Sit Means Sit Dog Training Chicago

Training well worth it and life changing. They say old dogs can't learn new tricks, but Ryan and Sit Means Sit proved that absolutely wrong. We have two large rescue dogs that are 5 and 6 years old. We previously lived in a rural area without many visitors and just dealt with our dog's issues. When we moved to the suburbs near our friends/family, the issues became much more apparent. Dragging the dogs outside just so our guests could get through the front door was just one of the many issues we had to deal with. Our German Shepherd did not adjust to the move well. He destroyed two metal cages and began marking in the house. Then the breaking point came - he got into a bad fight with our neighbors dog. We had ignored his dominance and anxiety up to this point, however we started to worry that he'd show aggression toward other animals or, even worse, people. It got to a point where we started discussing finding him a new home, which was heartbreaking. I started to Google dog training to look for a different option and came across Sit Means Sit. I looked at the website, the Facebook page, and wrote Ryan an e-mail. He was quick to follow-up with a phone call and set up a time to do an in-home assessment and demonstration. He took plenty of time to talk to us about our concerns and to assess our dogs. He was honest about the time commitment it would take to train our dogs, but assured us it was possible. After long discussions, we decided to invest in our dogs and do a 10 day board and train for both of them. While they were gone, Ryan called to let us know about their progress and even sent us a video of them training at the facility. When they got home, we started training with them regularly following the private lessons with Ryan. It is now 6 months later and we couldn't be happier with their progress. Our dogs are able to do things we absolutely never thought they would be able to do. They sit and wait when our guests come in. Our husky/lab, who was a runner prior to this, can be off leash. Our shepherd is now comfortable in his cage, has stopped marking, and is well behaved around other dogs. It has made our life better and less stressful. We could not recommend Ryan or Sits Means Sit any more highly than we do.

I cannot even come up with the words to describe how life changing Sit Mean Sit training has been for our dog Mystique. Mystique is a beautiful Blue Nose Pitbull that my fiancé and I adopted last year. She was rescued by our friends before she came to live with us. She had been used as a breeding dog and though I don’t know the extent of the abuse she endured I know it was substantial based on the level of fear that would literally paralyze our new dog. When we brought her home she would not jump out of the car or even walk down the sidewalk. She had to be lifted down and slowly coaxed into following us home where she sat on the other side of the living room for a week trying to decide what to think about us and her new home. Although she came around to us eventually everything else terrified her. We couldn’t even make it around the block without a bus, bike, bridge, elevator, dog, person with a cane, etc would grip her with fear and we would have to resort to picking up this solid 60lb Pitbull and carry her home. That was no kind of life for her or us so we began looking around for trainers and we are so glad we ended up with SMS. We began our training a year ago in October and I feel like we have a completely different dog. Our friends that originally rescued her also cannot believe the transformation. Our little girl is so confident now, she has become the life of the party at our big family events. She walks around and says hi to everyone and is always complemented on how well behaved she is. The real difference I think with SMS is that they truly understand and explain the way your dog thinks. We are now able to troubleshoot all sorts of behavior problems with our dog just based on understanding her. The other thing that I love is that once you complete the training you can start coming to group classes. The sky is the limit with the things that you can teach your dog! The class is for all levels and the trainers will help show you how to get your dog to the next level during class. We absolutely loved this during the winter. It was a great way for all of to release some energy from being cooped up in the apartment. In the summer they hold classes at parks all around the city. Another service they offer that we have taken advantage of is the dog testing. Mystique passed her Canine Good Citizen testing this winter which is a prerequisite for many certifications. Just this past weekend Mystique passed her therapy dog training. She currently comes with me when I provide care to a teenager with autism. A year ago I’m sure the girl would have frightened Mystique but now they provide comfort to each other. With her therapy dog certification Mystique will be able to reach so many people. I hope she will also help change people’s minds regarding Pitbulls. A SMS Go Team Therapy Dog group was formed from this training and I am excited really about the future events we will be able to participate in. If you are even considering training your dog with SMS sign up for a consultation. After 10 minutes I guarantee you will be enrolling your dog in one of their programs.

Sit means sit chicago is amazing! Having two small dogs that were both dog and people reactive made outings super stressful! I am so happy to say things are not stressful anymore! I am so grateful and happy that we found Alexa she has truly changed our lives and our dogs lives. I could not be more impressed with how much our dogs have changed in just a few months on consistent training with Alexa and her team! I highly recommend sit means sit chicago!!!

Ryan at Sit Means Sit has forever changed our lives with the training program we have been doing over the past several months. We have a 2 year old pittie (Sulley) that we have had since he was 8 weeks old. Sulley has never been a bad or mean dog, but would never listen to anything we said whether we were at home or in public. This made life with Sulley unpredictable and unpleasant most days. We really wanted to get Sulley’s manners under control and get him a playmate. We were hesitant about the Sit Means Sit program as we had heard about so many programs that just didn’t work, but after our free in home evaluation with Ryan we were sold. We decided to go with house visits for our training program as we wanted to work through all the struggles and see the progress day by day. Sulley can now do all the basic commands, plus a few fun ones. Most importantly, Sulley now listens to me and my boyfriend 100% of the time whether we are at home or in a high stress situation. We would have never considered boarding our dog in the past, but after the past 6 months of training, we just boarded Sulley with Sit Means Sit and couldn’t feel safer knowing he’s in the best care possible. As Sulley matured we realized he needed some extra attention around new situations and new dogs, so we started going to the facility for training on a regular basis to overcome this. We got to the point where we were finally ready to adopt another dog. About 4 months ago we adopted a 3 month old Shepard Mix (Zoe). There initial meet and greet went horribly. They could not even be in the room without wanting to kill one another. We continued to work with Ryan. With his direction and our dedication our 2 dogs now eat, play and sleep together. Sulley is always going to be a work in progress, but with our dedication and Ryan’s 24/7 availability, we have been equipped with the tools to deal with tough situations and enjoy Sulley every day. We have just started our one-on-one training with Zoe and we can't wait to see her progress just like Sulley did! Thanks, Ryan!