How Sit Means Sit Saved Gizmo’s Life (and His Owners’ Hearts)

I have only been with Sit Means Sit for a short time as their office manager and have already been blown away by the the results I have seen and the lives that have changed. One such case comes from our client Charlotte with her cattle dog, Gizmo. This letter melted our hearts, and we hope others read this and know that they are not alone; there is hope for your dog.

Sit Means Sit has, for lack of a better phrase, saved our dog Gizmo. We adopted Gizmo almost a year ago from a cattle dog rescue that had little to no information about his background. All they knew was that he was about 1 year old, came from a high kill shelter and was going to need love, patience and discipline. Both of his former fosters said, “he’ll probably be a good dog one day, I just don’t have the time or energy for him.” Despite these initial warnings that Gizmo would be a handful, my husband and I fell in love with his big ole’ head instantly, and did not care that he was going to need training. Unfortunately, despite constant exercise, reassurances, and challenges to stimulate his mind, Gizmo went from being dog reactive to being over protective of borders and aggressive towards other dogs.

About 5 months after adopting Gizmo, there were 3 separate instances within  a few weeks  to a month of each other where Gizmo escaped from the fenced area or leash he was on and physically attacked a dog. In all cases, we were so lucky and fortunate that the owners of the dogs was understanding and did not call the police or have Gizmo taken away from us. During this time, we hired one trainer/company who focused mostly on what they called “positive reinforcement only” training. The trainer was actually involved in the last of the 3 dog attacks and fired herself, because she realized Gizmo was too much for her system of training. At that time, walking Gizmo used to be a challenge on the best of days; he would pull, bark, lunge and at times need “rolled” to calm down. It wasn’t fun, and after the dog attacks, we stopped walking him all together. We were beginning to think we were prisoners in our back yard, unable to take him out.

After meeting with Anthony and learning about Sit Means Sit Denver, we knew instantly that we had found the answer to our problems. Using their training method, we have learned to communicate consistently with Gizmo what our expectations are. We can still use positive re-enforcement, play games, provide Gizmo with exercise, and as a result he is a much happier dog! Now we can walk just about anywhere in our neighborhood, he no longer pays attention to the dogs that are running behind the fences, and walking him is fun again. I used to only walk early morning or late at night to avoid running into too many people. Now, I love to go out for an hour during the middle of the day or early evening; I purposely extend the walk because he is doing so well. We’ve had at least 2 different neighbors stop us to tell us how much better he (and my husband and I) are doing. They say his change is amazing to watch.

Our guess is that Gizmo was never given much opportunity to socialize when he was a young puppy. When we first started going to group classes, Gizmo was as loud as he could be; barking is almost too gentle a word for the amount of vocals he is capable of. He was nervous and excited all at once and didn’t know how to behave around other dogs. After only 2 group classes, he was able to calmly enter the group and greet other dogs appropriately. Now he has even been able to play with other dogs without being aggressive. There are still times when the situation is just a little too much for him, and he shows his nervous/reactive side, but he is consistently showing improvement and ability to control his impulses in this setting.  I am positive that he will continue to show these improvements especially as my husband and I continue to learn the skills we need to communicate our expectations.

Last but not least, I cannot forget to mention our cat Ashley; she is a much happier soul these days too. For the first 6 -8 months of having Gizmo she hid, and darted from room to room lest he see her and give chase. He would growl, chase and in a few instances corner her. Now days, Gizmo understands that his job is to leave the cat alone.  Using the skills and tools provided by Anthony and Sit Means Sit, we’ve shown Gizmo how to control himself around Ashley so that they can live in the same house in harmony.

I cannot thank Anthony, Bob, Jimmy and Cassy enough for the help and support they have provided us.  Without their help, we may have lost our dog,  but now we feel confident and comfortable and look forward to seeing continued growth in his skills and abilities.