Yuki (Photo courtesy Jackie Laubacher)
Yuki, an American Staffordshire Terrier who died in late 2023, will never know the impact her life had on her human mom, Jackie Laubacher.
“I opened my business in tribute of Yuki. Everything I learned, I learned from Yuki, the trainers at Richmond SPCA and great guides,” says Laubacher, who launched her dog training business, 2 Thumbs Up RVA, in May 2024.
A New Yorker who moved to Richmond in 1989, Laubacher has always loved animals. Her interest in their welfare and training blossomed when she began volunteering with the Richmond SPCA in 2006. “I started fostering puppies until they were the weight needed to get adopted,” she says. “I loved it.”
Laubacher ramped up her time at the SPCA, volunteering in different areas. First, she began booking sessions with a trainer to learn the ins and outs of raising puppies. “By the time they left me at six to eight weeks old, they were house trained and knew how to sit,” she recalls. She also spent time in the organization’s clinic, prepping animals for surgery and helping with recovery, and worked with the training department, focusing on the shelter dogs that needed extra help. “I loved being around the animals,” she says.
Jackie Laubacher (Photo by Jay Paul)
About 18 years ago, Laubacher was fostering several 5-week-old American Staffordshire Terrier puppies at home and noticed that one of them acted differently from its siblings. “She would sleep more and seemed to be more on her own,” Laubacher recalls.
Worried about the puppy, Laubacher took her to the medical team at the SPCA, who realized the dog was deaf. “That piqued my interest in how I could best help her,” Laubacher says. “I decided to teach her basic sign language, and she was like a sponge.” Laubacher adopted the all-white puppy, whom she named Yuki — the name means “snow” in Japanese.
Trainers at the SPCA taught Laubacher different tricks and methods for communicating with deaf dogs, such as using hand signs and maintaining strong eye contact. She practiced with Yuki, and it paid off. Eventually, Yuki knew commands such as good girl, no, ball, find it, watch it, come to me, stay, down and sit. “I could touch my nose, and Yuki would know to go find it. She loved playing find it,” Laubacher says.
When Yuki was 18 months old, she became reactive and fearful, so Laubacher again reached out to the SPCA’s trainers for help. “I knew she would have a difficult future if I didn’t manage her reactivities,” Laubacher explains. “I started going to seminars and workshops and doing a lot of reading.”
She learned that there are reasons for canines’ reactive behavior, though the causes vary from dog to dog. Some are triggered by unfamiliar dogs, while others react to movement, such as cars, joggers or, like Yuki, bicycles going past. “They basically are nervous,” Laubacher says.
She learned that managing Yuki’s anxiety improved her behavior. “It goes back to her looking at me. She had confidence in me,” Laubacher explains. “I would tell her to leave it alone. I would tell her to look at me, and I would sprinkle treats on the ground and play the find-it game until the bicycle had gone by.”
The constant attention required to manage Yuki’s reactive behavior helped Laubacher build trust with her dog. “We had a connection. She was trusting of me,” Laubacher says. “As long as she knew I had her back, she was good.” That relationship became the foundation of Laubacher’s training style.
Laubacher works with 2-year-old English bulldog Ripley and his owner, Dave Daly. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Eventually earning certification from the Council for Professional Dog Trainers and becoming a full-time trainer at the Richmond SPCA, Laubacher was drawn to dogs with behavior issues like Yuki’s. She enjoyed figuring out how to modify their reactions through positive motivation training. “I would bring them home and teach them skills, such as how to use a crate, how to greet guests properly — which means no jumping — how to sit and how to lay down,” she says. “I would teach them life skills related to living in a home. By the time they left, they were easily managed as long as the owners followed the protocol that I put in place.”
Two years ago, Yuki developed abdominal cancer and died at age 16. About six months later, Laubacher decided to start her own training business to help people solve their dogs’ issues. “I felt like there was a need out there,” she says. “There are a lot of people that have a reactive dog. I know how to help their dog so they can have their dog as a well-behaved part of the family.” Laubacher named her business 2 Thumbs Up after the sign she gave when Yuki did a good job.
Client Jackie Jackson called Laubacher after adopting her dog, Scamp. “He is very active, and I wanted to make sure he had manners,” Jackson says. In addition, as a puppy Scamp was scared to go upstairs. Laubacher taught him how to tackle treads confidently as well as basic commands including sit and down. “He learned a lot from Jackie [Laubacher], and she taught us about dealing with him,” Jackson says. “One of the things I liked about Jackie is that she so obviously cared that we and our dog learned how to adjust to one another.”
Photo by Jay Paul
Another client, Laura Pape, has seen improvement in her 5-year-old dog, Merry. The family lives in the city, and Merry was reacting to neighborhood dogs. “I provided [Merry] with training tools like the find-it game and checking in with her owner when other dogs were in view,” Laubacher explains.
“Jackie is a wonderful trainer,” Pape says. “She is intuitive and knows a lot about animal behavior. She works with the dogs and also the humans in learning how to read the dog and the dog’s cues. The extra tools and tricks she was able to share were so helpful.”
Laubacher attributes her knowledge of animals to the experiences and loving relationship she had with Yuki, saying, “Yuki is the reason I do this.”
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