My people brought me home from the shelter in December, and were always telling me it was a good thing I was so darn cute because I was *such* a handful. I guess they weren’t quite prepared for my desired activity level OR my relentless independence. They read all kinds of books and tried to get me to do stuff, but, you know, sometimes I just wasn’t in the mood.

A battle of wills ensued. Mostly, I reigned supreme in these battles, despite my small size.

My people seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief when AnimalSense puppy class started in January. And to tell you the truth, class was pretty fabulous because I got to play, play, play with all kinds of other dogs. And I didn’t mind so much being interrupted to learn commands because I got lots of nasty-smelling treats – the smellier they are, the better I like ‘em.

Jamie – she the one in charge – she’s pretty cool because she lets me give her big, wet, sloppy kisses. I like to give kisses.

My people like Jamie, too. In fact, they say Jamie’s spectacular. She taught them how to get me to pay attention better and now I can learn all kinds of commands really quickly. Also, we always seemed to be loitering around after class so that they could ask her questions – she didn’t seem to mind, although I found it rather annoying (none of my puppy friends were there to play with while I waited!).

Ever since class started, my people tell me all the time what a smart dog I am (though I am still sassy). In fact, they signed me up for a new class called Recall and Leash Training. *I* think it’s just fine for me to drag my mommy up and down the block, but I guess she disagrees. Whatever. As long as there are dogs to play with and smelly treats, I’m A-OK with going back to AnimalSense.

Note from owner: We found AnimalSense on the internet and didn’t really know what to expect, but dove in head first anyway. Two months later, we would, and have, recommended AnimalSense to everyone. Our class was small and personal and Jamie is unbelievably skilled at not only relating to and training dogs, but doing the same for their people as well.

We live in the city, but work in the south suburbs and Pepper comes to work with us. We drove an hour every Tuesday to get to our puppy classes from work. We would now go anywhere in the greater Chicagoland Area (we’d probably stop at state lines) to take these classes. It is more than worth it because our relationship with our dog is 100 times better after having taken an AnimalSense class.

Kelly Fallon & Chris Wilson