My life was completely chaotic in more ways than one. My long term boyfriend passed away unexpectedly. Together we had purchased a puppy the year before. I have another dog that is much older and when he was a puppy, he was very laid back. Thomas and I both assumed that all puppies were fun and easy to take care of. The day we got Paddy, we quickly realized how wrong we were.We started training at Petsmart, as that was the only program we knew about. Paddy stayed in that program for 6 months. He learned lots of tricks, but his behavior problems continued to grow. My older dog, Rory, and Paddy did not get along at all. Paddy was being a "puppy" and he wanted to play, bark, and chew. Rory, who is 14, wanted to sleep and to continue being the center of our attention. Rory would growl and bark, whenever Paddy was near him and Paddy would try to "play" with Rory. Because of this, Thomas and I would each take a dog and separate to other rooms, just so we could sit down. We had hoped when Paddy turned a year old, that he would calm down. Thomas and I counted the weeks til his first birthday. Thomas unfortunately passed away 4 days after Paddy's birthday.My entire world was turned upside down. Not only was I unable to function due to this horrible loss, but I could not even rest because my dogs' worlds also were turned upside down. Paddy would cry and scratch continuously at the back door. When I would come home, he would relentlessly jump and bite at me. Rory would bark constantly and growl at Paddy. The only time that the house was quiet was when both of them were sleeping. I went to my veterinarian and asked for medication to "calm" Paddy down and to ask his opinion of a training course I found online where you drop your dog off, they train them and you pick them back up a few weeks later. Luckily for not only me, but for Paddy, Dr. Allara said "no" to the medication and highly recommended that I contact Sandy.What I worried about most was my sanity. I was dealing with a lot of chaos and the dogs were making it even harder for me to survive. I was unable to relax. Not only because of my loss, but because my house was completely unruly. It was constantly loud. I am extremely compulsive with keeping a clean and orderly house and my dogs were not allowing this. Paddy would chew the furniture, my oriental rugs, my fingers and Rory. I was constantly in motion- mentally and physically. Mentally, I was trying to comprehend my loss and physically, my dogs would not even allow me to sit down to eat dinner.I needed my dogs to get along. I needed Paddy to listen to me. I needed to understand why he was acting the way he was. I knew his behaviors had meanings, but I had no idea what they were. I also knew that when I was tense and upset, that my dogs felt it and would act out in response. My desire was for peace. Peace between Paddy and Rory and peace between Paddy and myself. My family and friends often would say, why don't you get rid of that dog? Paddy is my dog and at no time was it an option for me to give up on this dog.Almost a year later, I can say that Paddy, Rory and I are all getting along very well. Thanks to Sandy, I was able to understand why Paddy was acting the way he was and to my surprise she even showed me why Rory, the dog that I thought was perfect, was acting the way he was. When I was looking for help, I was focused on Paddy and when I first met with Sandy, she told me to go ahead and bring Rory as well. I thought this was great, so that Rory could just have an outing. To my surprise, she pointed out to me, that it was not just Paddy that was displaying bad behaviors, but that I was making mistakes as well. I would often hold Rory in my lap and guard him from Paddy. This automatically gave Rory the upper hand. Sandy taught me how to appropriately react to behaviors. I was so used to giving Paddy treats for everything that he did, just so his mouth would be full of food instead of my fingers. Sandy also made me realize that Paddy was not getting enough exercise and that he needed to be exercised to decrease his energy level. Sandy assisted me with learning how to properly walk my dog, as I was so used to holding the leash so that Paddy was right next to my leg, due to the fear that he would bite someone walking down the street. I can honestly say that I have no idea what the end result would have been without Sandy's training. Sandy has assisted me in having some peace at least in the physical aspect. Not only can I sit down now, but both my dogs can also sit peacefully beside me.