My fiance and I first brought our 1.5 year old Boston Terrier to Shelmar in July of 2010. We had rescued our pup from a neglectful owner and at around 8 months he had started showing signs of aggression towards strangers. In December of 2009 it had reached its breaking point when he attacked his vet. At the vet's suggestion we took Rudy to an overpriced unhelpful behavioralist in Sugar Land. By the summer of 2010, after seeing little progress, we took Rudy to Shelmar where he stayed for four weeks to work with Shelly.\r
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It was a tough four weeks, Rudy had never been away from us for more than week and I didn't know if I had done the right thing. When we came to pick up Rudy in August, I almost cried when I saw Shelly take Rudy right up to a stranger who leaned down and pet Rudy. It was amazing.\r
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Since then it has been a lot of hard work on our end. Shelly will always be upfront with us, and the reality was that we needed to change some of our habits to be better dog owners for Rudy. We are still working with Rudy, but now we can take him to our friends' houses, to PetSmart and other places that were off limits in the best. The biggest thing was that last week we took him to the vet and we left without a single growl or incident. It was amazing to see all this hardwork pay off. \r
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My only regret is that I did not find Shelmar earlier. Rudy is 100% better and living an amazing and calm life because of the work Shelly and Martin have done. We are so happy with Shelmar, that anytime we have to board him we drive the 45 minutes so he can board there. This summer when we leave for a month to get married and go on our honeymoon, he will be at Shelmar. I used to be that owner that worried about my pet when he boarded at a kennel, I don't ever worrry about him at Shelmar. I'm totally confused about the last review because I have never seen Rudy treated with anything but the utmost care, he loves Shelly and Martin and loves their house because he gets to run, play and swim all day long. He also gets to board with them in their home, so I know he is getting cared for around the clock!
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