Roxanne Sullivan from DirtyDogWash is nothing shy of a miracle worker.

For six years, my family and I have effectively been held hostage by our dog, Gigi, an almost 7-year old mixed breed rescue. Gigi was entirely untrained when we got her, but she demonstrated herself to be a quick study and eager to please. The one command, however, that she did not learn and showed no interest in mastering, was recall.

Any circumstance that required a door to our home being opened necessitated either restraining Gigi, confirming that she was crated, or that she was in a fenced area behind our house. A devoted runner, Gigi nonetheless stole her opportunities resulting in a no holds barred all family effort to retrieve her, a game of “catch the dog” she thoroughly enjoyed. Although the introduction of a GPS tracker took a large part of the fun out of this game, escaping remained her favorite opportunistic activity. I finally resolved to end this behavior and began interviewing trainers and training facilities.

Roxanne was the first trainer to ask me about my dog, rather then tell me about a one-size fits all training technique. She suggested and explained a clear and logical training program designed to suit my particular dog & her problem behavior, outlined a rough time frame in which to accomplish this goal and suggested she evaluate Gigi in person to be sure the plan she had created based on my description of the dog actually matched the dog herself.

In three sessions, Roxanne had Gigi coming to me when I called her, despite being in an open, fenceless, unfamiliar green space, off leash. Although I am still working with Gigi to maintain her attention to me despite increasing distractions, the fact that we can have our beloved dog out in the open, fence-free and leash-free, is not only a joyous revelation for my entire family, it is a tremendous load of stress out of our lives to know that our dog is safer for this new and vital skill. Thank you, Roxanne!