A Life Unleashed Success Story
He came home a reliable service dog loving his work…
Client Submission on 02/10/2022
In the Spring of 2020, I didn’t know how to proceed with Harbor Rotimi, my 9-month-old service dog prospect. An adolescent, he obeyed as well as I could communicate, kept my indoor cats from perilous escape and knew some cool tricks like balancing on a Bosu ball. He’d surpassed my personal training ability, needed to clean up his obedience and was overdue for specific SD task training. The local trainer I’d worked with during his babyhood lost their boarding facility, and private lessons weren’t working out. Emailing any likely training facilities within 50-100 miles, I reached out to see if they, or someone they knew, offered service dog board and train programs in Colorado. At the receipt of such an email, one trainer reached out to Lisa and another colleague to see if either could help me. That’s how I connected with Lisa. She let me know she didn’t often accommodate board and train anymore, but offered to meet with me to discuss the possibility. After meeting her over Zoom and deliberating, I sent Harbor, now a year old, to board with her at the beginning of July. He came home in October, a reliable service dog loving his work.
Lisa employs a balanced training style, a perfect fit for Harbor, my Newfoundland/Komondor mix. Not reliably food motivated, Harbor loves to work and help however possible. As a hybrid livestock guardian and water rescue dog, Harbor thinks creatively for himself, solving problems as a partnership with people at best and as an independent if he believes necessary. To successfully acquire skills, Harbor needs both positive reinforcement and clear boundaries, both of which Lisa provides excellently, conveying confines without a heavy hand. She’s talented and intuitive with dogs, but also refined. Rather than leaning on raw talent and intuition, Lisa clearly works to educate herself continuously. With a broad foundation of experience, she practically hones her skills to teach and communicate with dogs and their people. Her imaginative and inventive approach to dog training pairs well with good listening, accurate observation and critical thinking skills, ensuring success for all parties involved.
Not only is Lisa excellent as a professional, she’s also just good people. She’s kind, embracing people and their dogs with warmth. She’s respectful and treats people with dignity, assuming competence. She attends to folks with both deference and clarity. Lisa is generous. Setting people and dogs up for success with everything in her power, she sent Harbor home with all the physical and informational resources he and I needed to succeed as a team, asking for nothing in return. Caring and driven, pleasant, personable, professional and a joy to work with, Lisa is worth her weight in gold.
