I've been working with Elissa for about 2 months now and I am so glad she came into my life! She is extremely knowledgable, caring, and great at what she does. My 10 year old toy poodle has MAJOR separation anxiety and she's come a long way since we started the training with Elissa. I've learned SO much from Elissa! read more

Elissa is a thorough, skilled and caring trainer. She listened to my concerns/needs. After meeting me and my dog, she developed a workable plan that met my rewards-based method preference. I rescued an 11-month German Shorthaired Pointer who had a very high prey drive and absolutely no recall. My GSP is now a reliable trail and beach dog who responds to a code word ("Come" no longer worked when we met Elissa.) and/or whistle. Elissa worked with us 4-5 times, but mostly she gave me the understanding, skills and followup exercises to work with my dog myself. She explained behavior theory behind the exercises, showed me how to properly carry them out. She followed each training session with detailed notes and other resources. Success wasn't instant, but steady. With Elissa's help, I have a trustworthy companion whom I feel comfortable letting off leash. read more

My GSD mix, Echo, who is now a year and 3 months old is a fun, well behaved, socially stable large family dog. Elissa and her training methods played a BIG role in raising him. She was referred to us when Echo was around 2 to 3 months old and the very first session was an in-home session which I thought was great. We talked about setting up the kitchen so it's more puppy friendly (no counter surfing, preventing him from touching stove which can be dangerous if we're cooking, etc.). We worked on treat delivery, recall techniques, some down stay methods, and a few more basic puppy fundamentals. I was taking notes the whole entire time. After the session, we booked our next 1 hour appointment (a month out) and the plan was to meet in a grass field. She also stated that she's going to send me notes from this session (I guess I didn't have to take notes after all ). I learned something new to train Echo on but mainly, I learned how to be a better dog handler. Her training revolves around positive-reward based training and Echo responded very well. Because of Elissa, I have a better understanding of his needs, how to play and train with him, and I don't think I would have received this knowledge elsewhere. Our family loves Echo and anyone else that meets him. He's a playful, well behaved HUGE puppy! He's great around other dogs, people, bikers, skateboarders, kids, etc. Elissa is first class in training people on how to train their dogs. She's VERY easy to work with and she sends detailed notes on the session and what you need to work on moving forward. We were very fortunate to have Elissa in our corner during Echo's early stages of development. There's no one else our family would trust to help raise our dogs. read more

I recently worked with Elissa when my two older dogs started fighting with each other. She was very helpful even in our initial phone interview. We filled out a detailed form of issues, daily schedules, and other concerns. By the time she came out to our house several days later, I felt she had a good handle on the situation, and I was feeling better already due to some of her advice. During our almost 2 hour session, she spent time listening to me and my husband, acknowledging our concerns, and offering little tidbits of advice. We went out and worked with the dogs at several different times to watch specifics of how our household works. During these hands-on periods, she offered very insightful comments about dog behavior that she saw (the spinning of excitement when our dogs see us might instead be franticness). She gave specific advice on how to work with our dogs, which is different from me to my husband. Her advice was nonjudgmental, nonthreatening, and very reassuring. Even my husband, who was not that interested in the session to begin with, was paying attention and trying the techniques she taught us. I was able to ask countless questions about our specific aggression issues, as well as other general behavior concerns we had. Elissa is about my size, and she had good advice on how to deal with a fight, which gave me some confidence. We did not need to set up any follow up sessions, but Elissa asked us to call IMMEDIATELY if we had any further issues. I appreciated that she did not seem to be selling a "package", but that she was really interested in having a good outcome for our dogs and ourselves. A few days later, Elissa sent a very detailed summary of what we had discussed, including action items, suggestions, specific commands and exercises we were to work on. This will be really helpful as time goes by and we forget what we worked on. I found Elissa via a web search, as I've never used a trainer before. I interviewed about 10 other trainers on the phone. Many of them sell a package, where you commit to paying up to $700-800 without even meeting them once. Some trainers were not good listeners (don't interrupt me, because I will have answered all your questions by the time I'm done talking), and there were a few who seemed to have what I was looking for. I am so happy to have worked with Elissa, and can recommend her without reservation if you want someone who will listen to you, not judge you, but give you practical advice that works for your family culture. Her cost is completely within the range of other trainers, and I thought it was money very well spent. read more

This review is looooong overdue. Elissa worked with us and our 4 dogs when my husband and I first moved in together (I had 2 dogs and he had 2 dogs), and she was wonderful! She is organized, prompt, extremely knowledgeable, and practical. Her services are both affordable and top-notch. I highly recommend her to anyone seeking any number of dog training services. Elissa is effective and clearly knows what she's doing. read more

When we adopted our dog from a rescue in SF, she came with a little baggage. We had taken her to basic training classes, but after a couple close calls with our new dog lashing out at strangers, we knew we needed to address her fear-based aggression issues quickly and professionally before they got worse. Elissa came recommended from our other trainer, and what difference her help has made! She worked with us over the course of several months, not only training our dog to behave appropriately in tense or frightening contexts or with strangers, but showing us the right way to work with our dog on our own to continue to improve her manners and behavior. Elissa also made herself available between sessions when we had questions. I highly recommend her services. read more

I adopted Chuck, a 5 year old Jack Russell, in January, and am his fourth owner, so one can imagine what I would be taking on. Turns out, his personality is awesome and he's super mellow for a 5 year old JRT. Chuck is my first rescue (not my first Jack), so I understand the challenge of the breed. The first challenge: guests in the house - he is scared and defensive which makes everyone uncomfortable (cowering and barking). Elissa to the rescue! Elissa trained ME to help acclimate Chuck and a potential guest into the home without stress. Elissa has a calm demeanor that makes you at ease, and she speaks both "people" and "dog" so the training is simple, easy and fun (the best part). She helped me understand the dog side of how they see things and how one can make a game out of training. I followed her exercises with guests, and had great success. Elissa takes notes during the sessions with follow up e-mails on exercises that you need to do before the next visit. She is very meticulous in her observations, so if you don't see something she will point it out. Bottom line: if you have a pup with an issue, contact Elissa for a consultation and determine if it fits your needs. Remember, you also need to follow her advice/recommendations/training to the best of your ability to make it work. She is a true professional and to be trusted. read more

I want to say that it took sometime for me to find the right person for my one year old dog Thor. Thor and I have been working with Elissa for our 3rd session. I am very pleased with Elissa Cline, she knows what she is doing and talking about when it come to Thor. She caught on straightaway about Thor and his personality. Elissa was referred to me by another trainer, who lived too far away from me. He highly recommened her. He was right. Elissa is a very calm indivisual, soft spoken, and confident about herself when it comes to training your dog. I recommend Elissa to anyone who is serious about having their dog trained. Thank you Elissa Cline. Clara Butler-Chock read more

I'm less enthusiastic than when I wrote the first review, even though I've had no new experiences with this trainer. Basically, some short time after I wrote that earlier review it became clear that the "treatment plan" wasn't helpful for my situation. I have 2 dogs, and the reason I decided to pay for a trainer was that I have problems with one of them when we're outside on walks or breaks (no major problems inside that would lead me to pay for a trainer). My intuition was that it made sense to do the training with both present, since 100% of the time I'm outside it's with both of them. I said that at the start of the first meeting, but Elissa strongly preferreed to start with just the problem dog, saying it was important to get that behavior under control first before introducing the other (non-problematic) dog. So I paid for 2 sessions with the problem dog alone, seemed to make huge strides (hence my 5-star review) then immediately reverted back to the old situation as soon as the other dog was introduced. What I learned from the experience is that if you have 2 dogs, and they interact, and the interaction is a big part of the problem, and if you can only afford to pay for a few training sessions, it's a waste of time and money to try to deal with one individually first and then leave the client to deal with the interaction at some future date. Maybe if you have thousands of dollars to spend there's an argument for it. But if what you're aiming for is some techniques to help with a difficult situation you encounter 6x/day (involving 2 dogs), and if you only have several hundred dollars to devote to the problem (i.e. 2 sessions), then it makes sense to have both dogs present from the start, and the trainer can do the best s/he can with the situation, offering some tips and strategies, given the number of sessions the client is willing to pay for. To be clear, the approach that was taken was good with the one dog present, it's just that my problem called for training with both dogs present, and as a result I ultimately reaped no benefit from the sessions. I would still strongly recommend her as a trainer, but hopefully this update will be helpful to potential clients that may have a situation similar to mine .... insist that both dogs be present, or you'll be wasting your money! read more

One of the most important things for me about Elissa is that she is a positve enforcement trainer. I was referred to her for a problem with my 15 month old male terrier who had been pulling at the leash and lunging at other dogs and I wasn't looking for anyone who was going to suggest shock or prong collars.. I'd been working a good deal with this problem with some limited results. Before Elissa ever came out, she took detailed notes on my dog, what we'd done so far, etc. Elissa then came to my home and spent 2 hours working with the dog and me, providing extensive coaching and directions. She followed this up with a lengthy and detailed e-mail which included the territory we had covered and suggestions for how to proceed. We then had a follow up session a couple of weeks later. Since we hadn't encountered any dogs other than hers the first time she was here, we met at a local paved trail where dogs walk on-leash. This time we spent well over 2 hours walking along the trail where we encountered a few other dogs to 'practice' with. The techniques worked quite well and we even worked on a few new ones to get my dog off trail when need be. This was again followed up by an email carefully detailing what we'd done. Through knowledgable friends and extensive reading, I already was aware of some of the techniques Elissa used. What I appreciated was her ability to assess and hone my skills (which definitely need work!) Also, the follow-up emails to provide a reference to what we'd covered and discussed were very, very helpful. I also apreciated the fact that she came to my home, 45 minutes from hers to do this work. If you live anywhere in the Bay Area, I would strongly recommend her! read more