"Piccolo"

Piccolo is a Maremma Abruzzesi/ Pyrenees from Port Coquitlam

Featured in 08,  2010

Piccolo's Story:

I recently had a large Great Pyrenees/ Husky  cross who, at two years old, took to the training with Sit Happens as if it had been developed just for him. When we lost Dante at just 7 years in the late spring of 2009 there was a huge emptiness; I began scouring puppy/dog web sites.

While I was out to look at a puppy at the Maple Ridge SPCA one late August day, there was this 9 month old Maremma Abruzzesi/ Pyrenees boy I had seen on the web site who had just that day been moved down from Kamloops; I fell in love! Turns out he was too much to handle for the folks who had bought him at a pet store at 8 weeks old and so, he came to his forever home with us the next afternoon having no manners at all. At 100 pounds, this boy's jumping up (his paws on my shoulders) and gnawing on hands and arms needed to be dealt with immediately along with all the other necessary training so, my first call was to Jeff at Sit Happens!

Having known how much I loved Dante, Jeff was so happy for me to have another big furry guy to walk with so he came right over! I had begun using some of the training concepts but Jeff helped me introduce it all to Piccolo properly and within 15 minutes, there was no more mouthing and he was sitting at my will.

Maremmas are working dogs; originally bred in Italy to guard flocks of sheep or goats, this big boy needs lots of exercise and, as they are highly intelligent, he needs to be thinking all the time so training is a joy for him and a Godsend for me as having him off the leash allows him the space to do all the running and jumping (over things not on people) he needs.

Although bred to kill wolves, with the assistance of Sit Happens, we have helped Piccolo to learn to be not only well behaved but also gentle and it's such a treat to have one of the most popular dogs  in a dog park setting both with other dogs (of any size from 4 pounds to 140) as a playmate and with other owners; I often hear "oh, isn't he a gentle giant."

There is also a very strong feeling of pride  when Piccolo happily walks beside me (or does whatever else is asked of him) while we watch other folks with their dogs straining at their leashes to the point of pulling their owners down the street or a trail.

As a small business owner www.pamperedchef.biz/pennyk and an otherwise extremely busy individual, the other important aspect of Sit Happens training I particularly enjoy is the flexibility of time and place for the training which allows me to attend as much training with Piccolo as I like both now and for the rest of his life.

He is still a puppy but already at 15 months, I have tremendous confidence in Piccolo and his ability to do as he should through just listening and looking at me.

Everyone can have a well behaved, happy dog with Sit Happens!