-Josh C

I can’t say enough good things about Liz Watson!! Liz is our third dog trainer since 1993 and she is so much more amazing than the others.

Our dog Sam is our 5th dog since 1993 and he is a very expressive, very excited goofball at 1 year old. He is the biggest and most alpha dog we have ever had and we felt totally out of our league with the challenges he presented to us.

We started trying to train with Sam with our other trainer from a very well-known establishment. They focused on the hierarchy of the pack and correcting Sam when he did behaviors that challenged his position in the hierarchy. This was constantly.

They had us using squirt bottles to squirt him in the face and using a specific sound to let Sam know what he was doing was not OK. It was very adversarial and focused on the negative. I felt like I was in a competition with my Sam. I was not suited to that type of training because I am a very exuberant, touchy-feely person who loves my Sam very enthusiastically. With that style of training I had to be very closed off and stern with Sam. I was not good at changing my personality. It broke my heart to always be correcting Sam in a very stand-offish, dispassionate way. So it was not going well. Sam was still bouncy, huge, mouthy—If I’m honest—bitey— and out of control with our best efforts and many training sessions.

We had an even bigger problem when Sam started challenging my 7-year old— stealing her food, blocking me from hugging her and growling angrily and even biting her at times.

I recalled my friend did Board and Train with her Golden Retriever when he was out of control with Riverdog. Riverdog is no longer offering Board and Train, so I asked the local FB page for recommendations. So many people recommended Liz at SnoValley.

(Cue the flute music)

Liz was. absolutely. amazing. from. the. first. moment. she. arrived!!! She seriously had our big, goofy, out of control goober acting like the dogs on the Caesar Milan show within minutes. Sam was more calm, compliant and focused than I had ever seen him. Liz focused on managing Sam’s excitement levels and ways to interrupt his states of mind in order to redirect him. This was a style of training I could really relate to as a mom and former daycare provider. Everything she said just naturally made sense and she was very thorough in her explanations, bringing in background information that gave us the reasons why we were to do certain things. Suddenly I did not have to withhold my love or be perfect at correcting every single thing. Suddenly the way I was naturally was compatible with what my dog needed from me. It was a huge confidence boost knowing I had the skills and ability to train my dog and suddenly I had hope we were going to be able to handle Sam responsibly and he would add to our family’s life quality and our bad times would go away.  I am enormously grateful to Liz for being able to match the training to my personality and skills.

Liz’s magical power to calm Sam down so intensely lasted well after she left. Sam was like a different dog from then on. And every time she comes for training she tells me exactly what I am doing whether it’s right or wrong and I leave sessions feeling like I know exactly what to do and how to do it and because of that I follow through way better than with any other trainer we’ve had. Ironically, we are doing the same things as with past trainers, but now I know so much more about why and what it means to Sam. It’s so reassuring.

Sam is a different dog. He is thriving. Our family is safe and strong. No more fears of whether he’d be better off with a different family. No more biting and scary leadership clashes.  And I am so much more confident and excited and focused on Sam’s training! And Sam gets to have my endless love in a healthy and disciplined way.

Liz can help your family too!! Don’t suffer in chaos and fear and danger anymore. She handles dogs that are even more alpha than Sam—beautifully!!

Thank you Liz Watson for giving me back my strong, calm, unified and peaceful family :)  It’s a huge gift to us and we are eternally grateful.

Tara S