My rescue beagle, Montana, was quite a handful for myself and our family when my husband and young adult daughter brought him home from a rescue shelter. Montana was 12.5 years of age when he came to us and was in a shelter for the previous 5 months. Though we had a beagle for 18 years and were very familiar with dogs all our lives, Montana took the cake! He was very stubborn and strong willed and nothing seemed to help him to make him listen to us. He continually jumped on furniture (which we had to baracade with bar stools, would constantly grab things, like shoes, slippers and anything else that hit the floor, so all the bedroom doors needed to be kept shut. He also seemed to be a bolter out the door and we were concerned he would get out and would not listen if he was called to come back. Also, Montana had very bad Toy Guarding and we learned this unfortunately by surprise. He would growl and bite if we approached him get something out of his mouth he should not have. I understood being a rescue dog, that Montana had never been socialized, introduced to people, dogs, and children, and had not even been introduced to normal walks, such as cars going by, people walking by dogs walking by etc.....because all Montana wanted to do is growl and go after whatever went by him. I thought what in the heck did my husband and daughter bring home! Though Montana did make some progress with us, after 4 months of being tortured and living like prisoners in our own home, my husband and I decided we would have to send him back. At the age of 52, and 55 respectively for myself and my husband and caring for aging parents, he was just too much for us. My daughter was devastated. She pleaded her case in that he was making progress and we were giving up too early on him. After listening to what she said, I decided I would give Montana one more try and a) that he would be on probation, if he bit or did anything really bad his time was up; and b) that I would enroll him in a training class to see if that would help. That is when we met Betsy. I forewarned Betsy that this was Montana's last ditch effort to stay in our home as our family pet. I warned her about the aggressive toy guarding and the things he had been doing. Betsy's training was not only to work with him one on one in each command but to explain the importance to me working with at home and to continue the training there. Consistency was the key. If he wasn't allowed on the furniture, he wasn't allowed, we were not to give in a time or two....etc. That the good thing with Montana is that we knew what his trigger was and we would work on it and it could be improved, though it would take a very long time to improve the Toy Guarding and for him to gain our trust. Montana now knows "sit", "stay" he is a work in progress on "leave it", his hardest command to date, and will drop a toy for a high end treat. Since Betsy had experience in working with rescue's, I felt Montana was in capable hands. I talked to Betsy at length on the phone before she met Montana. Betsy helped me to better understand and work with him and continue to be patient with training. Montana comes when called using the command "touch" and will now come to me without a treat in hand. Betsy was firm with Montana and did not show fear. She also explained that walks would help him get his nervous energy out and be better able to train and listen even though we crate trained him during the day.....walks were very important to this type of dog. Betsy is continuing to work with Montana on the next level and I am very hopeful that Montana will continue to improve. Montana enjoys seeing Betsy and working with her. Though I have not officially announced to the family that Montana's probation is up, I have slowly become more attached to him and he is my favorite greeter when I arrive home from work. He is so excited to see me!! So now, we are working on Montana trying to sit or at least have all 4 paws on the floor until I give him any type of affection upon walking in the door. He does this for about 3 to 5 seconds......still continues to be a work in progress, but has come to trust us more and return affection and love. Betsy had a big hand in helping Montana to become a better dog and still continues with his training.

Betsy is extremely knowledgeable and well experienced in a variety of animals, especially dogs. Her love of animals are only matched by her wonderful personality and her patience. I would strongly recommend her to anyone.