By Carleen Clearwater, Kickass Marketing aka. Cartman's Mom
Dog Training Success Story Testimonial
Kari was a referral from our doggy daycare Bark and Play Denver - which was home of 2 (Owners Kim & Garrett Bishop) of the 8 people Cartman liked on the planet.
When hiring Kari I said, "He is the love of our lives, but a total a**hole in the elevator. Even to people he has seen a hundred times!" When we first rescued Cartman, he was scared of his own shadow and would hide behind our legs. Out for walks and in the lobby, he was not interested in meeting anyone no matter how much they wanted to, because let's face it - he's adorbs. Quickly though he gained confidence and then became the ultimate defender of mom and dad. He straight up did not understand why anyone was in his lobby, elevator, garage, much less his condo!
Kari quickly taught us it was due to fear and that she could help him and Mike (hubs) and I learn the skills needed to help him be less scared, less anxious and less of a butthead to guests and neighbors.
Cartman loooooooooved "Go place" that he learned from Kari. Watch the video below for his own signature back in style. This one skill paired with learning "They're a Friend" changed our whole experience when having friends over. Cartman was never going to be all friendly and/or even want pets from anyone, but he'd take a few treats and let you sit in his condo for awhile.
This reduced his stress, our stress and he stopped scaring the beejesus out of our friends.
Kari came to our house for 4 sessions and Cartman listened to her and would do anything for a treat. She even went on walks with us. He learned "watch me" and that's how we distracted him from mortal threats in the elevator, lobby, anyone walking on his sidewalks . . .
Cartman was the sweetest, funniest boy and we wish everyone could have known that, but she helped us learn that he was who he was and that it was o.k. if he only had a select small circle. She took the shame and blame right out of what we thought was "Bad Dog" behavior and what therefore made us bad dog parents.
He passed last Summer, July 2023 at 13 years old. Our neighbors of 10 years were even sad even though they only knew him from a distance or us whipping him by them as fast as his little chunkers body would go.
The first day we met Kari - we instantly loved her. She's so funny, no B.S. and a rock star at what she does. We became friends through our love of Cartman and football. We happen to live by Cap City Tavern, home to the largest Minnesota Vikings fan club and watch parties. She's a Vikings fan and we're Cap City fans, so a few watch parties later . . .
Now I consider her a close friend and an amazing client. Over the past 10 years I have had the privilege to help her market Wag & Train. Last Fall, she trusted me to build her this fancy website with all the cutie "Bad Dogs Wanted"! If you'd like to learn more about how I could help you and your business Capture >> Connect >> Kickass to sky rocket revenue and reach, contact me at carleen@kickassmarketingandcreative.com or check my vibe on my website.
She has oodles of incredible success story client testimonials for you to read, but hey she was 1 of 8 for Cartman and that should tell ya all you need to know.
Is Kari a bananas certified and qualified dog training expert? Yes and her resume alone is reason enough to hire her. However, people hire people, especially when it comes to caring for our families, so I'm sharing below the the lovely card she sent us when Cartman crossed the rainbow bridge as a sample of how she loves the dogs and humans that cross her path.
Thank you Kari!
Love Carleen & Mike & Cartman
