Happy National Dog Day!
When you work at a facility that has been serving West Los Angeles since 1988—and with my own journey here starting back in 2010—days like today make you pause and reflect. I rarely find myself thinking about the commands we’ve taught or the obedience ribbons won. Instead, I think about everything the dogs have taught us along the way.
After 38 years as a facility and my own 16 years of involvement, I know one truth for certain: when you pay close attention, dogs don’t just teach you about canine behavior. They teach you about human nature.
🐕A Memory That Changed My Path
When I first joined I Said Sit! back in 2010, one of my earliest cases was a rescue mix named Layla. She was completely overwhelmed by the sensory overload of city life—panicking at the sound of jingling keys, terrified of people, and lunging at strangers out of sheer anxiety. I sat on our training floor with her on her first day. I didn’t ask her to do anything, I was just present with her.
Working through Layla’s plan was a defining milestone for me. We didn’t “break” her spirit or use harsh corrections to force compliance. Instead, we used structured, reward-based clarity to show her the world was safe. Watching her tail lift, her body relax, and her owner regain her confidence showed me what this work was truly about: it isn’t just about teaching a dog to “sit”—it’s about restoring peace and trust to a family.
❤️Dogs Are a Mirror for Our Homes
We often see that a dog’s behavior acts as a mirror for their environment. This isn’t something we guilt client’s with but it is worth considering as we learn about the dog and home life.
Los Angeles is a high-energy, fast-paced, overstimulating city. Our pups absorb the stress, hurry, and unspoken anxieties we carry through the front door after a long commute on the 405.
- An anxious, hyper-vigilant dog often lives with an owner who is silently carrying immense daily stress.
- A dog who struggles with boundaries usually has a human who finds it tough to say “no” in other areas of life.
- A dog who is calm, confident, and settled? That owner made time for consistency, even on the days they were exhausted.
When training stalls, the question is rarely just “What’s wrong with the dog?” It’s “What support does the whole household need right now?”
🏙️How Los Angeles Has Evolved Since 1988
When I Said Sit! first opened its doors in 1988, reward-based training was far from the industry standard. By the time I came aboard in 2010, positive reinforcement was gaining real momentum, but city life was also getting faster and more intense.
Over 38 years, Los Angeles has changed dramatically. Pups today face more stimulation than ever—crowded apartment buildings in Culver City, busy outdoor patios in Santa Monica, and constant city noise. Because the environment has become more complex, dogs today are often more reactive and anxious than they were decades ago.
Yet, the core foundation of good training has never shifted: build trust, reward the good, set clear boundaries, and celebrate the unique dog in front of you.
🥹The Dogs We Remember Most
The dogs that stay in my heart aren’t necessarily the ones with competition-perfect heel work.
They are the reactive dogs who learned they didn’t need to fight the world to stay safe. They’re the fearful pups who built enough confidence to proudly walk down the boardwalk. And they are the dogs whose owners called us in tears—convinced they were out of options—who six weeks later sent me a video of their dog happily fetching a ball at the park.
Those dogs changed my life just as much as we helped shape theirs.
🐾Why Today Matters
It’s easy to dismiss National Dog Day as just another social media trend. But at its core, today is a reminder to pause and be grateful for one of the oldest, most profound partnerships in human history.
Your dog doesn’t care about your job title, your neighborhood, or how difficult your day was. They care that you showed up. They are simply glad you’re home.
I want to share my three dogs. Life with 300 pounds of dogs can be crazy but I love every minute. These are my two Leonberges, Westley and Ludo, and Misa our senior Belgian Tervuren. We train and compete in different areas and I truly enjoy working with each of them as an individual as much as I love seeing them run around the yard crazy in play.
If you’ve been thinking about investing in dog training in Los Angeles, not just to fix a frustrating behavior, but to truly deepen your bond—today is the perfect day to take that first step.
At I Said Sit!, our training methods and our experienced training team are built around one core philosophy: a well-trained dog is a confident dog, and a confident dog brings joy to the whole family.
👉 Book your free 15-minute Discovery Call today or call our West LA facility directly at (310) 558-9037. Let’s talk about where you and your dog are today—and where you’d like to be tomorrow!
