
I have loved dogs my entire life!
My childhood dog was a huge German Shepherd named Beaux.
Looking back, the story of how Beaux came to be part of our family is something that I wholeheartedly believe foreshadowed what my life's mission was going to be.
When I was maybe around 6 or 7 years old, my GG, (Great Grandma), randomly acquired a German Shepherd puppy from a friend of a friend, or something like that.
According to GG, the guy who had the puppy, kept him locked in the basement, and wasn't very good to him. My GG, being the bold, take no bullshit woman that she was, took the dog.
Nobody knows exactly how GG actually went about taking the pup, and we knew better than to ask any questions. HAHA
A day or two later, GG called my Grandparents, (her daughter and son-in-law). GG was TOTALLY overwhelmed.
GG had no idea what TF she was getting herself into. It was clear that GG's vision of what a puppy looked like, was quite different from what she took on.
TECHNICALLY the dog was still a puppy, (he was about 7-8 months old), BUT, he was a German Shepherd, so even at that young age, physically he was quite large, and way stronger than she could handle.
My Grandparents and I went to GG's house to meet the dog, and so long as everything went well, bring him home with us.
As we approached the house, all of a sudden a GIANT, (remember I was a young kiddo), dog jumped up on the inside of the front door and barked like crazy.
I was terrified. The noises that were coming out of that dog were like the sounds that rabid dogs made in the movies.
We kept going.
As my Gramps opened the door, the dog came running out, body ALL KINDS of wiggly, tail wagging like crazy, and gave me a completely different vibe - I was instantly in love!
Fast forward to my early twenties - as soon as my fiancé, (now husband), bought our home, we got a dog.
The internet was not yet used as widely as it is today, so we sought out a pup that needed a new home, through the classified in the newspaper. We struck gold and came across a German Shepherd/Husky mix, Dakota.
Dakota was THE best dog in the history of ever!
A few years after that, we found out about a 6-month old male puppy, Dilly, that needed a new home. I asked the woman all kinds of questions, which she answered to my satisfaction.
My husband went to pick up the pup. Dilly was utterly terrified of my husband from jump, which made the 45-minute ride home a bit, ummm - interesting.
When they got home, we made a stark realization; the puppy was not male as we were told - he was in fact, a she.
This made me question everything I was told.
Turns out the woman lied her liar face off to me.
Anyway - Dilly became Lilly, and her extreme fear of men is what sparked my desire to help scaredy pups gain confidence.
About 6 months later, we got a nugget puppy from a friend whose dog had a litter.
We were SO excited.
When we brought the puppy home when she was 7-8 weeks old, she was very confident, outgoing, and fearless. (Ummm - did I forget to mention that she is a beagle mix? LOL). We chose Roxy as her name.
Roxy and Lilly were the best of friends.
Until they weren't...
When Roxy was about a year old, she began to randomly attack Lilly. This was NOT playful; she meant business.
Roxy only ever went after Lilly; she never tried anything like that with Dakota.
I could NOT for the life of me figure out WTF the problem was.
We took her to the vet to make sure that there was no underlying medical issue that was causing her random acts of aggression.
She was healthy AF.
The vet we went to at the time gave us some suggestions to mitigate the behavior:
"Don't let her on the couch"
"Don't give her any toys/treats, even if your other dogs have something"
"Do not let her out/in the door first"
"When she is naughty - pin her down, or grab her by the scruff"
"Teach her you are the Alpha!"
None of this felt good, AT ALL, but I knew shit about shit, and the vet was suggesting it, so...
We tried the things.
We tried all of the things.
Some time passed, as we worked through these suggestions.
Guess what -
SHE GOT WORSE!
**NOTE - now that I know what I know, it is no wonder she got worse!
During this time, we were approached about being fosters for needy Pit Bulls. We said, sure!
As a result, I met a woman who offered her dog training services to the rescue we were affiliated with.
Out of desperation with the whole Roxy situation, I reached out to her.
GUYS - it was in that act, that my life forever changed!
This woman helped me with Roxy.
This woman TAUGHT me about dog body language.
**I was decent at it intuitively, but she opened the flood gates!**
This woman EDUCATED me on the power of relationship based training methods.
**also known as force-free training, positive reinforcement training, etc**
I was HOOKED!!
I wanted to learn ALL THE THINGS!!!
This woman and I have become close friends, and I am forever grateful for her!
Since that time, I have had the opportunity to positively help countless dogs; either by my rescue activities, our fostering, my training, my mentoring, etc, and I loved every.single.second of it.
In fact, one of those situations literally saved my life.
My mental health has always been something I struggle with, and at one point, I was in the darkest of dark places.
Like, REALLY REALLY bad.
My friend who was mentoring me, called and told me about a young pup that needed my special kind of help. Even though I was an emotional train wreck, of course I said OK.
You guys, in helping that pup, she in turn, healed the broken parts of my heart & soul.
#lifechanging
It became abundantly clear that helping dog's and their humans, live their best MFn lives, TOGETHER, was my purpose in life!
This is how Rebel Paws was born!
Need an in-home pet sitter?
- I gotchu!
Got a pup that needs a confidence boost?
- I gotchu!
Need to improve the dynamic between you & your dog?
- I gotchu!
Want to increase the trust between you and your dog?
- I gotchu!
Got kiddos, and want them to learn how to safely, and appropriately interact with dogs?
- I gotchu!
Does your pup have quirks that you need help managing?
- I gotchu!
Want to learn how to be your dog's biggest advocate?
- I gotchu!
There are scads of options, and I would love to help, if you are open to it.
If you are ready to do the work, click the button below to connect with me.
XOXO
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