Wit's End

Dog Training Scholarship Fund

Our Mission

About Me

is to provide care and training for behaviorally sensitive dogs with nowhere else to go.

We are not a rescue but partner with rescues to provide training for dogs in their care. Dogs remain the property, responsibility and liability of the rescue organization.

Whenever possible, we prefer dogs to stay in foster homes while we train rescue participants rather than housing dogs at the Training Wheels facility.

At this time, we do not accept dogs for transfer from overcrowded shelters. Dogs must have been in the custody of a rescue organization for at least one month and been placed in at least one foster home before we will consider offering assistance.

Our Story

Shortly after the Training Wheels boarding facility opened in 2017 we got a fairly routine call from someone at their "wit's end." Lots of people say this to us but this call was a bit different...

This particular client, who we'll call Laura, was a lovely retired woman who had recently adopted a shepherd named Ivan. Ivan had extreme anxiety and obsessive compulsive tendencies. Most notably, excessive spinning and tail biting. Ivan would spin and bite his tail when he was overstimulated, frustrated, worried, bored or even when he was trying to get Laura's attention. Once he got started it was very difficult to interrupt and calm him down. Ivan had clearly been practicing this behavior a long time and his tail had been amputated along the way so he was left with a few inches of awkward nub.

Laura asked for help and we started training immediately. We worked on prevention strategies, mental enrichment to break the cycle, relaxation protocol and partnered with Ivan's veterinarian to get him started on medication. He started to make progress but it was definitely half a step forward and three steps back. Laura felt like she couldn't leave the house because Ivan might spin for hours. She was losing sleep trying to keep him from spinning all night. Laura and Ivan's relationship and entire quality of life was suffering.

When Ivan's veterinarian recommended he be euthanized the Training Wheels Team had an emergency meeting! Can we foster him? Would living at our facility be good for him? Can we allocate the staff resources and money to give him what he needs? How long will it take to get his medication and training dialed in?

With our facility in its infancy and our staff already spread so thin we were barely taking adequate care of ourselves and our own dogs. Ultimately we decided the time wasn't right to care for Ivan. We were heartbroken but determined not to let this be a permanent state. Thus the concept for the Wit's End Scholarship Fund was born.

It's taken a few years and a recession for us to have time to bring this idea to fruition but Wit's End is now a recognized charitable organization. Please consider donating to help us care for more misunderstood dogs like Ivan!