As some may be able to tell by several of my reviews, I can be a pretty tough customer. After this…read morereview, I'm going to leave a less glowing review of another dog trainer I used before this one.
This is my 3rd toy poodle and my 4th training experience, so I have a pretty good feel of the differences between effective and not so effective. My dog was about 7 months old when I started with Kristen. I had her in 4 weeks of boarding training prior to this. Over $3,000 later, I felt I got nothing for my money other than 4 weeks without my dog.
When I met Kristin, we agreed to 2-3 weeks of boarding training with followup in home sessions. I still have at least 3 of the in house sessions left. During the initial consultation, she spends a lot of time talking about dog behaviors. At first my gut feeling was less presentation, more training. I guess I was skeptical due to my last experience. She proved me wrong, as after just the 1st week, I noticed an enormous improvement in the behavior of my dog. My dog was and still is very spunky, but we were having major potty issues, lots of barking, she didn't know how to walk outside without hopping really fast on her back legs like a kangaroo, wouldn't warm up to anyone, she was just so wild. Kristin helped me understand that forcing the dog to do behaviors it doesn't want or isn't ready for is counterproductive. Instead, we worked on giving my dog more freedom, but in a very measured way. We worked on positive reinforcements including positive distractions when something might make my dog nervous. Know right up front that your dog will be getting a TON of treats during this training, but try not to let that bother you and focus on the fact that you'll be getting so much improvement if you make the effort to supplement her training with what you are also taught as an owner. It is critical that you make the effort. You can't just expect miracles if you don't contribute to the dogs training.
I don't know if its appropriate to put the price here, she ain't cheap, but we felt it was money well spent. My dog is much more relaxed, much happier, much more balanced....its hard to put it into words. I feel like she went away for 6 months when it was only 3 weeks and I got a much more mature dog back. Kristin also was very helpful coming up with a plan with regard to how to handle my dog in different situations within my own house....like when I'm working from home and I need quiet during a meeting I'm running. 4 weeks ago, my dog was peeing in her crate, she was in her crate most of the day crate training, barking, crying. Now, she has a very large pen which she has connected with going out on a balcony to a grass square, she sleeps all night in our bed, she gets much more free roam time in the living room, she learned several commands including, sit, stay, down, paw, go sniff...her outdoor walking is dramatically improved. She hasn't had an accident in the house for over 3-4 weeks. Still need some work on 'come', but we will get there.
I highly recommend her. She knows her stuff and she is an expert in dog behaviors. She is the real deal which is hard to find in LA. She's also a super nice person..the kind of person that sort of lights up the room, so its no wonder dogs love her :-).
Thanks for reading. Message me if you have any questions.