The moment I walked into Pack Place K9 I knew they were different. Tully, our 1 ⅓ year old rescue pup, had just come off of a 2 week stint at a popular, well reviewed doggie “boot camp” as part of our desperate attempt to find help to rein in our wild girl who is as energetic, mischievous and whip smart as she is cute with a big helping of separation anxiety on the side. Her theme song had become “Sweet But Psycho”. I was considering ongoing daycare at the facility to help her burn off some energy and get more socialization. It seemed like the natural progression as she was already familiar with them and they seemed to love her. At our last training session I asked for a tour of their daycare. What I witnessed was wayyyyyy too many dogs, barking incessantly and it smelled like a giant doggie outhouse. I couldn’t imagine how that environment was going to benefit my dog in any way. I immediately started doing the due diligence I should have done weeks before. When I read about PPK9, their overwhelmingly positive reviews gave me the sense that they were more interested in each dog’s well being than populating their dogiplex. I went the very same day to see for myself. As soon as I entered PPK9 I was struck by how calm it felt, almost zen-like, and it actually smelled good! The front desk personnel were helpful in explaining their operation and the 4 day Member Orientation process. I didn’t hesitate to schedule an evaluation with Jimmy, the trainer, at his next availability. Jimmy really took the time to know my dog and talk in depth with me about her specific issues and how they could be addressed. During the course of a day at PPK9, Tully would walk on a treadmill, “earn” her way into the agility room for calm behavior in group play and they actually take the dogs outside for walks!!! Unheard of at any other daycare that I visited. Impulse control was a huge issue and Jimmy described how they could customize her day so that more focus could be put on activities to help her control her impulses. Overall, the philosophy is to give the dogs the physical, mental and biological stimulation that they need to be healthy, good canine citizens. As Jimmy said, “If they are going to be here all day, they may as well be learning something” Sign me up, Jimmy. For the next 2 weeks, on Monday and Wednesday, I left Tully in Jimmy’s expert hands. Each time she entered the Agility Room, a text was sent with a link so that I could watch online. What I saw seemed like nothing short of sorcery. My dog was working hard, having fun and most of all being respectful and obedient. The look on her face was as if to say, “He gets me, he really gets me”. And now I wanted her to look at me like that too. Jimmy called me after each agility session to explain what they were working on and how we could continue the work at home with her. Communication has been above and beyond what I might have expected. After the 4th day, we met with Jimmy for Tully’s graduation and to discuss her progress. We already knew that she had progressed more in 4 days with Jimmy than in 10 days of the boot camp. Jimmy reviewed all the whys and hows of everything they had done, answered our questions and sent us comprehensive follow up notes and cheat sheets for easy reference. Before we left, he made sure we practiced some of the exercises with Tully until we had a firmer grasp of them. At this point, Jimmy had given us this gift of an amazing head start and the tools and motivation to have the relationship with Tully that we had been hoping for. It’s on us now to follow through, but we know that Jimmy will be there if we need him. But we aren’t going anywhere. We plan for Tully to be a PPK9 member for a long time. I would recommend Pack Place K9 to anyone who is struggling with their four-legged friend or who simply wants their dog to thrive. Any other type of daycare situation just doesn’t make sense. And…they don’t have Jimmy.