Decker

Decker’s story begins with a family of four looking for a somewhat larger dog that needed a home. I wanted company on the trails, and the kids wanted to experience what a larger dog was like.

We spent two or three months looking for the right dog, showing up at various places that had a dog that needed a new home. We had some interesting encounters, including one where the prospective dog immediately bit my daughter’s hand! But we persevered.

Finally, we received a call from a breeder who had a Standard Poodle that needed a home. He wasn’t a “perfect” breed example and was difficult to sell. We went to meet him.On arrival a pack of poodles and some terriers were out and quite excited to meet us, but there was this male at the back who was quite calm and just sat and waited. Once the excitement died down he came up and met the kids and us and we were immediately taken with how calm he was. We knew this was the dog, he found himself adjusting to his new home that night after some talking with the breeder. 

We named him Decker on the way home, and after a few days of adjustment I knew already that I wanted to make sure he was trained correctly. I saw signs of him only listening to me and that would be a problem for our family and him. After a search of what the Lower Mainland had to offer, we set our sights on Sit Happens and after the introductory meeting we had a method that we had high hopes for. We were not disappointed.

Our training began at a local park, where we met Jeff and a few of his dogs. Cash in particular. Jeff introduced himself and then brought Cash out of his van. Cash just stayed in one spot. He didn’t move! We were floored. Then Jeff said quite calmly, not too loud, “Cash, Come.” and voila. There was Cash. Amazing. How do we do this????

Jeff was not at all pushy. He simply said, if you are willing to spend the time training, he was willing to teach us.

The next week Jeff came to our home, and showed us how the collar worked. We all tried in on our own wrist. Even our 9 year old. She hardly felt it. Then he put it on Decker. Almost immediately Decker was coming to Jeff when he said the command.

After a little while, Jeff had explained fully what we as a family, were supposed to do to train Decker. We spent the next few weeks learning, training etc. It was so simple. Decker was pretty much trained within a month. Jeff came back for another visit and was really impressed. We all signed up for the free training at the various parks. This is where Decker really excelled.

The other dogs were great distractions. The training collar was effective, simple and in no time we had a brilliantly trained dog.

We don’t have to worry about him running out into the road, or running off on us. He quietly lays in his ‘place’ during our dinner hour. He will actually go to ‘place’ anywhere we want. You can see the picture of him on the log. He never runs towards the front door when people come calling. He doesn’t chase after dogs in the park unless we allow it. It is phenomenal.

The training is easy. Both our kids have trained Decker using Sit Happens techniques. Our 10 year old can walk Decker anytime she likes and we never worry about him tugging or getting away from her. Everywhere we go, every single day, we are asked how we trained Decker. We always promote Sit Happens and Jeff.

We put the time in as a family and as a result we have a well-behaved dog that has a great positive spirit. We continue to train with him and as a result he is a member of the family that has many happy years ahead.

If you ever see the Standard Poodle out on the trails up in the hills, feel free to say hi!