11/22/2024
News on our non-profit as well as a more personal and vulnerable explanation of the origin and roots of this heartfelt and exciting project.
So excited that our website is now live! Visit our simple and concise site to learn more about our services and vision.
Next up…
• Thank yous to everyone who has donated so far
• Grant application goes up on the site so struggling pet owners can apply for support
• Therapy dog program kicks off in early 2025!
• Our brand new boarding suite becomes available for Board & Train or day training as part of grant support. It’s gorgeous, wait until you see the pictures!
It’s amazing how much joy, enthusiasm and inspiration is generated from a project like this. Already, I have seen the seeds of a growing community of supporters begin to sprout. People want to help. People understand the struggles and come with amazing expertise, ideas and generosity.
For me, personally, it’s been a deeply personal and healing experience to create this. In 2004, I dropped to the ground, in the middle of a road, uncontrollably crying. My dog couldn’t handle seeing a person or dog 100 yards away. He needed shoulder surgery and he was barely nine months old. I had no money. I begged my credit card to extend my limit and they refused. I sold things, I worked two full-time jobs - a night shift and day shift - and a third part-time job. I heated my bed with cookie sheets I’d warmed in the oven to save on heat.
In addition to working close to 100 hours a week, I bartered assisting in training classes in order to take free classes. I tried, and tried, and tried. But I didn’t know how to train something like this, I didn’t even know how to live with my dog without second guessing every decision I made. Everyone had an opinion and most of them dismissed the situation as me being overly dramatic or intense, just another neurotic woman making mountains out of molehills.
I was brutally shamed online when I sought support - so severely that even 20 years later I won’t ask for help online even when it’s not a loaded topic. I was told I didn’t deserve to have a dog, told it was a mistake that a breeder had sold me a dog and reminded many times that this was absolutely my fault.
There was hardly any reactive dog community back then and resources were scarce. I found Pam Dennison’s book, Bringing Light to Shadow and held that book so close to my heart that I practically have it committed to memory. I found Tibby Chase and although she hardly knew me, her emphatic belief in my abilities and talents lifted me back up. I found Brenda Aloff and with kindness, brilliance, many curse words and endless patience that amazing woman transformed my entire understanding of dogs and our relationships with them.
I know the isolation, loneliness, despair, frustration, shame, helplessness, anger (on and on, right?) of owning a reactive, aggressive dog. I know what it means to fight to find a solution regardless of the negative blowback.
And so it will come as no surprise that this organization is my way of saying I believe you, I understand how hard it is, and I have created a way to help that will support you and your dog without having to fight every step of the way.
Between the brilliant team working with me, as well as my hard-earned and strong expertise with complicated dog behaviors, I know that many people and their dogs will have better lives and better relationships.
Let’s go!
- Elise
Picture of my beloved, reactive Kai, in a rather ironic press release promoting doggy daycare (a story for another time).
