Valerie’s Sunshine

I've had all three of my dogs trained with Fran.  I have a Pug mix, a Dachshund mix, and a Jack Russell Terrier.  The most difficult was the JRT, Sunshine.  I've had her the longest.  I adopted Sunshine at ten months old and soon realized that she was not properly socialized to any sort of life situation.  I tried for years to expose her to situations like walks, car rides, dog parks, etc., but each event proved to be an embarrassing situation because of her uncontrollable behavior.  Over the years, I tried every style of training out there with top-rated and nationally known dog trainers, I even sent her off to a board and train, but nothing worked. When I met Fran, Sunshine was 10 years old.  I thought it was too late to train a dog already set in her ways of bad behavior, but because I was always searching for a solution to better Sunshine's quality of life, I decided to give Fran a try.  I signed up for group lessons for Sunshine to practice good manners while being around other dogs, but I, also, signed up for four private lessons with Fran.  The one-on-one sessions with Fran opened up a whole new world for Sunshine!  Fran got to know Sunshine really well on the one-on-ones and customized her obedience to ensure success for her.  By our fourth lesson, Sunshine was off-leash at a busy park performing commands as if there wasn't anyone else present, despite the runners and bicyclists whizzing by, children playing on the playground, basketball players running up and down the courts.  The ultimate test was when another dog was running in her path while Fran and I practiced Recall with Sunshine...she ignored the distracting dog and targeted me or Fran on the Recall!! The most important thing to a dog's success is educating the owner.  I now understand what works for Sunshine and I'm so happy that now her quality of life is absolute freedom.  Thank you, Fran! Valerie Wilson, Los Angeles