Client reviews

  • Grace and her careful, well thought out management have had an incredibly positive impact on our dog Lumi. At six months of age Lumi was always completely distressed, highly aroused, reactive to reflections on the ceiling, barking manically, never still and completely unable to engage her brain. Add in the inability to have normal puppy fun and life wasn’t pleasant at all for her or the humans around her. Now, less than a year later Lumi is completely different, she will play like a normal dog, is totally motivated all the time to engage her brain appropriately, knows how to lie down, will listen and act on commands and is extremely well liked where ever she goes (walks, nose work training, agility, obedience). Grace’s ability to really listen to the details of the challenges we were facing, validate our experiences through seeing Lumi in person and suggest some immediate steps we could take, helped lift a huge weight of our shoulders. During the initial consult Grace was confident that we could improve things for Lumi (without unrealistically promising that all problems could be eliminated), she was able to clearly articulate that it potentially could be a long process but if something didn’t seem to be working there would be alternative treatments/approaches we could try. I left that appointment with a glimmer of hope. And Grace was right, some tweaks have been made, some behaviours have gone but as expected a few new (minor) ones have appeared and most importantly Lumi is a much happier dog. Seeing Grace has quite literally saved Lumi’s life, and we are very grateful. Grace always made us feel like we were partners working with her. She was very open to sharing details and her thought processes on what options she was considering. We would often discuss whether approach A or B would be the next one to try. It was clear that Grace wanted to relieve Lumi’s stress but simultaneously she was acutely aware of the negative impact it was having on us. I can’t recommend Grace highly enough.

    — Sarah with her dog Lumi

  • I adopted Riley when she was supposedly 10 weeks old and was her 4th home. She was so cute but noticed she couldn't connect with anyone in the house except our other dog. We thought she was not toilet trained but later realised her urinating was anxiety related. She was very anxious in the car and would often vomit and froth at the mouth. She was also terrified of feet and garbage trucks. She would cower in the back bedroom for hours and wouldn’t let anyone near her – not even my other dog. We were working really hard at puppy school and later dog training but nothing was really working. Her barking outside was getting worse and the neighbours were very unhappy. So much so that they eventually put a petition together to have the council intervene. I was at my wits end. I went to my then vet GP who recommended I walk Riley for 4 hours a day to ensure she was tired. I did but it didn't help. I then finally met Kersti and Grace from SABS. who changed her world. They assessed her and adjusted her anti anxiety medications. For the first time in her life Riley was smiling and doing zoomies. She was still barking, being sick in the car and messing in the house but with further adjustments to her treatment, she is now a totally different dog. Her coat is so shiny, she loves her food and loves life generally – her life was saved. I can now tell you that Riley smiles all the time, loves to be told she is pretty. She is so very clever but we never got to see that because it was masked by her anxiety. She loves to walk on a long lead and enjoys her walks. She no longer gets car sick nor does she mess in the house. She is a totally different dog. She does sometimes have ‘meltdowns’ but these are so few and far between and she recovers really quickly.

    — Deb and her pup Riley

  • We had a great session with Dr Grace. It was such a huge weight off our shoulders to have a diagnosis for our dog's behaviour and state of mind. She is very knowledgeable and caring. We feel confident about the future and feel supported

    — Pam with her pup Frankie

  • Thank you Dr Grace, I got so much insight, information and help with Ruby. Our visit gave us some much needed hope.

    — Carol with her pup Ruby