Written by Super Admin

We rescued our mixed breed, Annie, with the best of intentions but soon realized we weren’t equipped to deal with our anxious, reactive dog. She was aggressive with people and other dogs, which meant we couldn’t even attend group training. Instead, we tried to educate ourselves so we could do the training on our own.

It was a disaster. We didn’t solve any of the issues. But we loved her and were willing to put up with her behaviors…until she bit our pastor.

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Written by Super Admin

After the birth of our son we decided to contact a boxer rescue to find a playmate for our 5-year-old boxer, Tyson. After about a month of Winston being in our home, he began to be aggressive. He would bite, dash out open doors, and would not listen to commands. We looked into many different training techniques, even shock therapy. After careful thought we decided to contact The Dog-Owner Connection. Karen was able to help us understand who Winston was, why he behaved the way he did, and how to manage him. By using positive reinforcement, we were able to create the leadership we needed to begin managing Winston correctly. Within a week, his behavior had completely changed. He showed us the lovable and eager-to-please dog that he is. We are so happy to have him as part of our family.

Stephen & Jennifer Massouh

 

Written by Super Admin

In February, 2008 we adopted a dog from a rescue group who estimated the dog to be about five years old. The dog had been a stray and was quite ill when she was found and, of course, no one knew anything of her background. She was a sweet dog in the beginning but after about six months she began to develop some issues that we couldn’t train out of her. Out of desperation we looked in the Yellow Pages for a dog trainer and found the listing for Dog-Owner Connection. The listing indicated they were experienced in our dog’s problems, so we called and talked to Karen Arnoff.

We told Karen of our problems and she said she thought she could help and gave us her rates. Knowing this could become expensive we did some checking with members of the rescue group from which we got our dog and although no one actually knew Karen, a number of them said they heard of her and all comments were positive. One member, a lady I have enormous respect for, a lady who is a lifelong dog breeder, handler and trainer, said Karen is arguably the best dog behaviorist in the state of Ohio. Based on that information we invited Karen to our house to see what she could do to help us.

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Written by Super Admin

I met Karen through my vet. That was in 1994. I had just given up on a class that I had been taking because the instructor broke a choke collar on my dog, Ace! I thought he had broken his neck. I never went back, and began to doubt that I would be able to train my dog or even find someone I could trust to help me train him. Then along came Karen. Without uttering a word, she walked calmly into my home, stood for a moment, and my dog sat! Then we walked into the living room, and he laid down! I said, "Who are you, and what have you done with my dog???" Under Karen’s methods Ace earned his Canine Good Citizen certification. I proceeded to take my parents dog, Mitzie through the same set of classes, and she also passed her CGC. As my parents aged my mom is in a wheelchair and in assisted living. Mitzie is VERY well behaved and visits daily.

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Written by Super Admin

In the spring of 1997, I purchased a 7 -week old very, very cute, affectionate and intelligent little Shih Tzu puppy. Her breeder gave me a book entitled: "How To Train Your Puppy in Just Two Weeks." Well, was that ever a misnomer. It would have been more aptly entitled "How to Make Your Dog Fear You in Less Than Two Weeks!"

My little girl was essentially a very well behaved, well-adjusted and affectionate little puppy. However, in less than 10 days, I managed to make her cower and hide under the furniture every time I came near her. She continued to eliminate in the house and jumped on everyone who walked through my door, almost knocking people over on several occasions.

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Written by Super Admin

Hi Karen,

We took your class over 15 years ago with our yellow lab. We have since lost our Murphy and were dogless for 3 years. At this point in our lives, we both work full time, have three children (12, 9, and 4) and have added a labradoodle to our family. Overall, she is a good dog, but we are in need of a little bit of help. (walking appropriately on a walk, not barking and/or growling at strangers etc...) It is amazing at how much we DO REMEMBER form our first experience with you, like riding a bike!

Thanks,
Moira L.

Written by Super Admin

We rescued Cheeba when she was 4 yrs old. She was afraid of many things & people, which was masked by aggression. Cheeba adapted well to us, but was very unsure of others & afraid of new situations. Karen helped show us how to use proper discipline for Cheeba to become a socially well-rounded dog. Karen showed us how to be the leaders & to recognize the dog's insecurity. We've had dogs for 30+ yrs and Karen is the first trainer to really understand a dog's disposition.

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Written by Super Admin

Karen Arnoff is the absolute best. I seriously do not know what I would have done without Karen’s help. For six years my two dogs lived together as best friends; they played together, slept side by side, went on walks and car rides together – they were inseparable. Then one day the unthinkable happened, they got into a horrific fight, I thought the one was going to die and that the other would have to be put down. I never in a million years imagined that something like this could have happened. I didn’t think that there was anything I could do but my veterinarian gave me Karen’s name and said that if anybody can help me Karen can.

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Written by Super Admin

I am so happy that my dog Mini Me and I took Karen’s group class. When I first got the pup, she was very easily distracted and that made it challenging for me to bond with her. But Karen did a super job of helping me bond with Mini Me and now she and I are a true pair.

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Written by Super Admin

Hi Karen,

We wanted to thank you for all the help that you have given us. We had not had a dog for many years. You were such a big help when we got Bella, our rescue dog with a mind of her own, a couple of years ago. The method that you taught us about bonding being the best way to train her, with a lot of patience, changed her from being difficult to a wonderful loving dog.

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Written by Super Admin

We first contacted Karen when our dog was starting to act aggressively toward us. In our first session, Karen was able to diagnose the issue with the dog, and provide us with specific exercises to overcome the problem. The dog went from being an insecure pet who frightened us to a loving and trusted member of our family.

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Written by Super Admin

I just had to email you to give you an update!! Sorry I have not been in touch since our conversation but the shelter has been looking at a number of solutions to help my lovely boy Huey.

Well, I am so excited to tell you Huey has not been euthanized! Although I was constantly being told that the adoptees were very knowledgeable and experienced when it comes to having dogs I just had a gut feeling all was not what it seemed! I knew deep down that this dog would not attack "out of the blue, without being provoked" and the more I kept asking questions the more the answers were changing, little differences to their story here & there made me think there was more to it than what we were being told.

 

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