Situation: Great Dane, Hearing Impaired, 6+ acres and dog travels with owners in public very often.

As you can imagine, having an impaired animal offers opportunities for frustration and challenge. Having a Giant Breed that is impaired compounds the challenges, and we knew when we brought home our little angel that we had many months of training, both for owner and pup.

Hand signals started early, to get her accustomed to watching us for instruction, correction, attention. When she was old enough to attend a school, we knew right away Duffy's was the place for us. In our evaluation interview it was evident that our dog was willing to please making training easier. Not easy mind you, but at least she was not terribly resistant to instruction.

6 Months have passed, and our 33" tall giant angel is now certified as a Canine Good Citizen. She behaves in public with reminders, not correction. She is well behaved with children and adults alike. She behaves in parks with both people and canine. Because of her coloring and size, she gets a lot of attention, and she stays still and accepts attention with ease.

We are working with her to help with nursing home visits and the R.E.A.D. program thanks to the attention and training we have received.

I would like to stress that we believe the training and reminder sessions are necessary for BOTH owner and dog. We are a team, and like with any relationship, it takes work to make it successful.

I am happy to have Matt, David, Kathy and Justin as part of our team. I would highly recommend any dog owner needing suggestion or intense training to contact Duffy's.

When my Larbadoodle was 15 months old my husband and I decided it was time to either fence our yard or get our pet trained. After some thought we decided it was best to have a well trained dog who could go anywhere rather than a dog to just run in the yard.
Matt and David from Duffy's were so wonderful to work with and the results were amazing. My wild "doodle" is now a gentleman. As a matter of fact, he was so amazing we purchased his brother (same mother and father, different litter) a year later. At first our number two guy (10 weeks old) was into everything to the point he had my husband thinking it was a fluke that number one was so perfect. I asked him to give me 5 months. Is he glad he did. David gave me some hints on how to start to work with him before he was old enough to go to "school."
The first hint was how to get them to stop playing when it was an inconvenient time for us. With just one word, "BREAK," the "doodles" will stop playing and walk away from each other. Priceless!
The next hint was using their technique to walk on a lead and not to let him walk out of a door unless given the command. No run aways at our house.
My youngest is now 17 months and he too is a perfect gentleman. We are always stopped where ever we go by people wanting to know how I got them to be so well behaved. Well, I can take some credit for the training. It is important to know Matt and David can train your dog but it is up to you to keep him trained. You, the owner, must own the responsibilty to work with your dog and never let him slide from training because he looks cute or because you don't want to fool with him at that time. I liken it to raising children, it takes you being an active partner with your child's school, Duffy's, to make your child(pet)a well rounded person or in this case, pet.
Some think training will rob them of their personality. Nothing could be farther from the truth. My guys are as fun and loving as any pet I have ever had.