GRK9 GTA of the Season: Meet Avery

How old was Avery when you welcomed her into your home?

10 weeks old

Where did you find Avery?

A home breeder called Jordan's Poodles and Doodles. I found the breeder through a friend.

What led you to choose Avery?

When I contacted the breeder, Avery was the last puppy left. When I saw her picture, I fell in love. What really convinced me to bring her into my family was when I met her. Avery was so sweet and cuddly and I felt like her personality meshed well with mine.

What inspired you to embark on a training journey?

A lot of people in my family aren't used to dogs or have never had a dog so I wanted to ensure that people who have never had a dog could be comfortable around Avery. I also wanted to be able to take her into public spaces and I knew that in order to do that, I would need some training support.

Could you share some of your initial training goals?

Some of my initial training goals were to get Avery to be calm in exciting situations and to stay on her mark without command barking.

Reflecting on your training experience, what was the most significant obstacle you overcame?

Helping Avery learn to stay focused and ignore distractions. When I first brought her home, she would try and run after people, leaves and other dogs when we went for walks. Now when people or dogs walk by, she remains focused on me and the walk.

What aspects of training are you currently focusing on with Avery?

I'm currently focusing on recall with Avery. She's improved quite a bit so now I'm working on recall in distracting situations with hopes that one day I will be able to take her to spaces and allow her to be off leash.

If you could offer advice to our clients about achieving their training goals, what would it be?

I would tell them to be patient. Training a dog takes a lot of time and energy and things won't change overnight, but it's worth it. Training is really for humans. We have to learn how to interact with our dogs in a consistent way because at the end of the day, they're just being dogs.