About Buddy's Dream
Who is Buddy?
Buddy was a dog with a very unfortunate past. When he came to me at seven years old, he was fearful of nearly everything and would bite when frightened.
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The people in his past, although well-intentioned, used methods that made his fear and aggression worse. Instead of learning to feel safe and confident, Buddy learned that biting was his only reliable way to protect himself, often without giving warning signs.
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Buddy's behavior was the result of his past experiences and the methods people had used in attempting to manage his fear and aggression. Although the people involved did not intend to make his problems worse, they did not understand how to help a fearful dog. Unfortunately, many people don't.
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Much of this damage could have been prevented through early intervention, appropriate veterinary behavioral care, and humane, reward-based training.
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Although Buddy has passed away, his story and the lessons learned from his rehabilitation live on. Read Buddy's Blog to learn more.
Purpose of Buddy's Dream LLC
Buddy's Dream LLC was originally created to help pay for Buddy's expensive rehabilitation. Read more about The Cost of Rehabilitation.​​
As I learned how many other dogs face similar challenges, I expanded the mission to help them as well.
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What began with selling Pussy Willows grew into a business offering handcrafted products and training/behavior resources. Today, Buddy's Dream continues the mission he inspired: helping other dogs and their people.
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To bring awareness to the issue of dog aggression; why dogs become aggressive, how to prevent it in the first place, and what to do (and what NOT to do) if you find yourself with a dog displaying aggressive behavior.
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By sharing Buddy's story and providing educational resources, I hope to prevent other dogs and people from enduring similar experiences.
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Buddy dreams of a happy life free of fear.
Our Mission
About Our Founder
Jill Shuey is the founder of Buddy's Dream, and she is Buddy's full-time rehabilitator. She combines her love for sewing with her knowledge of canine behavior to raise awareness about dogs like Buddy and to raise money to help Buddy and other dogs like him heal.
Jill began studying canine behavior 25 years ago after one of her dogs, Johnny, was attacked and bitten by a loose neighborhood dog, resulting in him developing fearful behavior toward other dogs. She worked with a professional canine behaviorist who taught her how to work with Johnny to help him trust other dogs again and this work was 100% successful! Johnny went on to live a long and happy life. This experience sparked a lifelong interest in understanding canine behavior and helping dogs overcome challenges.
Since then, Jill has continued to study canine behavior through books, seminars, and ongoing education from highly respected leaders in the field including world renowned Veterinary Behaviorists Dr. Ian Dunbar and Dr. Sophia Yin. She has had the opportunity to join Dr. Dunbar on Zoom calls, receiving helpful advice on how to proceed with Buddy's rehabilitation and gaining an understanding of what is realistic to expect when working with a dog of Buddy's severity level. Jill has also worked directly with several board-certified veterinary behaviorists while rehabilitating Buddy, gaining valuable hands-on experience in managing severe behavior issues.
Jill has also studied with world renowned dog trainer Matt Beisner (host of TV's "Dog: Impossible"), who worked directly with Jill and Buddy on Buddy's rehabilitation. Matt has extensive experience working and living with dogs with the most severe levels of aggression, so Matt was able to provide some much needed support and advice, as well as significantly elevate Jill's dog body language reading skills.
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For more than 5 years Jill has been living with and rehabilitating Buddy, a dog with a serious bite history. Living with and working through the daily realities of Buddy's rehabilitation has provided Jill with a level of practical experience that few people gain firsthand, including those in dog care professions. This experience continues to shape the work and mission of Buddy’s Dream.
Although Jill has spent decades studying canine behavior and rehabilitating dogs, she believes learning never stops. Through Buddy’s Dream, she encourages dog guardians to continue learning and provides educational resources to help people better understand their dogs, prevent behavior problems before they escalate, and offer support and practical guidance for those whose dogs are struggling with behavior challenges.
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​Jill is pictured above in a photo taken in 2006 with two of her beloved "angel dogs", Johnny and Ginger.
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Please note: Buddy's Dream LLC has chosen the ".org" extension for our website, and we want to explain. We did this for two reasons. First, the ".com" extension was already taken. Second, one of the main goals of Buddy's Dream is to bring an awareness to, and educate about, the issue of fear aggressive dogs. The ".org" extension fits this goal. Regarding the fact that often ".org" extensions are used for non-profits, we would like to be transparent in that Buddy's Dream LLC was not set up as a non-profit, it was set up as a for profit so we did not have to limit our methods of raising money. However, having said that, Buddy's expenses and the expenses we incur providing help to others far exceed the amount of money we have raised so far, and will continue to do so for a long time. If we were to sell all our current inventory, the money raised will, of course, all go to these expenses, but we still would not have raised enough money to break even with the costs we have incurred, which keep rising. So we have a very long way to go until we will be able to be "profitable", and at the rate we are going, will probably never get to that point.