Aligned K9

Noelle helped me with some advanced obedience, impulse control, and upgrading my equipment for my high energy Aussie mix 1 year old. She was brilliant, compassionate, and thorough. My girl absolutely loved her and was so well taken care of during her board and train. Her training has paid off in spades and thanks to Noelle my bond and communication with my dog is stronger than I’ve ever experienced with a dog prior.

My German Shepherd, Aisling, is a very unique and special girl, and we desperately needed someone who would really see her and work with the individual she is. Noelle's flexibility and desire to adapt to each dog's individual needs was what attracted me ti AlignedK9 in the first place, and I am so, so glad we had the opportunity to get Aisling and I the help we needed! I would hesitate to call myself any sort of professional, but I have worked and volunteered with dogs in a variety of settings for half of my life (unless we count training the family dog, then I'm a lifetimer haha!). I have worked with many challenging dogs, but Aisling was a pup I could not puzzle out. We spent our first several months in turmoil, struggling, not exactly with her training per se, but her emotional regulation and her ability to just exist in a world that doesn't seem to fit her brain chemistry. I admit, I was very hesitant to consider board and train, and to consider the use of tools in general, because for the majority of my working and volunteer experience, I had been taught that those tools only mask discomfort and force dogs to comply through fear and shutting down. But we had tried everything else, truly, and I am so, so glad we trusted Noelle to teach us the skills to use these tools in a way that doesn't make Aisling fearful or cause her distress, but actually helps her regulate, and realize "hey, I'm actually okay here, I don't have to frantically pace around, I'm safe.". I never would have believed tools could make a dog feel "safe", but seeing is believing, and I really believe we may have never gotten to this point without Noelle! Here is our text from this morning, three days after Aisling's extended 11 week stay, chatting about Aisling goofing off while we work each other's boundaries out during our "place" exercise: oh yes I know she'll likely be a handful for life! But having these moments with her, seeing her personality come out, seeing some cheekiness and getting to laugh with her and have these times that I wanted so much for her as a puppy, it means more than I can express. I def feel like I'm having to train myself right now more - I am very softhearted with her and it is hard to lay down firmer boundaries when I see her more stressed because that's the opposite of what I've always done, but it's amazing to see the outcome: relax the boundaries, and she gets MORE stressed, and the more firm I am, the less stressed and more secure she is. I honestly had a really hard time believing that could be possible with these methods, but I mean, learning these techniques and applying them with her, and really seeing the results, seeing it's her emotions changing and not just her shutting down or being afraid to act out, and instead actually getting MORE acting out in a way (although I would still say, far FAR less than I expected! She has had a smoother time coming back home than I thought she would have for sure!) because it's less stress, and more personality and coming into herself...I mean, it's really really amazing, and it's teaching me and proving to me something totally new, and I'm so glad for that experience. Thank you so so much for everything you have done for us. I am so excited and relieved and like, I see a future for her and for us now, and that's so huge.