helped so much, both by providing the tools we need to set boundaries, create a hierarchy (so I’m leading the pack and not my 15 lb half shh tzu :)), and keep everyone safe. She’s kept me accountable, which I think is the most important thing in training. Dogs can learn, but is humans have to learn first and then be disciplined enough to teach. She also pushed me to enforce boundaries and be the aggressive leader I need to be, in the same way that parents enforce rules with their children, out of love. She helped me off hours in some tough moments when I had family visiting and Habeebi was acting out, so there was a ton of support in between sessions too, which I was really grateful for, never really having had anyone to help or support with my dog’s issues. Seeing that my dog can learn and change has been such a balm for me, as parents of aggressive dogs know, it’s a really tough situation and hard to understand unless you’ve been there. I’m so so grateful to Hollie and Sam Ivy. We’re not at the end of the road yet, but we’re getting there.