Playful Pandemonium

We feel so lucky to have discovered Summer at Playful Pandemonium! We thought she would help us train our newly adopted dog, Flow. We didn’t realize that Summer would be teaching us — Flow’s people tribe — as much, if not more, than she’s teaching Flow. I’ve been mortified to realize how much I focus on and «reward» what’s «wrong» with the dog, the kids, my honey, and how relatively little I focus on and acknowledge what’s «right» and when I feel joy to be around them. In other words, I take the good stuff for granted. With Flow, I hardly notice when she comes and sits and does not jump up and loves on us. Yet, I’m inclined to raise my voice and bark at her when she chews Levi’s leather football. Why? She’s not doing anything wrong.
Summer is showing us that we can do it differently with our dog and our life. If I shift my focus from controlling Flow to steadily affirming and understanding her (dogs like leather and Levi needs to pick up or lose his ball), everyone is happier. Flow listens because she’s been met and understood and then our love affair grows, it’s not harmed by anger and fear.
Summer has been flawlessly patient and kind with Flow and our frenetic family. In our two sessions with her, she’s taught us how to use the clicker and do basic commands and given reassuring responses to our millions of questions. When she was on vacation, she quickly responded to our nearly tearful plea for help in getting Flow to not bark outside the window at night. Her reply was counter-​intuitive to me (throw the dog treats) and worked like a charm. Flow has not barked since.
All of this AND Summer does house calls at an affordable rate. I’m so happy Summer found her calling.

I have come to rely on Summer whenever I have any questions about training, be it for a dog with OCD who pulls during walks, a counter-​surfing ninja cat who loves food and is skilled at stealing it, or another food-​loving kitty who will do anything in her power to wake me at 5:00AM for breakfast (like pulling out my hair). Every time I have had a question, no matter how obscure or random it may seem to me, she has always taken the time to thoughtfully respond with helpful, and always positive, advice. Even when I get super worried about small things, I know she will take my concerns seriously, and I know she always has my animals’ best interests at heart. I can be overly protective and hesitant about having people care for my animals, but she is always one of the first people I think of to watch them. Also, she has helped me teach my kitties to do all sorts of cool tricks, like sitting pretty, high-​fiving, and going through tunnels (which they were initially scared of). I would highly recommend her to anyone who wants someone in their pet’s corner with the skills to help them succeed.

Summer had many creative and effective ideas to help us help our reactive little Shiba Inu learn to be around other dogs without stress. Change won’t happen overnight, but I am confident that with Summer’s guidance our girl will learn to be near other dogs without fear– and we all will have fun the journey!