Jan 2004 I purchased an American GSD from breeder as “breeding quality dog.” Dog went everywhere with us, was exposed to many situations, people, dogs and children. Despite this fact, from about 16 wks of age she behaved agressively toward strangers and would even bark at the kids on occasion. I contacted Piazza Professional Dog Training and scheduled an evaluation with Sal. He determined after testing that Heidi had “weak nerves” and was a bite risk. He gave us our options; Euthenize the dog, give her away to someone who did not have kids or receive company, or enroll in advanced obedience and behavioral modification training for 20 weeks. For us the option was easy, we would do the training. We traveled 1.5 hrs to class each week for 20 weeks and did our homework. Over that period of time we saw remarkable changes in Heidi. We learned a great deal about correct training and behavior correction techniques. She became more confident and less aggressive. At her initial evaluation she was cowering, had her hackles up and was very skittish around any noise or distraction. She progressed to being able to sit/stay while we threw balls near her, drove an ATV around her close and even fired a gun. She is now off leash obedience trained, a successful graduate of Piazza’s Professional Dog Training School, and has earned her canine good citizenship certificate. She will never be a dog I’ll let loose unsupervised around strangers, but she made remarkable progress. At completion of our training we purchased a GSD puppy from Piazza’s. A remarkably different dog, confident, not aggressive, very intelligent. I would advise anyone looking for a GSD to see Piazza’s dogs first. Training was hard work and a big time commitment, but educational, fun and very rewarding. I would highly recommend Piazza’s for any level of training from basic obedience to personal protection.
Not sure if we’ll make it Sunday, but say hello to everyone and Happy Holidays to all. Kelley
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