Merry “Joy” Smith joined our family on Christmas morning 2021.  In preparation for Joy joining our family I read two Zak George books and watched hours of his videos.  By December 27th, I had taught 8 week old Joy to sit, down, leave it, look at me and spin.  Wow!  This dog training thing was a piece of cake!  *Except it wasn’t*. 

Trick repertoire and good doggie behavior are two very different things.  While tricks make us smile, they really don’t equate to having a well-behaved dog at all. 

While Joy was easy to teach tricks, her lack of self control when greeting people and anxiety over being left alone became big challenges for us.  My 75 year old mother asked us to leash her when she came to our house because she feared being knocked over by Joy’s unbridled enthusiasm for visitors.  Also, our adolescent pup was 100% ok ignoring us when we called her in from the yard if she was busy enjoying herself.  By the time Joy was 8 months old, we knew we needed help. 

I read several reviews of Carolyn/Developing Canine online and realized I had several friends who had used her.  After talking to everyone we knew that used any dog trainer, we realized a few things:

• 1.  We wanted Joy to do a board and train program. 
• 2.  We did not want our puppy to go to a board and train program where she would be gone for 1-2 months.  We didn’t want to miss out on two months of having a puppy! 
• 3. People who told us about Carolyn generally said the same thing: “it was an investment, but totally worth it.”

Joy went through the 2-week off-leash residency program with Carolyn in July 2022 after we worked with Carolyn to prepare her for her residency. While Carolyn did an excellent job of training Joy during her residency, the post residency training of our family has been invaluable.  Carolyn is responsive to questions long after you are finished paying her.  Truly, Carolyn is a trainer of dog owners as much as she is of dogs. 

As a graduate of Carolyn’s residency program, Joy has been eligible to board with Carolyn during our vacations.  If you spend a few minutes with Carolyn, you will quickly learn that she is incredibly conscientious and careful with the pets she cares for.  It gives us much peace of mind to leave Joy with Carolyn when we are away. 

If you are thinking about using Carolyn/The Developing Canine, I will leave you with these words:

It is quite an investment but well worth it.I have included a video of Joy, off leash and walking through a herd of Canadian geese at the park and also a picture of her calmly sitting with my mother while we gardened.  It was my mother who at one time wanted us to have Joy on a leash all the times around her.

~Melanie Smith