Furry Feet Retreat And Training Center

Our family recently adopted a wirehaired dachshund who was rescued as part of a puppy mill bust. He was in very poor physical condition by the time he was rescued. He was lethargic and subdued. His hair was matted. He had parasites. His teeth were rotting, and the entire left side of his face was swollen due to an untreated abscess. Due to the condition of his teeth, the vet who treated him post-rescue had to remove twenty-nine of them. In addition to his physical condition, his emotional state was also poor. He was completely shut down and untrusting of humans. His initial response to any type of stimuli or new situation was avoidance/flight/panic. If he was unable to get the human to leave him alone after his initial response of avoidance/flight/panic, then he would resort to fear biting. It seemed to me from some of his responses (stiffening of his body, staring off into space, bolting in and out of doors, panic at sudden movements) that he was, most likely, abused at some point and probably on more than one occasion. After his physical wounds healed, we brought him home, and he did very well socializing with our other four dogs (two of which are also dachshunds). He also slowly started to trust me little by little, but not my husband (he seemed to be more fearful of men). We achieved small milestones like making it to the point where I was able to get him out of his crate and pick him up without him resorting to biting me. He also seemed interested when I would talk to and pet the other dogs and began to approach slowly and get closer and closer each time. A few times, he even let me pet him and/or rolled over for a belly scratch! It was in these moments, when he let his guard down some, that I began to see his quirky personality emerge. However, due to the level of internal trauma and resistance that he seemed to have, we decided that we would need help if we wanted to speed up his recovery process. That is when I found Furry Feet Retreat and Training Center in Arkansas via an internet search. After reviewing FFRTC’s training philosophy, reviewing the various training options, and looking at the photos of the training center, I decided that this seemed like a great place for our new family member to heal and learn how to be a dog. I spoke with Karah (one of the trainers) and Jeaneen Niel (the owner) about our situation, and they were both very kind and understanding. It was clear to me that they truly love dogs and want to help each dog that they work with become balanced and healthy in both mind and body. So, without hesitation, I dropped our dog off at FFRTC for the Boarding Training package. After our dog had been in the Boarding Training program for nine weeks, I went to visit him for our Lesson 1. I was amazed at the progress that Jeaneen, Karah, and Lilia (another trainer) had made with him in such a relatively short period of time. I dropped off a frightened, reactive, sad dog, and returned to find a happy, friendly, tail-wagging dog who approached me without any hesitation, sat in my lap for a long time (this never happened at home, he may have sat in my lap for only a minute, or near me, but never for as long as he did during our first visit). He is much more comfortable being touched now, having a leash put on him for walks, walking nicely on a leash, and waiting at doors instead of bolting in and out of them. The trainers all tell me that he has stopped fear biting them as well. These may not seem like big steps for normal dogs, but for our dog this is HUGE progress! He still has a long way to go in terms of his recovery; however, FFRTC has done a wonderful job of setting up a solid foundation for our family to be able to continue his recovery at home. He is still at the training center for three more weeks, and I am excited to see what further progress he can make.

We have a dog that we got when she was around 9 months old and she was WILD. She ran from one end of the house to the other, bit your hands and face, and destroyed everything in her path. We were so frustrated with her and weren’t sure how to help her (an help us from not losing our sanity). We took a class a class at petco and it went horribly. It was a group setting and our dog wouldn’t stop shaking. I don’t think the trainers at petco were equipped to handle our unsocialized dog so we didn’t get anywhere. We called furry feet and they were AMAZING. We told Cara all of our pain points and what we were struggling with and we set up a time to go meet with her in person. Their training is one on one so Daisy’s anxiety was there but nothing compared to what we were used to when she was around other strangers. Cara explained to us what Daisy was going through and how we could help her. Cara is so patient and answered all of our questions. We noticed a difference AFTER ONE SESSION. Our dog did six sessions and she is a completely different dog. She doesn’t act crazy when company comes over, she doesn’t run around our house, and she doesn’t destroy our things. Fast forward to getting a new puppy.. we knew it needed to be trained before we were in the same situation we were with Daisy (correcting bad behavior) so we called and Jeaneen talked to me for almost 2 hours- this woman is AMAZING. She talked to me all about the board and train program for puppies. Anyone who owns a business and takes that much time out of their day to help you navigate next steps is someone you know really cares. Our new baby will be doing their program along with any other future puppies we get. I will always recommend Furry Feet