Woman Who Lives with Working Dogs in N.Y.C. Reveals Her 2 ‘Controversial’ Rules for Her Pets (Exclusive)

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Talia Henze is the first to admit that her two pups — a Dutch and German Shepherd — are “terrible apartment dogs.”

“People are like, ‘How could she have a dog like that in the city?’ ” Henze, who has lived in New York City for over a decade, recounts in an interview with PEOPLE. And she doesn’t disagree.

Growing up, her family traveled too frequently for it to make sense to adopt a dog, even though she always wanted one. But fast forward several years, Henze was living in an apartment in Midtown Manhattan — what she describes as “not the safest environment” — and she visited a friend from home who had a German Shepherd who was trained to be a “protection dog.”

“When I met the protection dog, in my head I was like, ‘This is a really interesting concept,’ ” she says.

Henze and her husband had discussed adopting before, but now her mind was set: she wanted a German Shepherd to be her “protector and companion.”

In 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic was reaching N.Y.C. and Henze and her husband were moving to an apartment in Brooklyn, they adopted the first of their two pups: a German Shepherd they named Ava. And three years later, after growing accustomed to cohabitating with a high-drive dog in their small living space, they adopted Brego, their Dutch Shepherd, a breed known for being even more athletic than the one Henze’s husband had worked with in the military.

Around the time she adopted Ava, Henze made a couple of dog-related life changes: she left her job in the cosmetics industry to become a full-time dog trainer, and she started posting to her TikTok account, sharing her life as a dog mom in the big city.

While she often goes viral for videos of her “powerhouse” pups at their cutest — one video, which received nearly 500,00 views, captures Ava obediently and adorably holding her Louis Vuitton purse in his mouth with big, puppy dog eyes — Henze is adamant that raising them is not all fun and games.

“He is no joke of a dog,” says Henze of Brego. “And [Ava] comes from police lines. So they’re not really bred to sit on your couch.”

To manage owning such powerful dogs, Henze says, she does a few things that might make her a “controversial dog owner.”

First, she uses a crate to manage her two pups — to reduce conflict, both between each other and with their owners, and help when her dogs get overstimulated in a hectic urban environment.

“I loved having my own bedroom growing up,” the dog mom explains. “Most people don’t have multi-bedroom apartments [in N.Y.C.] — all of these spaces where dogs can go and kind of have their own space. So the crate really helps with that.”

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The crate also helps “prevent unwanted litters,” adds Henze, noting that generally Ava is free to roam her apartment while Brego, who she says tends to be more “aggressive,” still has to be in his crate.

Second, Henze is not afraid to use a muzzle to manage her pups.

“I honestly don’t understand why it’s so controversial,” says the dog owner. “We muzzle train most of our client dogs purely because, even if they’re not a bite risk, we find people respond differently to them.”

For instance, if a dog is muzzled during a vet visit, the veterinarian tends to be calmer when treating the pet, which she says leads to better outcomes for everyone involved. And a muzzle also gives Henze the peace of mind that her dogs won’t act aggressively when she’s out in public with them.

Henze also needs her dogs to be muzzle-trained for another reason: they have to be comfortable in a muzzle for competitions. Her two pups are part of the Protection Sport Association, which competitively tests dogs in their obedience and protection skills through tests of their temperament and physical ability. Henze’s dogs travel out to Long Island to train at least twice a week.

“It’s a great outlet for them to be fulfilled in all of their drive and learn to have control over their drives,” she says. “We don’t ignore the fact that they have aggression — we just get control over it and teach them to be as strong as possible over it.”

But most of all, says Henze, she’s had to teach her dogs that, when they are in a hectic environment like the streets of N.Y.C., she is their “filter” — outside stimulus will not bother her pups when she is next to them.

“That gives my dogs a ton of confidence,” she says.

Henze has also shared on TikTok that she doesn’t let her dogs ride in elevators with other dogs, doesn’t allow other people to give her dogs treats and has trained them to ignore people in public who try to get their attention — for the safety of both the pups and everyone around them.

And she’s never offended if people in public are uncomfortable by her dogs, because she recognizes that they can be scary, especially for those who have previously been attacked by a dog.

As a content creator, Henze wants to emphasize that — if you are planning to adopt high-drive dogs like Ava and Brego — you must be prepared to give them opportunities to let out their natural aggression. And for that reason, they’re not meant for the casual dog owner.

“I’m always curious why someone wants a German or Dutch Shepherd,” says Henze, referencing the daily comments she gets on her social media accounts from people who become interested in the breeds after following her pages. She says it even sometimes makes her “nervous” that some people might see her account as promoting the breeds, so much so that she has taken a hiatus from social media since she started regularly posting five years ago.

But, through her social media pages, her work as a dog trainer and the world of dog sports, she says, she’s found a great group of other dog owners to connect with that makes it all worth it.

“That community is really fulfilling for us and really amazing,” says Henze. “The people that we’ve met at least have been so amazing.”

And for as much work as they can be, Henze wouldn’t give up her dogs for anything.

“They’re great,” she says of her pups. “They’re fantastic dogs. They’re the most stable, sturdy dogs I’ve come across.”

Adds Henze: “You pick and choose what you wanna deal with.”

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