A little less than a year ago my husband and I got a 9-week old Cavapoo puppy that we named Stella. When the breeder handed her to us she said “she’s perfect”, and she was and is. But she’s a puppy and the last time had a puppy in the house I was 20 years younger with a 10-year-old to “kind of” help with training. Much like childbirth, I had forgotten the challenges and needs of a new puppy, and to be honest, I just didn’t have the time or patience. One day while walking Stella we saw an Atlantic K9 van and an instructor giving a lesson to a couple and their young pup. My husband and I looked at each other and called Atlantic K9 when we got home. My first conversation with Kathleen was so helpful, she listened to my frustrations with training Stella and how my needs were being put aside in order to care for her.  She explained how to prioritize my needs as well as satisfy Stella’s by increasing her time in her crate for rest I was able to get a workout in as well as work a full day. 

We were so impressed by Kathleen we decided to do her two-week puppy camp. While dropping off Stella at Atlantic K9 with lots of toys and treats we met Jenny, one of her trainers for the next two weeks. Jenny took note of Stella’s dietary needs and let us know that she would be cared for 24-7 as Kathleen lives on the property. This made leaving our fur baby much easier.

Be warned the two weeks away from baby is harder than you think. What seemed like a nice little puppy break just made us miss her more. Luckily, Kathleen and her team take lots of pictures every day and can be easily contacted by text whenever you need. When we arrived at Atlantic K9 to pick Stella up, Jenny walked us through 3 commands to take home. Leave it, Come, and Heel and they all work to this day. In fact, my first dog never heeled and I have to say I love it. It just makes walks so much more pleasurable.

About 4 or 5 months after puppy training we had an incidence where Stella would run out the front door of our downtown Newburyport home into traffic. It was horrifying but we eventually got her to safety. That experience prompted us to contact Jenny for an at-home training to teach Stella to wait for my command before going out the front door. Jenny did some tough love that I was too chicken to do and ever since we haven’t had a problem. In fact, we’ve had such a good experience with Jenny, Kathleen, and the rest of her crew, that we decided to keep Stella in Atlantic K9’s daycare once a week. It’s a little more costly than some of our local doggy daycares, but Atlantic K9 includes a training lesson with their daycare and Stella never has that doggy daycare smell. Most importantly, Stella loves going to Atlantic K9 and we feel good knowing that she is so well loved by the staff.