Thought I would take a moment to praise Desert Sky K9 Training and brag about Gunner. Gunner is doing extremely well. He just turned a year old on the 16th of June and weighs in at about 130 lbs. After we brought him home, I changed him to the Exceed dog food and the chicken Gail recommended. He loves it. I have continued to train him as Mark recommended.

One Sunday morning it was nice enough to go out, so we went. He was so good that by the time we arrived at the store, he and I stood outside right by the door with people walking in and out and he sat right by my side and never moved. I completely attribute that to the training he and I both received by the door with people walking in and out and he sat right by my side and never moved. I completely attribute that to the training he and I both received.

As you know Gunner also loves other dogs. A friend of mine has a 4 year old lab mix, Joe, who is not really well behaved and seems to be dog aggressive. I say aggressive in the sense he wants to dominate all other dogs he is around. Joe came to the house last week and we tried to socialize him with Gunner. Keeping both of them on a leash of course, Gunner was friendly and wanted to play and Joe didn’t. Once Joe showed wanting to be dominate, Gunner sensed it and became very aggressive. So, Joe was taken home but, I wanted to point out that although Gunner was ready to defend himself (or whatever he was doing since they were still 5 feet apart) he listened very well. I was impressed that in Gunners “not happy” state of mind, he still listened to his sit, stay, commands. My friend was so impressed with Gunner’s manners that if he lived here, you would another customer. Sadly he lives in Virginia. I wanted to thank you for the love and training you showed Gunner. It really shows!!

- Tracy G

Prior to bootcamp, Cooper had severe leash aggression and refused to listen when distractions were present. Mark discovered the underlying cause of his misbehaviors: obedience. Due to the two week bootcamp program, Cooper now listens regardless of the situation and just as importantly, continues to have his fun and spunky personality. Mark has taught us how to use the skills and techniques from the bootcamp training in our functional environment. We can now take Cooper for walks, hikes, and go to Petsmart with much greater confidence. Familiar hikers cannot believe the drastic change in Cooper’s behavior on the mountain, as well as unknown customers at Petsmart constantly praise Cooper with compliments!! With the skills that Mark embedded in Cooper coupled with continual practice, Cooper is becoming a much happier and obedient dog. We can’t thank Mark enough.

- -Sarette and Bryan McIntosh

We have had the great good fortune of working with Mark Govoni for the training of our four-month-old German Shepherd puppy. Before we enrolled Lakota in the Desert Sky K9 boot camp, we had already been working on training her based on books and a lot of conflicting advice from various “professionals” at local pet supply stores. The results were mixed and we were increasingly frustrated. Then we discovered Mark and Gail at Desert Sky and the results were nothing less than phenomenal. In the two weeks that Mark worked with Lakota, he trained her to reliably walk on a lead as well as sit, down, stay, and come on verbal command or in response to hand signals. During this time he also socialized Lakota with his own dogs, and transformed a shy, skittish dog into a much more confident pet. But beyond this, after the boot camp Mark made four trips to our home to work with each member of the family to teach us how to maintain the training. During these sessions he imparted simple principles for us to use to continue to reinforce the training. He also helped us identify and change some of our own counter-productive behaviors to be more effective in working with Lakota. His calm, confident, and authoritative attitude was a key factor in helping us establish an environment in which dog and family fit together seamlessly. At this writing Lakota is almost seven months old. We rely on the training she received from Mark every day. So we heartily recommend Mark and Desert Sky K9 to anyone who wants their dog trained right–anyone who is looking for training that sticks. It is incredible the difference that working with a consummate professional makes.

- The Corts

Mark Govoni has been out to my training club to train his personal dog which is a very large Malinois, the largest I have ever seen. Mark is a good guy and the man definitely knows how to train dogs. I know it’s hard to figure out who you should go to if you don’t know how to train your own dogs.

As a protection dog and high level trainer, I have no issues recommending Mark and his services to anybody that needs it. The bottom line is, It’s obvious to me that Mark cares about the animals he trains and he does it out of love and passion for the animal rather than money. 

- Chris M. Phoenix, Arizona

Now at the age of 46, and being permanently disabled for 16 yrs from multiple TMJ implant failures that were recalled by the FDA in the late ‘80’s and early’90’s, the resultant Silicone and Teflon biomaterials poisoned my immune system and caused my seizures and a demyelinating disease similar to multiple sclerosis, I …have had a GSD seizure alert/response service dog to help me w/ my daily life struggles from my disabilities.On May 5th, 2006, my most faithful companion lost his battle w/ cancer of the bone marrow and I had to put him to rest and that fateful day was the worst day of my life and my seizures went uncontrolled but IF it weren’t for my new GSD, Woody, an import from the Czech Republic, I would literally not be around to tell this story!

 

I received Woody on May 1st, 2006, from the help of the Glendale Evening/Longhaven Lions Club of Glendale, Az and donations from private parties and especially from my fellow agility community thru fundraisers to train Woody as my replacement service dog. When I first set my eyes on my new service dog I couldn’t believe how lucky I was, he is the most handsome GSD I have ever seen and I soon found out that he was the PERFECT dog for my seizures!When I obtained Woody, he and I first had to learn to communicate with one another as he did not have any english commands and I had to learn his Czech commands and though Woody was already trained in obedience, he had no service dog training, as of yet, as Woody and I were going to Texas in a few months to Canine Academy Training Center for his formal service dog training.

Within 5 days of having Woody, my seizures were out of control from my first service dog’s passing from cancer, that I was in such a shock and emotionally distraught that I went into seizures. I vividly remember standing in my office, ALONE, then suddenly waking up bent over on Woody’s back! WOW! I was shocked as to how Woody knew I was going to have a seizure and that he ran into the office to stand in front of me and stood there so that to prevent me from falling on the ground from my blackout seizures! Woody again did the exact same thing two more times that same day and he literally saved me from having serious injuries from falling on the hard tile floor! And Woody did all of this without formal seizure alert/response training, he had the innate ability to detect my seizures and knew that he had to be there to catch me! I am forever in his gratitude!Woody has been written up in the Arizona Republic newspaper several times for his role in saving my life and also to help raise money for the allergy injections that he has to have weekly from when he obtained allergies while living in Texas for his service dog training.Then, while having to have another surgery to remove a synthetic mesh that was wrongly implanted against my signed surgical consent, I had to have somebody that I could trust to take care of him while in the hospital for the 2 weeks, and I was so fortunate to meet the owners’ of Desert Sky K9, Mark & Gail Govoni, at a local store. We talked about his qualifications and experience of working with a GSD from the Czech Republic, trained in protection from the Border Patrol Program Woody came from and of service dog handling skills…

 

Mark is VERY well experienced with exactly what I needed.Mark proceeded to tell me that he trains and competes in the sport of protection dogs,

known as PSA, and also French Ring at the National level and trains almost every weekend with experienced protection dog handlers, even the people of whom I found Woody from! What a coincidence! I read the pamphlet of Desert Sky K9 and he has a Board and Train program, a Doggie Day Care and training classes where he goes to people’s homes to train their dogs. So, I had Mark and Woody meet on a trial basis away from home for a few days and was completely blown away how Woody really took to Mark! Woody did extremely well!So, I had decided to have Mark take care of Woody while I was in the hospital. Mark took Woody out in public so that Woody wouldn’t forget his service work duties. Mark elaborated on his retrieving skills and stopped Woody from pulling at the leash! Desert Sky K9 even took Woody to his Dermatology Vet to get his weekly allergy injections and to the groomers! Woody gets along with all of their dogs and loved to swim in their pool… Woody really likes Mark and Gail, in fact, when they come to visit, Woody goes crazy and whines and runs around, gets his ball for Mark to throw! I explicitly entrust the life of my service dog with Mark as I won’t just hand over his leash to just anyone, and in fact, arrangements have been made that if anything happens to me, that Mark will take over the care of Woody.

Woody has the best temperament in a service dog I could ever hope for, as he is always there when I need him and whenever I bend over he thinks I’m going to have a seizure and there he is, lfiting me up with his huge head so that I don’t fall on the ground! Everywhere I go, people just adore him and he brings such a calmness and peaceful serenity to the public’s hectic daily activities, and that when they see him the people tell me that he just made their day a whole lot brighter! PAWSitively yours,

- Karen D. Morin Woody z. Podradbuzi, CSD