Testimonials

I think that rather than simply describing the capabilities of Michelle and her team, illustrating my personal experience instead would better serve those considering working with them.

About two months ago, I adopted my dog, Jade. I didn’t have much information about Jade, but I was told by the adoption agency that since she was found in Texas, Jade had been sheltered, fostered, and eventually ended up at Leasure Ranch. By the time I came to meet her, she had already been with Michelle and her team for several months.

I was initially worried that a dog so “well traveled”, let’s say, would be shy, skittish and reserved. It was to my great surprise when Jade and I first met that she was, in fact, quite the opposite. I was greeted by a dog that was excited, warm, welcoming, and extremely affectionate; needless to say, I immediately fell in love (although truthfully, my mind was already made up). Michelle wasn’t there on that particular day, but her team was very kind and supportive, and talked me through all of my questions and concerns. I was shown a few demonstrations of what Jade had been learning, and Michelle’s team gave me useful insight about what to expect regarding Jade’s personality, quirks and mannerisms. With all the information provided, and seeing how caring and attentive the people at Leasure Ranch were, I was immediately relieved of all of the nervous “what ifs” floating around my mind prior to meeting my dog. I am very fortunate to have adopted her from a place that was so nurturing, and Jade is even more fortunate to have had them caring for her before I came into the picture. I would later find out that when Jade first arrived at Leasure Ranch, she was everything I initially expected her to be— skittish, scared, and confused— but with the help of Michelle and her team, she was rehabilitated into the dog that I fell in love with. When we were getting ready to leave, everyone at the ranch was almost more excited than I was that Jade had finally found a home.

Around a month and a half had gone by, and Jade was settling in beautifully. Now that she was more comfortable and we had gotten to know one another, I decided it was time to go back to Leasure Ranch for her free training session (which they graciously offer for dogs adopted from their facility). This time, rather than hypothetical questions and “what ifs”, I came prepared with concrete questions about how to address certain aspects of Jade’s training and behavior. Ready to fire off everything I could think of, I was introduced to Michelle— for the remainder of our visit, I did not have to ask anything. To say that Michelle is competent would be an understatement; not only does she have more than my lifetime’s worth of experience, but she is professional, understanding, focused, and dedicated. Every question I had was addressed in our conversation, only Michelle was the one that brought them up before I could even ask. We began with a full walkthrough and demonstration of Jade’s training: I was speechless. Jade didn’t just know “a few” commands, she knew every command I could think of and some that I didn’t even know existed. After seeing the extent of Jade’s training in action, it was clear to me that the training going forward was not for Jade, but for me. For the rest of the visit, Michelle and I discussed just that. She taught me about her training philosophy, and walked me through all the ways I could implement it at home. Michelle’s approach isn’t rooted in gimmicks or trends, but in a deep and hard-earned understanding of the way dogs learn, think and operate.

In a world so saturated with ambiguously qualified professionals whose levels of competence and experience are often indiscernible, it is a relief to know I have someone like Michelle to turn to when I need guidance. I will definitely be going back to Michelle as Jade and I continue to grow and adapt to each other, and I think that anyone considering training or adoption would be doing themselves a great disservice by overlooking Leasure Ranch K9.