Suzi is AMAZING and I can't recommend her enough. We had two dog-reactive dachshunds who we couldn't walk down the street with and she has made such progress with us that we can feel like normal dog owners again. Can't recommend enough. read more

Suzi is a life saver... literally! We adopted our dog from the street, quite literally. He's had bad anxiety and aggression issues. We tried training with other people. We looked to rehome him to centers that work with aggressive dogs, but they all had a waiting list, and we love him too much to put him down. Suzi trained US to know how to work with him. He's been with her now for 8 years and is a very happy dog. She boards him, and she's literally the only one we've found who knows what she is doing. Love her!!!!! read more

Canine Psychology Center - Pet Training Near Me - Pine, Colorado

Suzi is awesome, taught us so much that we never new about dog behavior her service was priceless!

Happy we found this place! They were willing to work with & board our large St. Bernard, who can be quite a handful. So thankful to them.

Suzi is an absolutely amazing trainer - of both dogs and people. We have spent more money than I care to admit over the years on training for our miniature pincer - nothing worked until we went to CPC. We finally reached a point that we had to get our dog the training he (and we) needed, or we were going to have to put him down due to mounting aggression issues. Given how set our Max was in his ways, we chose the Boarding School Program option. He was a challenging case, to say the least, and spent 8 weeks with Suzi. I can't explain how amazing the change was when we picked him up after boarding. However, do know that you need to go through training with Suzi as well and continue it at home so you don't unwittingly undo all of the great training! While he'll always be a bit of a nervous dog (he is a min pin, after all), the change in his demeanor is nothing short of amazing. It has now been almost 3 years since he went through the CPC program, and I can honestly say we have a completely different dog and a much more relaxed house. Suzi genuinely loves dogs and doing all she can help them and their owners. She still texts and calls us to check up on Max. We will never work with another trainer. read more

Our experience has been so great . Our pup Jackson and my wife and I have been working with Suzi for over a year now and he change is amazing in Jackson and in both of us as well . Suzi has taught us how to be the best pet owners we can be and that includes on going training for all of us . I am impressed by Suzi's dedication to the process and her training style is very effective . We have a different pet today and we will continue to work with Suzi as we are very satisfied . read more

My story follows, but the key takeaway is that Suzi Schaefers is an amazingly insightful and effective professional who rescued us from a life of chaos with our formerly aggressive rescue dog--an 80+ pound black Lab. My mistake was not calling Suzi a year earlier when I first found her online. I hesitated because of a negative review, but in the next year our dog's behavior deteriorated to the point of nipping our visitors and eventually biting a bicyclist hard enough to draw blood. We were afraid of what he might do next and agonized over whether we should put him down. Our lives were consumed by trying and failing to manage our dog's bad behavior. Then we called Suzi. In our free initial telephone interview, Suzi showed a better understanding of the dynamics of our household and our dog's behavior than anyone we had worked with previously or anything I had read in the dog training books. Her understanding of the emotional toll brought on by our dog's bad behavior brought me to tears. She asked discerning questions that others had missed. One example is that other trainers just asked whether our dog was neutered. Suzi asked a critical follow-up question that helped explain our dog's behavior. At age two, he had been neutered only three days before we adopted him, meaning that his brain developed as an intact male and many of his behaviors were intensified by that fact. Suzi also diagnosed accurately that our dog's aggression was based on fear rather than dominance. Because Suzi's analysis on that call helped us immediately to achieve greater peace in our house, we entrusted her to domesticate our dog at her home and place of business in Pine, CO. I use the word "domesticate" because what Suzi does is more than training. It resets a dog's mental model of what its role is in a human family. When we brought him home four weeks later, he was a happy canine model citizen. He actually enjoyed being in his kennel. Taking him on a loose leash walk for the first time in the three years after we adopted him was a triumphant experience! Our dog is now peaceful when visitors call, doesn't bark constantly or engage in fence or leash aggression, and no longer calls the shots in our house--we do. Our relationship with our dog is healthy because we know that his behavior depends on what we do, and we know what to do. We are happy to continue lessons with Suzi on an as needed basis as we grow our skills and take our dog into new situations. We are glad that we invited Suzi into our life. It was an investment in our future. We deeply respect Suzi as a professional canine psychologist and thank her for being our family's super hero. read more

If you open your mind and listen, you'll learn a lot about your dog here. I see negative reviews about tools used that certain pet owners do not approve of. That's because these owners are ignorant of operant conditioning and the way it works. These owners don't understand that if done correctly, all these tools are exceptional devices that assist you with becoming the pack leader of your dog and correcting unwanted behavior. You want your dog to stop barking, being aggressive, being scared, etc., but you don't want to utilize certain tools to accomplish these goals? You'll never fix your dog and your dog will never be truly happy. You have dog problems for a reason, and that reason is that you don't know what you're doing with your pet. Get over yourself and listen to the professionals even if it doesn't fit your subjective belief as to how it should be done. The biggest problem with dogs is the owners, not the dogs. Fix yourself first, open your mind, listen and you and your dog could finally be happy like you should be. Treating your dog like a "family member" is only benefitting your fragile ego and your human emotions. It's certainly not helping your dog live a long and enjoyable life, no matter what YOU think. I'm glad I listened, I'm glad I evaluated myself and my relationship with my dog and I'm excited about the positive benefits that have come due to me checking my ego at the door. It appears that some reviewers just can't seem to do that. Good luck with your unhappy and undisciplined dog. At least you're happy with it. Your family, your friends, and your DOG surely aren't! read more

Okay, so after reading all of the reviews I could not help but jump in to clarify a few things. If you are not ready or capable of being your dogs Pack Leader, than perhaps the critics are correct, the Canine Psychology Center may not be for you. However, if you are ready to be your dog's master and lead your pack, you cannot go wrong with CPC. We took our American Bulldog "Raven" to CPC after hearing of Suzie while living in NORTH CAROLINA! It was a blessing in disguise that moving to CO just happen to be in our plans as our beloved Raven began to develop a few aggression tendencies. As it turned out, Raven was simply being a BULLDOG and we were allowing her to lead without realizing it (and I've owned dogs all my life). CPC to the rescue! Being a pack leader takes discipline, by the owners more so than the dogs. We learned this immediately and have been leading Raven ever since, as she is became a well balanced, obedient member of our pack. So in conclusion if you want your dog to learn to sit and rollover, go to PETSMART, they'll teach you those commands and perhaps a few other tricks as well. However if you are willing to submit yourself to learning what "you think you already know" and becoming the leader of your Pack and true master to your dog, than look no further and give Suzie a call. By the way you can also buy fish at the Pet Store, we don't own fish but I'm pretty sure they don't require strong leaders. read more

I would also give zero stars if possible. Typical holier-than-thou prima donna dog trainer who can't even respect owners' intelligence long enough to listen to the exact nature of the behavior problem in an initial phone call without interrupting and hanging up on a calm inquirer. She tries to dominate you on the phone like you're the dog. Colorado Canine Training has a more reasonable owner and a more reasonable price. We just moved here but I'll be spreading the word just as quickly as I meet people. Thanks for your professionalism! read more

I would give this place zero stars if I could. In a nutshell, this woman is unprofessional, unresponsive and I wouldn't trust her with an insect let alone my dog. She had made appointments with us and cancelled last minute several times. Voicemail full, never returned calls. Unreliable. read more

Regardless of what you hear and our (I should say negative) experience I would still recommend you go out and meet the owner and talk to her. I cannot speak for everyone else and will just describe our experience. We've adopted a dog that has a somewhat serious aggression issue. After some search we've come across this business and regardless of mixed reviews (that are all probably authentic) we decided to give it a try. The interview went great and we were ready to jump on the training program. However after some "internal' discussion we had some questions. The questions we had mostly were not answered and they were taken as an offence. Where from our side we were just trying to clarify the situation. As the result we got an email with the blank statement that she cannot help us. The most frustrating bit for us was lack of communication and it took 7 days, 3 phone calls and 3 emails to finally get the explanation on what is going on (good part is that we received one) However, I still recommend you try it and maybe your experience will be different. read more

Suzi has knowledge and experience; but her level of professionalism and negligence is unacceptable and I would not trust her as a caretaker for my pet. read more

My dog was taken to her by the previous owner and we thought we would continue the process. The owner has strong opinions and does not want to listen to anyone. I saw behavior while there that I would never use with any animal. I was shocked and saddened. She has a very dominating and scary approach (shock collars included). My dog was scared to go and I was as well. After one session that included an event that shocked me when she got very angry at her own dog for showing affection I never went back. To me dogs are part of the family, they need training not scaring especially when they came from horrible abuse situations. To those saying that it's about being the pack leader, I am fully aware that this is her approach. Anything that includes putting a shock collar (which left marks on my dog) a choke collar and in any way harming a dog (especially an 8 pound Yorkie who came from an abusive situation) is absurd. Perhaps she can fix big dogs that are dangerous but I do not agree with the approach regardless. To harm a dog who had spent her life getting hurt is absolutely not okay. The goal was to teach my dog to not fear everything anymore, to gain control of her and keep her from barking and otherwise being unruly. None of this was achieved here. read more

Suzi and the Canine Psychology Center has completely changed our life! We brought our two dogs to Suzi three years ago to be trained. We had an aggressive female and a passive male. We still laugh about our comment when we dropped off the dogs for rehabilitation. We said, "This one is the problem". We were totally wrong! Suzi trained us about the Pack rules and how having a strong pack leader is the key to a happy home with pets. The training we got from Suzi has completely changed our home. The rehabilitation our dogs received has turned them into obedient members of our pack. Now our home is peaceful! When we go out of town, we drive 2 hours to board our dogs with Suzi for a refresher and get a tune up ourselves! We have learned so much from Suzi and will be forever grateful for the training she gave us (and the rehabilitation of our dogs). I cannot say enough about the experience we received at the Canine Psychology Center! If your dogs need training (translation: YOU need training!), do not hesitate! Sign up today and change your life and the lives of your dogs forever! read more

I have been working with Suzi for over two years now and have had an amazing experience. I was really fearful of opening my dog's aggressive issues up to a trainer however she has really been able to provide me with the training to ensure a better environment in my home. I chose to board and train my dog and I got updates the entire time I was there. I also have been able to continue to have refresher sessions as well as I have been able to have my loved ones come up for some training as well. I really have seen a difference in myself and how I relate to my dog and his aggression. One of the best assets that Suzi has is her boarding opportunities. Roscoo has been able to be boarded there and that has allowed me to be able to travel and take time without worrying who is taking care of my special dog. I would highly recommend the Canine Psychology Center however one has to have an open mind to the fact that the human in the relationship must be trained just as much as the dog. If a person does not come in to the training with that attitude this will not be helpful. I also have been able to get very quick responses to questions I have and she always returns my emails. My dog is truly my best friend and I wouldn't train or board my dog with someone I didn't trust. read more

We were 6 hours from the appointment to euthanize our Akita. We stumbled onto Suzi's website and today we are enjoying a "rehabed" and very special dog. If you are reading this review, chances are 99.9% you have a problem. Potentially a BIG problem that could result in injury, severe injury, or death of a person or other animal. If you fail to act, be prepared for the consequences. Emotional anguish, money. civil/criminal law, etc. I guarantee, once the police or lawyers are on the scene, you are in for trouble. Make sure you read everything on Suzi's website, then GO to her. Understand, that YOU as the owner are the one that needs to be trained to become the pack leader in a way that your dog understands. In order to do this, you have to put your own preconcieved notions aside, and follow the instructions explicitly. No exceptions, no deviations. Let Suzi be the temporary "Pack Leader" over you. If she was not, she would probably not be alive today, in view of the horribly agressive dogs she has rehabed. If your ego can't stand what is asked of you, go somewhere else and don't waste her time. If you want the best result possible, go to Suzi and do the work. By the way her fees are practically nothing compared to a lawsuit, or a visit to the E.R. Bruce Marron, Fort Morgan, CO and "Kikko", rehabed Akita. read more

My husband & I found Suzi in 2007 after 1 of our dogs attacked another dog of ours (we were also starting to have aggression issues on walks too towards stranger dogs, but never people). When we met Suzi, we had 3 dogs (all rescued in one form or another) and thought we were doing a fairly good job in terms of training & leadership. She helped us recognize our strengths, but also to see the little things we didn't realize that we were doing that were causing some of the issues we were dealing with. Since 2007, our pack has been as big as 6 (always with strong breeds/energies), and is now at 5. Throughout this time, 2 of our dogs have graduated from Suzi's obedience program, all have had private & group sessions with her in multiple locations, they have boarded with her when we have traveled and we have continued to consult with her on an as needed basis when rehabilitating dogs (none went through a board & train). See my responses below to questions we have been asked and understanding that we have not done a "board & train," but I have see great results in dogs that have gone through Suzi's board & train program ....... 1. When your dog returned home did it resume behaviors of wanting to attack other dogs close to your home or was this behavior significantly changed? This has been a process & has looked different for each of our dogs (note that the behaviors we have worked with in our pack have had a different intensity due to having a pack). All of our dogs have not had aggression issues, but the challenges we have dealt with improved after working with Suzi, but know that it is a process both of understanding the root causes & of becoming a stronger pack leader. 2. After returning home was there a lot of followup training that you, the owner, had to do? If so, was it something you did daily for a certain amount of time? Training & pack leadership is a life long commitment (regardless of the breed or issue), but it is not something that we have had to do in a formalized way throughout the years. Initially we spent roughly an hour/day doing formalized training, but now it is more "leadership maintenance." In the first few years, we did follow up training with Suzi (group & private) to continue to work on issues that came up, but now we only consult with her when we have introduced new dogs. She is very good at what she does and has helped us tremendously through the years-most importantly to not see our dogs as something that could be "fixed" without a lot of involvement & responsibility on our part. Suzi has helped us to recognize our dogs needs, impulses, and their responses to their surroundings. 3. After returning home from training were you able to take your dog for walks and walk by other dogs without your dog showing aggressive behavior towards other dogs? We have continued to take our dogs for walks in many settings throughout the years (in a variety of configurations in terms of number). Aggressive behavior toward other dogs is something we have dealt with a lot, but have come to recognize the triggers (both in ourselves & our dogs and other owners & their dogs) and know how to deal with it if it arises. 4. After returning home was your dog aggressive to people? Are there still percautions you take to make sure your dog is safe around people/not aggressive? We have only had one dog with human aggression issues (small mixed rescue dog), which we will continue to correct when he displays any aggression and he will be on a leash when strangers are near him. read more