My wife and I had been considering getting a dog for our young family for a considerable period of time. My wife and I both work, we have two primary school age daughters and two cats. We did hours and hours of research on various dog breeds to try and find one that would fit with our lives and family. In the end we decided that a spoodle would be the best match. However, having never owned a dog before in combination with our busy lives meant that I was still very hesitant about proceeding down this path. Then the day came; we found a breeder that had spoodles for sale. Knowing how quickly this breed of dog sells we had to make a definitive decision on whether to proceed with purchasing a puppy. We put down a deposit but still had to wait a few weeks before the puppy (Lola) would be old enough to take home.

During the waiting period my wife and I madly scrambled to try and figure out what to do when we got Lola. We tried to seek answers to questions like, where would she sleep, do we have to get up to her overnight, how do we toilet train her, can we leave her home alone, what do we feed her etc? The more we looked online and spoke to other dog owners the more confused we became. In fact, I was having serious doubts about whether we were making the right decision in getting a dog. In the week prior to getting Lola, by sheer chance, my wife ran into an old friend at the local shops. They got onto the topic of dogs and during this conversation found out about Sonia’s business ‘ALL 4 PAWS’. We found out that Sonia provided a consultation service where she would come out to your home to help teach you about how to best raise your puppy.

I called Sonia hoping to make an appointment for the same day we brought Lola home from the breeder. Unfortunately, Sonia was away for a few days during this time however was incredibly understanding of our angst. In lieu of being able to come to our house on the same day, Sonia very generously provided me with a lot of her time talking me through what to do when we brought Lola home. This advice was fantastic. Sonia was immediately able to allay our concerns about issues like sleeping and toileting plus a heap of other really valuable advice. This made us feel a lot more confident about what to do when we got Lola home. Sonia’s support and advice has made the transition to dog owners really enjoyable. Whilst Lola is still a young puppy and still learning it has not been stressful at all. We love having Lola as part of our family and I can’t believe how quickly we have all bonded with her.

Without Sonia’s advice I know we would have made a heap of mistakes that would have made the transition much harder.

I would highly recommend Sonia to anyone who has any concerns or needs any advice about how to raise their puppy.