I’ll relate to you the one thing that made me know that she’s the “real deal”. There is nothing subjective about this, it’s simply a fact. During our first session, Lisa asked me if we got “large rosettes” in agility. “We get rosettes, I don’t know that I’d necessarily call them large but that could be subjective. Why?” Well, Justice was telling her that he had won two large white rosettes but that only one of them was displayed and that it was hurting his feelings. That just wasn’t true, I explained to her. He had just won some blue, red and yellow rosettes in agility, but not a single white one. He insisted that was the case and Lisa explained to me that dogs don’t lie about things like that. (sometimes they fib, but they don’t lie).

 

At the end of the week when our national was over, I drove back home, four hours away. As I walked into the house, there on the mantle were all of my field trial rosettes. It hit me that Justice had won two fourth places in the field at the last field trial weekend we’d attended. Field trial rosettes are LARGE rosettes and fourth place is……white. I saw two white rosettes on the top of the stack of rosettes and turned it over to check the dog’s name which I always write on the back to remind me of who won what. Yup. First white one I turned over said “Justice” on it. Smugly, I turned over the second one. It did NOT have his name on it. I started turning over rosettes, checking names. As I turned them, I started getting a little frantic because I was hearing the TWILIGHT ZONE music in my mind. How could this be? After going through all of the rosettes on the mantle, I realized that there was a stack of stuff on the kitchen table that needed attention. Could it be? Yes, it was. Justice’s second “Large White” rosette that was not displayed but in a stack of stuff on the table. I showed it to him and also that I was putting it with the others on the mantle and then sat down to contemplate just how this could be. My neatly ordered mind of “things that are” had just been blown to bits! There was simply no way that Lisa could have told me this unless she really and truly was talking to the dogs.

 

Now, I will tell you that she’s not always right….but who among us is 100% all of the time? Sometimes, something she says becomes apparent months later. Some of what she tells you will be apparent right at the start. She may have you in tears, she may have you laughing but she’ll always have you thinking. While she can’t change behavior (they do, after all still have minds of their own!) she can help you to work out an issue. I can honestly say that my relationship with all of my dogs is better for having met Lisa and for having had sessions with her. I never thought of the dogs as “dumb” but I truly had no idea of the complexity and level of their personalities. I think I am a better pet owner and trainer for our work together.

 

I also admire Lisa for her honesty. Although she makes her living from this work, and could make something up, she won’t do that. If she’s not “on”, she’ll cancel the session and reschedule it. She doesn’t want to waste your time nor your money and wants you to have a good session. Although my first session with Lisa was in person, I almost prefer the phone sessions to the in person sessions. I like having the tape to listen to later. She will tell you so many things that you simply won’t remember them all so having the tape of the session is helpful. So, what started out as a “lark, just for fun” is still fun but also extremely beneficial and has, without exaggeration, changed my life and I believe has also made me a better person!

 

Wendy Shaffmaster McQuiston - Texas

Texas Von Schaafmeister Longhaired Dachshunds