Sif the Akita-Husky Mix | Dog Reactiveness
Being a first time puppy parent is a little terrifying. I had wanted to have a dog in my life as long as I’ve been alive and finally adopted a Shepard mix this February. Not knowing much about how to raise dogs, I went through a lot of articles, websites, and just asked every dog owner I came across for advice. I had actually shopped around for a few different trainers when Sif was 3 months old and was referred to Ryan (Tuhai) by a mutual friend. Over the phone, Ryan was very professional and was able to answer all of my questions. We scheduled for a consultation and I realized that Ryan was the very type of teacher I’d want for myself. He is someone who is strict but can joke around and make sure you fully understand his lesson before he moves on. He explains everything you need to know, why certain training methods work, and the psychology behind it all.
In March, my boyfriend and I ended up putting Sif into Ryan’s puppy fundamentals, which are 5 private in-home lessons. This covered crate training, potty training, recall, basic obedience, and biting. This was enough to get us going for a few months and Ryan was always there to answer questions whenever we needed some extra help even after lessons were long finished.
As Sif got a little older, she started to develop leash-reactivity. Sif is a very playful dog and loves to be around other dogs, EXCEPT when she has her leash on. We could never really predict when she’d start barking or lunging at other dogs even though she walks up and sniffs them like normal. Sif also didn’t get along with small dogs very well as her prey drive is extremely high. We saved up the money and put Sif into Ryan’s Board & Train for two weeks and she came back a completely different dog!
She’s been home for 10 days now. Sif is able to walk on-leash almost perfectly now (we’re still figuring out how to control her in a high distraction area). We’ve only had one instance of her barking at another dog when we went on a walk, BUT she did it while sitting! So big accomplishment! She’s responded to 100% of recalls so far in a gated park (filled with other dogs) and in the house. There’s a ton of other improvements as well!
It looks pricey at first, especially if you’re a broke college kid like me, but it has been the greatest investment I’ve ever made! I’ve compared his pricing with many other trainers in the Bay Area and by far, he has the most affordable rates that are worth much more in the long run. Pretty much every other trainer will have you purchase a package with a limit private lessons and group classes, but Ryan has his classes open to all his students for as long as you need it. This is the greatest perk in my opinion.
We haven’t had a chance to take Sif to her first group class because of the holidays, but we’re really looking forward to getting some good practice in with other dogs around.
Ryan is an absolutely amazing trainer and he is the only person I would trust with my dog 100%.
— Vy, Christian, & Sif
Board and Train by Ryan (TuHai) Ngo