I would highly recommend starting your puppy in the puppy romper room. We did that at 10 weeks for…read moreWalter Baby (he went every week) and now our dog loves all humans and dogs! This class taught me how to encourage my dog to find learning fun... It also trained me so that I can be a good pet owner. Cheryl gave lots of detailed advice about socialization and I learned a lot. Cheryl is very good at what she does... She can help any dog regardless of their personality. She answers emails and personal calls and is very helpful! I am so happy I found Smart Paws! My puppy is now 6 months and we are in the Beginning Companion class. I love it! Everything is positive rewards (no punishment) and it is so exciting to see my stubborn little bulldog learn new things! I would highly recommend this class for any dog.

We have one class left, but I feel I can review the course now. Cheryl Huffman runs the Smart Paws…read moreAcademy. She is the dog whisperer. She can make the very naughty Oola Fandango do anything within seconds. It's magical. Better yet, she can train US to make Oola do anything. That is also magical. We haven't had as much time as we would like to train because of holidays, work and family stuff happening, but I feel I have a solid foundation and we can be successful when we can truly devote the time. Oola is already better behaved and following more commands more reliably. You get a DVD and workbook when you sign up for a course. The first lecture is just with the humans and Cheryl; you bring your dog to class after that. The teaching occurs in an unheated, no air conditioning barn on Cheryl's property, so in the winter dress warm, in the summer bring water. All the dogs are trained at the same time but she is happy to give you a few moments of one on one time, she asks for praises and problems from each owner at the beginning of each session, and is available by phone or email with questions. And it's cheap! Under 100 bucks for the series. She does obedience, agility, all sorts of stuff; we were in the beginning obedience class. Granted it is in Oregon City, so it's a hike for most people, but it is totally worth it. She has evening and weekend classes. Everything Cheryl does makes sense and she only uses positive training methods. There is no yelling, hitting, or pinch collars, and Cheryl is very clear that she expects you to treat your animal with respect and kindness. So, in summary, Cheryl Huffman ROCKS the dog world. In a few short weeks we have Oola off the halter and only using a collar, walking better on leash, sometimes comes when called, can sit and lay down on command, and is learning to stay with some success. Her behavior overall is better and we are less stressed. There is more training to do and we have the tools and the workbook so we can continue to improve when the class is over. Consider Smart Paws for dog training. You and your dog will be good canine citizens when you are finished. http://www.smartpawsacademy.com

I called Torie to help me with a very high energy, anxious rescue cattle dog mix. This dog had been…read moreadopted and returned multiple times with a grab bag of issues that made her too difficult to live with. She turned this dog around with plans for mental and physical enrichment and taught her alternate behaviors that have her owners swooning over her. Torie is a credentialed, excellent, and experienced dog trainer and teacher of the human half of the team. She uses humane, scientific and evidence-based techniques to modify behavior and has a true gift for making the process fun and rewarding for the creatures at either end of the leash. Torie has the ability to work with all kinds of behavior issues, from correctly socializing puppies, to helping fearful dogs, to reactivity. She has the education and a wealth of experience to take on any challenge. She is skilled, kind and very caring. Your dog and you could not be in better hands than with Torie. I recommend Diamond Dogs to anyone looking for the very best training support there is.

My biggest concern when searching for pet care is whether or not I can trust them to care for my…read morefurry family member. Rarely do I feel they will care as much as I do. Most often I rely on reviews to make sure a pet has not been mistreated. That is not the case with Diamond Dogs! This business cares about your pet. The owner puts her heart into this business because she loves pets as much as you. You can trust that when your pup is with Diamond Dogs, they are in the best hands possible!

Lisa is such a wonderful person a deeply skilled trainer. Just stepping into the space at Wags N…read moreWisdom makes it evident; she and her staff have put care into every little detail. I work with dogs for a living, and Lisa is the one person I trust when I need advice or need to refer a client to someone with more experience. I've also seen how happy all of her dog clients are while they're there! This is a beautiful space with truly top notch trainers.

Great services offered here! I have done multiple things with my dog Calcifer and always looking…read morefor more because we love it so much! He has so much fun, has learned so much everytime and it's been so great to see his confidence grow as he has been coming here since 16 weeks until now at 1.5 years. Such sweet folks work here and they take such good care of the dogs, truly caring about their wellbeing. Great work and many thanks to the team - Lisa, Kristin and Carley.

Our very reactive dog, Archie, needed private training so I contacted Happy Go Lucky on the advice…read moreof friends, and made an appointment with Lisa. I'm glad I did. From the very beginning Lisa was awesome, asking smart questions about Archie and his behavior, and using my answers to inform our training. (Needless to say, she was great with Archie, too.) A few months later, Archie's progress has been remarkable. He's not perfect (what dog is?) but he's vastly improved--and my wife and I now have the right tools to continue working with him on our own. Highly recommend!

This is my 2nd dog to go through puppy kinder and puppy intermediate training with Susan and the…read moreHGL team. I am so grateful and appreciative for their expertise and support as we navigate training. They were helpful with all of the basics and helping me learn ways to incorporate my kids and family into our training. They really understand that every situation, every dog and every trainer is unique and they help to navigate those differences with positivity and support. These classes are amazing and have really helped both me and my puppy connect with each other and feel more confident out in the world. I know my pup has a great foundation for his life and I hope to get back to continue the classes because the accountability is helpful for me! So grateful for these training opportunities!

Honestly cannot thank Dennis + Ursula and the Better Dog team enough. We have a 110lb Shepherd…read moreMastiff mix that is a complete handful, and needed to find a board + train option for him for two weeks while we were out of town. They not only gave him a good home while we were away, they worked with him on his stranger danger, impulse control and a slew of other items that he needed help with. All that said, can't tell you how much I appreciated knowing that he was in a good home while we were away, and I'm looking forward to our next training sesh!

The Better Dog states that you can do a free 30 minute consultation with Ursula and Dennis to see…read moreif they are the right fit. So we set one up. I messed up and had to change the date and they responded with "no problem, we adjusted, look forward to speaking to you." When we finally had our phone consultation both my husband and I fell in love with Ursula's bubbly personality and knowledge. She spoke to us about our dog's issues and made some suggestions for immediate help and then suggested a trainer for anxiety. But we wanted to make sure we could try with her first so we are setting up an in person as we feel she can definitely help us and our dog. They are responsive, understanding and truly care. Ursula listened carefully to our concerns and gave us great suggestions and feedback. So I cannot recommended them highly enough just based on that. BUT I know we will love her when we start training (and I'll definitely update my review!)

It has been awesome to work with Deborah over the last few months. I've only had a few training…read moresessions with her due to my crazy schedule, but those few sessions have been extremely helpful. Plus my puppy absolutely adored her! I enjoyed her positive approach and how she was super knowledgeable. You can just tell she really loves her job and cares about helping people. I had previously been having issues getting my puppy into obedience classes and was actually asked to leave a group class once because my puppy was too aggressive with others. Deborah taught me the skills to get on my dog's level and find a way to help her be more behaved and overall strengthen our relationship. We worked on many things, everything from jumping, to sitting and waiting for food, and she even helped me take my dog on a walk to work on leash pulling. One of the best parts about Patient Pawz I feel is that Deborah not only lives up to the name by being patient with puppies, she is also extremely patient with owners and really does work to find a time that fits with your schedule as well.

Deborah was wonderful with our puppy, Argos. We wanted to start training soon after we got him and…read moreshe was able to schedule us quickly! Argos loved working with her and learned very quickly. We appreciated that she came to our home, so that Argos could train in his normal environment before heading to new places and meeting new puppies. Definitely would recommend to anyone with a dog and if we need any training in the future we will definitely give her a call again.

Owner and trainer, Caroline is also a psychologist, in addition to being a dog trainer, and this…read moregives her an upper hand (paw?), though she doesn't use her knowledge like that! ;) She really understands group dynamics, how to approach both owners and dogs in a way that's respectful and also gets the job done! Immediately, within the first hour of our working together, we noticed changes in our dogs' barking behavior! Like a good therapist, she goes at the pace of the dog, rather than pushing or dominating over the dog, and that produces immediate results that we have been able to sustain with repeated efforts. City Dog, Country Dog also hosts camps for you and your dog/s in addition to individual training, and, as dog lovers, we hope to attend one soon. I can't recommend Caroline at City Dog, Country Dog highly enough!!!

It took me a long time before finding the right trainer for me and my dog, I've look into…read moredog-trainers in Portland and I found a lot of them, I interviewed them all and I felt that Caroline was the right fit immediately. First she took the time to jump on a call with me for about 30 minutes to answer my questions. I saw her total 4 hours on a period of 6 months and I can honestly say that she changed our life. She is an amazing dog-trainer, she understands them, she respects them and she's also very good with human which is not always the case with dog trainer. We have a 2 years old male shiba-inu that was getting out of control, extremely scared of new people and other dogs, he would growl at almost anyone we would walk near by. He also growled at us. We were desperate when we called her and she helped us on a way I can't every describe. She gave us methods to gain his trust and make him feel more confident, she explained to us how he was thinking and why he was acting the way he did. It just changed everything. After few months of training he completely changed. Not only he doesn't growl anymore but we were able to bring people over for the first time in months, but also our entire relationship changed with him. He began to like being cuddled, he's way more obedient and he trust us more.We built a connexion with our dog that we never had before. When I say that we were desperate I mean it, I was even afraid to take my dog out. What Caroline did for us is priceless. Plus she is an amazing human-being and we feel so grateful we met her. Seriously don't think twice before calling her, she is amazing and she will help you through any kind of problems.