06/19/2025
Meet Olimar. I wanted to share Olimar's story as it's a common one for so many surrendered dogs. Fortunately, for Olimar his story has a happy ending.
You see, back in February Olimar was taken from the shelter/Humane Society on a foster to adopt plan. From my understanding this was the second or third attempted adoption for Olimar and he was under one year old. The other potential adopters returned him due to some rather dangerous aggressive behaviors he exhibited, particularly in the home. Well, this time he landed in a home that was willing to help him work through his issues.
Olimar's new mom (still not fully decided on adoption due to the aforementioned behaviors) contacted me for some training tips, so I went over to meet Olimar and his people. Olimar was NOT happy with me in his house, growling, barking, snapping, charging, etc. We set up a training plan and they got busy doing their homework. While we have only had a few in-person training sessions, Grant and Chesney Shealy have worked tirelessly to train appropriate behaviors with Olimar while building his confidence and helping him finally feel at home. Yesterday we met for a small group class at a local park and let me tell you, I could not have been more impressed with the progress they have made! I watched Olimar settle down and walk comfortably on a leash in close quarters to unfamiliar dogs and people. AND at the end of our class, Olimar allowed a polite greeting and pet from a strange man, something you could have hardly imagined 3 months ago!
In summary, please don't give up on a good dog because of behavior issues until you have put the work in to see if training can change the outcome! In most cases dogs are able to make great strides in behavior with proper training techniques and a little sweat equity on our part.
Way to go Grant, Chesney and Olimar! ❤️