SO many of us have dogs – all require attention and training.
Last year we experienced the kind of service one needs to tell others about. We live in Uvongo and had been taking our son Rogan’s young Rhodesian ridgeback bitch Lily to Dogs in Action twice a week for training under Yvonne Eland.
A strong-willed breed, Lily was proving to be no exception, making strange dogs an unexpected challenge leaving us somehow unsure about our choice of dog.
Yvonne watched Lily with care including her in the training sessions in spite of her bold and to some, intimidating nature, often taking Lily in hand personally giving us no end of encouragement and good advice.
Progress was steady, but another challenge arose; we had found another dog as a companion to Lily. A six year old German short-haired pointer, a rescue dog, was to arrive in a week. To complicate matters, Lilly was in the second week of her first heat. Yvonne never once criticised the move but only took positive steps, coming to our house to see the situation for herself and to help devise a plan.
She talked us through various scenarios, listened to all our concerns and made a suggestion.
With a plan in mind she sourced a muzzle, chose a neutral area and then when the new dog arrived made herself available to facilitate the meeting in her spare time. This was really beyond the call of duty, but what impressed us most was her openness; firstly to ideas and secondly in that she never assumed to know it all nor to be able to guarantee success but was prepared to take a calculated risk and help us through it.
Yvonne’s experience really shone through once the stakes were suddenly high and the situation potentially volatile. Fifteen minutes and some clever maneuvrings later, our young Lily had a new companion and they have been inseparable ever since.
Thank you Yvonne, this was more than we could have expected and you have affectionately been called ‘The Dog Whisperer’ by Rogan.
GRAHAM AND ALISON VERCUEIL
Uvongo.
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