Working with Dogwise Obedience and Christine was game changing for us. We have a 1.5 yo St Bernard who was diagnosed with congenital juvenile epilepsy as a young puppy which resulted in a lot of hospitalizations and behavioral issues due to heavy medication. With Emma growing to be a large dog, getting her behavioral issues under control was critical. Christine was able to build a curriculum for us and work with us in the most productive, flexible and respectful way. We never felt judged, she listened to our concerns and we were able to learn incredibly effective ways to manage this big special girl. We feel very confident and hopeful about the future as we continue to work with our puppy and knowing that we have Christine on our side! read more

Dogwise Obedience was incredible in giving us new perspective and training tools for our dogs! We have had our dogs for many years and we able to gain new insight on our relationship and communication with our dogs. Christine was always on time, supportive and honest in he training. This training was a game changer for us! We are so grateful to Christine! read more

Really helpful training support for all age dogs. Provides steps you can take to improve your ability to handle your dog in any situation.

Even during COVID, Christine came to my house to help with my 6-year old rescue dog. She wore a face mask and was aware of the distancing suggested. Christine: -identified the overall problem immediately of why my dog was so suddenly barking and biting -provided me with some clickers and a training leash (saved me time and effort of trying to find the right kind!) -gave me instructions on paper specific to MY dog, showing how much effort she puts into her work -taught and practiced with me the important commands to teach my dog, specific to what results I told her I needed -is VERY responsive via email -is flexible when it comes to forms of payment. I can Venmo her for each session! Just follow her instructions and magical results happen! Remember that dogs are smart and know their puppy eyes are hard for us to resist. He came to me only knowing the command "sit" and over just several weeks has learned some commands using Japanese words! read more

New to the streets of Portland, ME my 15 month old and 5 year old Portuguese Water Dogs needed to learn about leash walking and courteous behavior when passing other people and dogs on the street. And oh what a challenge this was as both would pull and bark at any human or dog that approached us. As I walked around the neighborhood I kept seeing Dogwise Obedience displayed on the side of a vehicle. I contacted Dogwise Obedience and set up an appointment and was impressed with Christine's style of training, knowledge of animal behavior, and presence around my dogs from the moment she arrived. Everything Christine said during our training sessions made a lot of sense and the dogs loved her from the start. Christine was astute in catching small nuances on how I spoke with the dogs, how I responded to the dogs, and what lead me to be frustrated with their behavior. By working with the dogs, but probably more so with me, the behaviors began to improve. After a few hour-long seasons I realized my dogs needed more than leash walking etiquette training. Because I was so impressed with the hour-long sessions, I enrolled each dog in a week of camp. The young boy went for the first week. The older girl went to camp for the second week allowing me alone time with the boy to begin to incorporate the training sessions immediately with one-on-one intensive work. When I picked each dog up from camp, I know each was very happy to see me but also clearly was conflicted about leaving their camp environment. My dogs may not be perfect, but are much better than they were prior to our initial session. And, more importantly, my attitude and interactions with the dogs has improved greatly. Whether you need a quick training review or are in need of more extensive training, Christine has the skill and know-how to put you and your furry friend on the right path. read more

We just loved Christine! She was so good with our dogs and gave us wonderful guidance, especially with our rescue dog, Andy. We kept changing our focus and she rolled right with everything. We highly recommend her! read more

We worked with Christine about two years ago to get foundational training for our puppy chuhauhau mix. I still use those training techniques daily and feel like we've avoided so many common dog behavior issues because of working with Christine from day one. But I'm writing because I just reached out to her with a follow-up question (two years later!) and got a quick and super helpful response! I so appreciate that she is an on-going resource and support for us and our tiny dog. read more

I cannot stress how worthwhile of an investment using Dogwise Obedience has been. Working with Christine was the best decision I could have made for myself and my rescue dog, Teeva. We have learned to love training--we do it everyday with Christine's methods. Be ready to be "trained" as the dog owner too--dog training is just as much about the owner learning as it is about the dog learning! Teeva came with some "baggage"--she was a super sweet 1 year old mutt and she was often anxious, impulsive and reactive. I had grown up with family dogs but never had my own, and I was very committed to training Teeva with positive reinforcement methods. I was an anxious dog-owner before Christine gave me the tools to be confident in myself as a dog owner/handler and confident in Teeva too! Christine was nonjudgmental, showed Teeva so much love and affection, and was always honest with me about how/where I needed to change my relationship with my dog. By just the third at-home visit, I felt overjoyed because I could see that Christine's methods were really working. For example, I was able to redirect Teeva's attention from a dog only 20 feet away (before Christine, she would lay down and refuse to move or look at me if she saw a dog even 300 ft away). Christine even brought her own dogs (who were so sweet and obedient) so that I could practice the training with real-life distractions! Nearly a year later and I am still emailing Christine with any questions/struggles I have about training and sending her pictures of Teeva on new adventures. I have always received a thoughtful, detailed response with more new training tips! read more

You will love Christine! She is very knowledgable and non-judgmental about your dog's 'problems'. The at home training session is really fun and I am amazed at how quickly my dogs catch on to what is expected of them in the training. It is very specific to our needs. This is exactly what I was looking for!! read more

Christine is fantastic! She listens closely to your concerns and what you want to work on with your dog. We attended her training classes and had a one-on-one session. She pinpointed some things to work on and wrote detailed, easy-to-follow instructions for us to use. My dog is fantastic off-leash now! read more

Christine worked with our very shy dog to get him to be more relaxed around other dogs and people. Our dog was not socialized properly as a puppy and was constantly nervous. Christine's persistent, patient, and fun approach helped BamBam come out of his shell. Christine also worked with us to make sure we kept BamBam on the right track with his training. I would highly recommend Christine as a dog trainer. read more

this review is due to the service received in mid-October. I cant attest to the quality of the obedience training as there were only 2 sessions without noticeable improvement. I stopped due to the staunch indignation of the trainer, which at best is a strong commitment to using the psychological process of a pack dog. But more realistically, I feel amounts to vexed self-righteousness read more

We love Christine, she came over to the house and figured out our Chihuahua in just a few minutes. She had a great plan to train him and gave us the lessons and included the worksheet on how to do the training (which was great because I would have forgotten how to do what when). I would highly encourage anyone to call Christine, because she has such a good sense on a dogs behavior and knows how explain it. I was amazed at how well Coco reacted to her commands and did what she wanted him to do. She is Portland's dog whisperer. read more