Two and a half years ago, Dawn Heiderscheidt and her husband, Mark, adopted a rescue dog from Atlanta sight unseen. They’d ask for a dog about two to three years old.
They ended up with a 70-pound energetic puppy named Odin, not even a year old.
“He was a sweet dog, but had no training whatsoever,” Dawn shared.
They completed Level 1 training with another dog training company but wanted to do more with Odin. Mark had been friends with Dana for years, and she suggested Philly Unleashed.
At the time, Nicole was offering agility classes at Rammytime Farm in Medford, NJ. “That’s where we really saw Odin, one, open up and two, learn impulse control,” Dawn said. “He was a huge dog and did not know how to control himself, nor did he understand where his body was in space. He was one, scary and two, dangerous. He was always knocking me over or pulling too hard on walks. Agility was what really helped us as a household to get him into the well-behaved dog that he is now.”
Dawn works as an occupational therapist, and she had hoped to get Odin certified as a therapy dog. They enrolled in the Canine Good Citizen and Therapy dog class workshop taught by Alicia and Jessica. “Halfway through the class, I realized nope, this dog cannot be this, unfortunately,” Dawn said.
While Odin didn’t pass the Therapy dog test, the training and passing of the CGC test still benefited him. And Dawn realized she wanted to learn how to be a dog trainer and incorporate the therapeutic use of animals in her therapy work. “While this may not be the path for Odin, I realized I want to take this path with an additional dog in the future,” Dawn said.
A lot of her clients through her healthcare work have had to give up their pets due to unsteady gaits. “I’d like to eventually do homecare and get my client’s dogs back into their lives,” Dawn said. “It’d be nice to be able to teach the dogs loose leash walking and get the patients involved in that process.”
Dawn started assisting with Alicia’s classes at Pet Friendly Dog Bakery in Manayunk, and she’ll often take Odin to visit Alicia and work on agility-based tricks. They also continue to work on his stranger danger and his impulse control.
As a mastiff, boxer, and pit mix, Odin is a handsome fellow and is often the target of attention when out on walks. “He’s an extremely handsome dog, which is our problem with strangers,” Dawn shared. “Everyone wants to pet him and he does not always want them to pet him.”
Training has helped, and Dawn hopes to continue to advance his training. While Odin has learned a lot, it took a little while for him to catch on. “You have to wait for the dog,” Dawn said. “Really take your time and definitely do it at the dog’s pace. Understand that the dog is also part of the process.”
Even with the challenges, Dawn and Mark have seen a lot of triumphs, and they enjoy their time with Odin. “When he wants to play with us, he runs around frantically until he finds a toy we play tug with, and puts his head in our lap with the toy in his mouth,” Dawn shared. “It’s heart melting. Also when we tug, he will successfully pull the toy out of our hands, and then immediately shoves it back right back into our hands to keep pulling. We really do love him and are happy that we rescued him.”
