I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to Dave Walker, Hetty, Marianne and Christina of CR Dogs.
They’ve changed both April’s life and mine and given us a fresh start, so we are now able to “move on from the past”.

In June 2008 I adopted a rescue dog that had been found as a stray. Her name is April and she is a beautiful husky/shepherd mix who is now 15 months old. She’s is affectionate, smart and a high energy dog.

   When I fostered her for four days in April 2008, she was gentle, would sit,
   come on command and stay but she pulled a lot on the leash. She loved all 
   dogs and people.

   She was adopted to a family who promised to train her, love her, exercise her
   and give her stability. They did none of this and after four weeks, decided to  
   return her. For three more weeks she was kept in a cage in the basement and
   rarely exercised. When I saw her photo back on the rescue site, www.adopt-a-
   dog-save-a-life.com, I decided to adopt her. When I arrived to pick her up she
   was anxious, hyper, jumped on me continually and had chewed her bed. The
   good side is that she remembered me instantly and was happy to come home.

   During her stay with the family, she had learned to rough play, including “play
   biting” and jumping up. Neighbourhood children had constantly tormented her
   by ringing the doorbell and banging on the windows during the day to make her
   hyper. She was wearing a flat collar and had received no training. April was
   messed up to say the least.

   Life moved on in a positive way until she was badly bitten in August at a leash
   free park in Toronto and required surgery. Following that incident she now
   barked and lunged aggressively at all dogs. She was afraid of everything to the
   point that I took her out at 2am daily to relieve herself. It was a nightmare.

   April is now in her Level II Obedience classes. She is like an entirely different
   dog. Dave and his staff taught me how to work with her and become a good
   “pack leader”. The classes gave this intelligent and high energy dog focus,
   discipline, purpose and stability.

   April now trusts me for leadership and to keep her safe. She listens to me and
   knows her commands. Early into the first level classes, she stopped lunging at
   the windows in the car and barking whenever she saw a dog. This has also
   greatly improved when walking outside.

   We have more work ahead of us, especially with regard to other dogs but she is
   progressing well and I will continue to work with Dave and his staff at CR dogs.
   I have complete confidence in them.

   I am happy to say that yesterday April finally began bringing her ball back to
   me and dropping it at my feet nine times out of ten (yahoo!). She even does it
   at home.

   Thank you so much,
   Carolyn
   Toronto, Ontario