Pet Sitting near Flower Mound

“Saving AstroWhen we first adopted Astro, we had no idea what we were getting into. He seemed like a big, friendly husky. “He’s food aggressive,” said the lady at the rescue society where we picked him up. No problem, I thought. Over the last twenty years we’ve had many huskies, usually have at least 4 or 5 at a time, and I’ve dealt with dogs growling over their food bowl before and gotten through it. Astro, however, was much worse than that. He didn’t just have food aggression, he also had severe fear issues and clearly had been beaten or backed into a corner before. By the time we got to Victoria we had been through one trainer and Astro had bitten me three times, the last time pretty severely. I was lucky he hadn’t sent me to the hospital. For the first time in our life, my husband and I seriously considered euthanasia as an option. We couldn’t give him back to any adoption center or rescue knowing the danger he posed. We couldn’t let him put our other dogs at risk, not to mention the neighborhood kids. We had already put him on doggie Prozac, and he was still biting. Our vet suggested an animal behaviorist, as opposed to just a trainer. My husband found Victoria on a Google search and we asked her to come over right away.She started with evaluating all our dogs interacting together at my house, and spent well over an hour with me talking through the different incidents with Astro and when they happened, and what had happened before and after each incident. We had initially thought maybe we would send Astro to board with her and train for several weeks, but after the home visit she recommended that he stay here while we trained. Astro had so much fear and uncertainty in his behavior, he didn’t really need to be put in yet another new environment.Without going into every single detail, what I can tell you is that Astro today is a completely different dog than the one that would crouch at the back of his crate showing me all his teeth. He’s happy and gaining confidence every day. He used to shy away from our other dogs (including him we have 5 huskies), but now he plays with them. I went from being afraid to place a food bowl in front of him, to where now, when I place down the bowl, he’s wagging his tail and half the time I get a “thank you” slurp on the face as I put it down in front of him.Yes, it took months, and we had to get here in stages, but he’s part of the family now and a completely different dog. We carefully followed Victoria’s weekly instructions, to the letter. That means about 5 or 10 minutes EVERY day, 2 to 3 times a day, going through the exercises she showed us. It works, and it worked wonders for us. She pinpointed the very specific triggers and problems with Astro, and we worked in steps to train him to think and react differently and unlearn those bad behaviors. Victoria is not a “sit and stay” trainer. She looks at your dog’s individual and specific problems, and then tailors a program unique to your situation. We highly recommend her.“

“We had Jon, the trainer for Canine Courtyard, out for a home visit with our rambunctious 3 year old Super Mutt, Amiri, and it was life changing for our household. I believe Jon trained my daughter and me more than Amiri! We worked on how to control Amiri’s jumping on us and guests upon arriving home and then we worked on “place.” Mr Amiri was stubborn but with Jon’s patience and calm demeanor, Amiri was putting himself on the mat and staying in place before Jon left for the evening. We have continued working with Amiri at home and it’s so nice to have ALL of us be more calm and collected in the evenings! I highly recommend Jon for any training needs you might have, and we love Canine Courtyard for all our day care and boarding needs as well.“

“The best cat groomer I've used so far. I have a beautiful, but long haired, persian cat who I have had to take to groomers since she was little -- eight years old now. The first groomer I discovered was sedating her and she was groggy for a few days afterward - not good and stopped using her. The second groomer was a business that specialized in cat grooming on a bigger scale. The negative was that you would drop your cat off there for up to six hours and they are surrounded by other cats......very traumatizing for the cat but only option I thought I had at the time. That place closed and I was in desperate need of a new groomer. I found Linda, and I am so blessed to have found her. She is like a cat whisperer.....no sedation needed as she really comforts the cat before grooming. She has a mobile trailer that she can come to you but you can also take to her and have her focus on just doing your cat with no other animals around. She gets it done in an hour or two as she is just doing your cat solely. She did the best job of all the groomers I have used. She is reasonably priced for the above and beyond service she provides. You can tell she takes the extra effort so as to comfort your cat and limit any type of trauma they may have from getting groomed. Definitely recommend her and happy to have found Linda to take care of Abby's grooming needs going forward.“

“We love Dr. O’Gorman and the staff at Riverwalk. They always go above and beyond for our animals and are very kind. We appreciate all that they do for us!“

“We are so thankful to have found this place. My Landon was well taken care of, kennels are clean, and very affordable. We would definitely recommend.“

“I brought my two stinky dogs, and they came back squeaky-clean. One of my Dog is aggressive on the grooming table, but they manage to trim him. Although there are some parts on his legs that are not trimmed, considering my dog's behavior, they tried their best, and I am satisfied with their job.“