What a great experience! I've never done dog training with any of my previous pets... But I knew right away with my new puppy that there were some hurdles that we would have if we didn't. Susan's shy confident class was exactly what we needed! She gave us the tools and the feedback to not only train our dog, but to train us on how to best interact and react with our new dog! We implemented everything we've learned and we're seeing results! Very thankful for the time spent! Thank you!! read more

Paws4Training - She graduated!! - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

PUPPY DAY CAMP is a great investment in growing your dog's social & obedience skills. Maisie, our Field Golden who has boundless energy thrived at PDC. She loved being able to play with other pups & we continue to benefit from her willingness to follow commands & her good manners when on & off leash. read more

Paws4Training - A tired pup on her way home after a session at PUPPY DAY CAMP - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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We did puppy kindergarten, puppy day camp, and middle school at Paws4Training and all were fantastic! Susie is a great trainer and coach and her team is wonderful. I really appreciated the super small class sizes, individualized attention, and daily report cards from puppy camp. The socialization my puppy received and the skills, tips, and support I received as a new dog owner in the classes were well worth the cost. And the results have been great! read more

We just finished the Small Breed Puppy Kindergarten group class series and we enjoyed our time there! It is a rolling class so topics covered can range from leash training and word association. Susan operates by using positive non-physical treat-focused encouragement and we've seen great progress with our maltipoo. She went from being a shy pup to being a really excited playmate to the other puppies in the class! It's a dog class but Susan primarily trains you as the dog owner how to effectively train (such as picking up on your dog's non-verbal cues/body language, being mindful about how your responses to your pet's actions reinforce certain behaviors, etc.) The dog group classes are a low pressure, positive environment that incorporates lessons and group play time and we look forward to checking out her other classes in the future! They also do day camps so that's pretty neat! read more

I thought this was a really great place for my dog's first training class! The teacher was a great trainer!

We've taken our older dog, Nola, to puppy kindergarten and puppy middle school and had laid a great foundation for her obedience! Our younger dog, Tilly, was a pandemic puppy and had become increasingly reactive to dogs over the past year. We completed the growly dog class with Tilly and saw huge improvement during the 5 week course! We feel very confident taking both dogs on walks and have tools to help Tilly remain more calm and relaxed as she passes other dogs! read more

I have taken both of my dogs to Paws4Training and have learned so much from Susan! Most recently my new pup and I finished the Growly Dog Class to help understand how to deal with my dog's reactivity to other dogs and strangers. Giving him gradual exposure to other dogs and strategies for improving his leash manners and also how he checks in with me has helped both of our confidence out on walks! Susan is great to work with, we had an initial private session before the group class. The facility is also excellent and convenient to get to. Would highly recommend these training classes to all dog owners! read more

Paws4Training - Sisko gets his diploma! - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

We took our 4yo Border collie/spaniel mix to the growly dog class. By the end of the class series we had noticeable improvement in her reactivity when walking around the neighborhood as well as better with her walking on leash overall. Very happy with the class and skills we learned and have been able to put them into immediate use. read more

Paws4Training - Dog - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

We had an awesome experience at Paws4training! Susan is great, positive, knowledgeable and very experienced with puppies! We learned so much, most importantly how to effectively get your puppy's attention, how to set your pup up for success and how to train for what you want proactively rather than reacting to the unwanted behavior after it occurs. We also learned how to listen and watch for our puppies cues that show how he's feeling in any given moment. I feel like the bond between my puppy and I has become even stronger using the positive training model techniques and we are effectively reshaping unwanted behaviors or avoiding them all together, it's amazing! Thank you, Susan!! read more

Paws4Training - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Our 6-month-old pup just completed "puppy kindergarten" and "puppy middle school". We found both classes helpful and a good foundation. Puppy training takes time, commitment and perseverance so these classes were a great start. Susan, the owner, was friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable. We appreciated how she asked us each week what "challenges" we were having and then she would provide concrete, applicable advice to address our puppy training. We hope to take another class in the future. read more

Paws4Training - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Good instruction, our puppy has learned lots of skills here. Camp is a bit pricey, but kindergarten classes are perfect value.

This place is wonderful. Susan is very helpful, flexible and informed. She's kind to the dogs, as is her very sweet staff. The puppy socials are about one hour, and it was really wonderful how when I brought my pup the first time, they were helpful in getting him comfortable and explaining how it takes time for them to join in the fun. They even move dogs around to give them the best chance to be comfy and have fun. Puppy Kindergarten is also fantastic. My dog Orson is picking up the lessons quickly. They are patient and helpful. Bottom Line: Susan and her team are great! highly recommend it (plus seeing all the other puppies makes my day!) read more

Paws4Training - Play Time puppies! - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I can confidently say that our puppy is growing up into a well behaved adolescent because of Paws4Training! My husband and I enrolled our 3.5 month old puppy in Puppy Kindergarten here a week after we got him. We wanted to make sure Ollie (our pup) was properly socialized and had the right skills covered. Susan and her team are incredible at meeting the dogs where they're at and training using positive reinforcement. Ollie had a handful of times where he was being whiny in class because he had fomo and just wanted to play with all the other puppies, and Susan handled it so gracefully. She brings her veterinary experience with her to provide structured and educational classes which can teach you how to train your puppy better. I always joked that this class is more for training humans because as a first time dog owner, there's a *lot* I didn't know, and because I now feel like more of an expert - I owe it to this class. We've also dabbled with the Puppy Social Hour on Wednesdays (which Ollie loooooved! And which you get to watch) and Ollie frequents the Puppy Day Camps. I'm a huge fan of the Day Camp for a few reasons: 1. Becky and Hannah work to train the dogs while they're there - we've noticed significant improvements in Ollie's leash walking, leave it, stay, and general recall because of this 2. There's ample time for the pups to play and socialize 3. The pick up and drop off times are convenient 4. Our dog naps until 3pm after we bring him home 5. My favorite piece - they send us home with a puppy report card where we get a deep dive on what Ollie worked on, who he played with, and how he behaved that day. We love Paws4Training so much, we're continuing with Puppy Middle School. I like this format a lot because it involves more hands on training. All in all, we've gotten so much out of working with Susan, and our dog is *such a good boy* because of it. Thanks, Paws4Training! read more

Paws4Training - Puppy Day Care photo op! - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Highly recommend Paws4Training! So many great class options for puppies/dogs and their owners.

Susan has helped us train and socialize three out of three puppies over the last sixteen years. Her Puppy Kindergarten classes and Puppy Social sessions lay a great foundation for all puppies, from family pets to future star performance dogs. Susan's positive training methods, with people and with the puppies, her handouts and new videos make it easy for any puppy owner who's willing to learn. Her attention and keen eye for puppy interaction ensure that all the puppies, shy or bold, have a positive play session. She isn't afraid to move puppies into different play groups if it will lead to better interaction. We get compliments about our dogs' behavior on a regular basis and we never hesitate to recommend Susan and Paws4Training to our neighbors and friends who wish to give their puppies a great start to being well-behaved companion dogs. read more

Paws4Training - Nigel with CKC ribbons - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Our dog learned so much during his recent class. We were dealing with some leash reactivity issues and we were able to learn some skills to help reduce the reactivity. We are really glad we did the class. read more

Love Paws4Training! Ms. Susan did an amazing job teaching us so much when training my new puppy. She is so good with all of the dogs when showing how to do the training, as well as during Play Time for them! Me and Lucy will both miss these puppy training classes!! read more

We attended one growly dog class of a 6-week session with Susan before the pandemic shut things down in March 2020, and while the class itself was alright, it was extremely difficult to get ahold of Susan to discuss options for either continuing or transferring to another session or getting a refund for cancelled classes in the months following. I was very responsive to her messages asking us what we'd like to do, but my last 3 messages to her in July/Aug 2020 went unanswered and we never did get a refund for unused classes. I understand it was a difficult time for everyone, especially those who run small businesses, so I stopped pursuing a resolution but the complete radio silence left a bad taste in my mouth. UPDATE: Susan reached out promptly to apologize and remedy the issue, so I'm updating my review to reflect her efforts as it appears she's gotten back on top of things with P4T. read more

Susan is an absolutely phenomenal trainer! Her puppy kindergarten not only gave our puppy the socialization she needed to play well with other dogs but also taught us as owners invaluable tips and techniques on how to raise the best version of our dog. My wife and I left every class with insight that we felt confident practicing at home to improve our puppy's behavior and to instill good habits early. Susan is patient, communicates incredibly clearly, and gives personal attention to everyone regardless of how many people are in class that day. She is also wonderful to work with in scheduling sessions and answering questions. I can't recommend her and the Paws4Training programs highly enough!! - Cole, Meg, and Frankie read more

Paws4Training nearly turned me off training and classes altogether. A year later, I still really can't recommend a facility that sets your dog up to fail in so many ways. I can't tell you how punishing it is. The methods she uses shapes dogs to lunge/bark, and to be reactive, and it took over a year to undo the sabotage that Paws did for us. Now we can settle around other dogs, do a mean heel walk, and a ton of cool tricks, but it was a needlessly long journey because of Paws. Susan is a balance trainer disguised as a Positive Reinforcement (R+) trainer. Instead of asking for an behavior incompatible with undesirable behavior, she resorts to intimidation, "No" and "AHAH"s. I was led to believe this was R+, and took a lot of poor advice that really hurt our training. For puppy class, Susan chains each dog to the wall so that they can see everything and develop frustrated greeter habits. Places like Ahimsa have individual pods so that they preempt these situations. Her response to reasonably frustrated puppies, who weren't positively reinforced to like having play suddenly interrupted and getting chained to a wall--is to stuff their face with a Kong. Which is just a band aid for the problem in the short term, but it also actually ends up reinforcing overstimulation, so it's actually worse when this is your only trick. It's pretty irresponsible. A better solution is to take a step back and let give the dog a moment to breathe away from the stimulus that's putting him over threshold. Some facilities like Puppyworks have a time-out spot (it's not punishment like a human time-out where you sit and think about what you did wrong, it's just to take a step back from an overwhelming environment and let the dog breathe for a second so he's not worked up for long periods of time.) You can also throw some kibble and distract with a treat or a toy. However, Susan has one approach, and it's to hold the puppy back by the harness without allowing for distance from the stimulus. And letting go only after they've worked themselves up so much, they're clawing at the ground and it's no longer safe to hold them. This is problematic for many reasons, but first is that the puppy doesn't understand why it can't go forward and it is literally shaping lunging, barking, and reactive behavior. That behavior is being rehearsed and encouraged. Second is that it makes the dog frustrated in a way that he doesn't understand, and you reinforce frustration. Third, this becomes a habit the more you do it, and your dog ends up snapping immediately into "lizard brain" mode the more you come here. Congrats, now you have a reactive puppy! Wow, Thanks, Susan. The facility is also U shaped, so Susan isn't supervising the room the entire time. When I was there, she recently hired some kids, but they were too afraid to do anything without Susan's approval, so novice puppy parents were left to their own devices, often overcorrecting and just being extremely anxious. I really can't tell you how punishing this facility is. It's terrible. When Susan felt she was losing control of the class, she blamed one dog for being "CRAAAAZY". Then, another dog goes off (because puppies read the energy of the room, obviously), she would blame the first puppy for "rubbing off" on the second puppy. No, Susan. It's your fault for creating such a frustrating environment for everyone. I discovered later that other facilities like Ahimsa will do a group settle in their Play&Train class as soon as the energy starts to get a little high, preempting ALL of these issues before they start. It wasn't for a lack of trying either. I asked questions every day after class, but Susan wanted to deflect the blame and made snide remarks about my dog's breed, and commented that he probably wasn't "bred right". Wow, so much for positively reinforcing the parent too. No trainer worth their salt will make excuses and say you can't train a dog because of his breed. Don't bother. Luckily, with a lot of work and determination, and actual R+ training (her punishment methods let me to believe ZG on YT was credible. skip all of that garbage and just go straight for kikopup), we were able to prove Susan wrong. We can now take him anywhere, he's now able to settle in front of other dogs, and he's got such a mean heel heel walk. We go through the AKC trick dog lists or relaxation protocols every morning, walking doesn't suck anymore, and life is good! I just wish I wasn't misled by Susan, because we would've gotten here much sooner. read more

We brought our puppy, Remy to Susan for kindergarten class. The first week Remy was really shy and not interacting with other dogs. However, Susan was SO helpful and patient with him. Since then he is now playing with other dogs and has learned so much. Susan does a wonderful job focusing on positive reinforcement and has helped us so much with raising Remy. We couldn't be more pleased with our experience. Susan also does a wonderful job of meeting you where you are at. She understands we are all at different points with our puppies and she is always willing to help you in what you need. We felt embarrassed with Remy being so shy but she welcomed us in and really helped us with Remy. I strongly recommend Susan for class. Regardless on where your puppy is, Susan will give you so many tools and tricks to help with their development. We drove 30 minutes every Sunday from Bellevue and I wish we signed up for more classes! We will be bringing Remy back for middle school! read more

Susan is excellent! I went to her classes a few years ago with my roommates puppies and am going back to her kindergarten with mine in a couple of weeks. She answers the phone promptly and makes sure she answers any questions or concerns you may have. Rosie will attend both the puppy camp and 2 a week puppy kindergarten class and I'm very excited to work with her again. Edit: My mini golden doodle Rosie has gone to at least 5 day camps and a few weeks of classes and she absolutely loves every second of it. Susan's classes are great and she has learned a lot with kindergarten as well as being trained during camp. I would send her there every day if I could, I completely recommend! read more

As a first time puppy owner, this was a very helpful first step for my Walter. It was amazing to see his progress every class and I would highly recommend Susan to any puppy owners! Thank you! read more

We had a private session with Susan and also signed up for a class that was about five weeks long; there was a session every week that lasted about an hour. At the end of the course, there were graduation certificates, which I appreciated. I can't say enough good things about Susan and her approach toward teaching you and your dog. She focuses on educating the owner and providing information, so you understand your dog's body language better. She then shows you how to respond to your dog and reasonably understand and communicate with your dog. She provides many tools geared toward your dog's specific needs and shows you how you can use those tools. Susan only uses positive reinforcement methods and is incredibly gentle and kind towards the dogs. Overall, my dog benefited greatly from her training! read more

Susan is the BEST ! Yea Cares so much about your pup. We did the puppy kindergarten and we learned SO much. The socialization is also a MUST and our dog had so much fun read more

Paws4Training - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

We enrolled our dog in basic obedience very quickly after we adopted him, and then enrolled him in a growly dog class. The basic obedience class gave us lots of tips and tools, which is the same for the growly dog class but he still hasn't made as much progress as we would like in terms of being calm around other dogs. We continue to practice and trying to expose him to other dogs in a safe distance, but are not seeing much change or improvement. We will continue working on it. read more

We had our puppy in camp for several weeks. She loved going and we loved having her there. I really appreciated how caring everyone was regarding her well being and training. I would fully recommend using them to help w training new puppies and socialization. In fact I have recommended it successfully to a few friends w new pup. I miss seeing and working w Becky, Hannah, and Kelsey. They were so great, as was Susan. read more

Paws4Training and its wonderful staff have been an amazing resource for our goldendoodle puppy Ruby, and for us as new dog parents. We started attending puppy kindergarten the second week we had Ruby, and are so grateful that we did! We learned simple yet effective positive training techniques, and had lots of opportunities for positive socialization and play with other puppies. We often had extra questions and Susan and her team were always willing to answer them and share a little extra advice after class. The puppy socials are great too, and we also take advantage of the Puppy Day Camp, which has been a lifesaver since we work from home. Ruby comes back happy and tired, and her training skills have skyrocketed! Susan really cares for the puppies in her classes and camps - when Ruby got sick, she called and checked in with us to see how she was doing. I can't recommend Paws4Training enough! read more

We couldn't be happier with our experience with Paws4Training. We enrolled our dog in puppy kindergarten and later in the middle school class. Our dog now knows not just the basics (sit, down, etc.), but has learned other great skills like stay for 60 seconds (while sitting the whole time), "go to your mat", and others. Best of all, he's learned to be polite when greeting new people - he sits whenever he meets a new person who he hopes will say hello to him. I've never had a dog that has done that. We are constantly complimented on how well-behaved our dog is -- many people are surprised to learn he's still a puppy! Susan does am excellent job of meeting owners and dogs where they are -- noting that each dog progresses at his or her own rate and helps each dog and owner make progress every class. Great value, excellent results. read more

I highly recommend Paws4Training, especially if you want to learn training techniques grounded in positive reinforcement. We signed up our Lab puppy, Lucy, in Puppy Kindergarten starting when she was 8 weeks old this past summer, and Susan and Brian were very helpful with teaching us how to work with our high-energy and rambunctious pup. A Wonder Walker harness comes with registration, and it is a great tool on our walks. The twice weekly puppy socials were also very beneficial for Lucy's socialization--puppies are separated based on size and play style, so if you have a small or shy puppy, you don't need to worry about your puppy being overwhelmed by high energy, bigger pups. We enrolled Lucy in Puppy Middle School following Kindergarten, and these classes helped reinforce everything she learned in Kindergarten. I am especially happy with the loose-leash walking and heeling techniques we learned. Our walks with Lucy are peaceful and relaxing because she has learned not to pull, and she gets many compliments on how behaved she is on walks. These classes are money and time well spent, especially if you want to include your dog in as many family adventures as possible. read more

Highly recommended! We attended the 6 week Puppy Kindergarten class with our Standard Poodle puppy, Rooney. The classes, training materials and instruction were all excellent! Susan has a great rapport with all of the dogs and puppies. We also had Rooney attend the morning Puppy Day Camp for 5 weeks. The instructor, Erika, was wonderful with Rooney! I really believe we could not have done this without Paws4Training. We have just started the Puppy Middle School class to round out our education. read more

Paws4Training - Rooney's Puppy Kindergarten graduation! - Pet Training Near Me - Seattle, Washington

This is a late review, but I definitely wanted to give Susan and her team a good review. My dog, Charlie, attended their Puppy Camp for several weeks. We also took their Puppy Kindergarten. Puppy Camp reinforced the commands we learned in kindergarten and provided the repetition I could not provide during the day. I would drop Charlie off in the morning and a staff member would take him home and put him in his kennel while I was at work. The trainers at camp, Brian and Mia, were great. I was able to discuss the challenges I was having and they would work with Charlie at camp and provide me with the knowledge to work with him at home. The initial investment I made was worth it. My dog was socialized with other puppies, he was trained with positive reinforcement while I was at work and I came home to a happy pup. Don't think you can stop after camp or kindergarten. Your dog's training is ongoing, but Paws 4 Training definitely helps make the first few months a little easier. read more

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Great training place! I was looking for some puppy classes and a lot of places were not taking new customers, but thankfully I found this place! They teach all of the basics you need to get your puppy started on its training journey. They also share videos about the class material so you can rewatch it if needed. I already booked the middle school class for my dog's next step! read more

Susan is amazing! We did a 12 class (2x a week) program with our high energy and rambunctious puppy. The classes were small (6 puppies max) to accommodate with COVID rules, which we honestly preferred. It allowed for good matchups during puppy play time, and also great attention from Susan to all the puppies equally. The classes are on a rolling basis, so you don't start with the same cohort. This leads to a lot of repetition, which honestly is what the puppies need! She gave us great tips on obedience, handling, and puppy manners, and was always very responsive to questions. Puppy training is all about practicing the things learned in class consistently at home, and Susan provided us great resources and set us up for success! read more

These classes are a must for any new dog owner. Susan, who teaches the classes and also offers private instruction, gave us so many tools to deal with a puppy, and the socializing is invaluable. Not only are these classes exactly what we were looking for when we got a new Westie, they are affordable, compared to the 3000 dollars i was about to spend on a doggie boot camp. Get your puppy in here, you will be super glad you did. read more

We took our puppy to Susan's twice weekly puppy kindergarten and also to her puppy day camp. I would highly recommend both. First, the kindergarten was a great way to work on training our puppy with good supervision. Susan talks through all the common puppy problems so you always feel like you know what you're doing and can ask follow up questions if you get lost. It's a great class and it's a lot of fun to see all the cute puppies. Second, the day camp was even more valuable to me. When your puppy is young, just having someone take care of it for a few hours during the day is a luxury. It gives you a break and lets you enjoy your puppy more. But to have someone watch and train your puppy for four hours each morning is just incredible. Not only did our puppy come home more obedient and happy from her morning at Paws4Training, she also came home tired from all the playing. She learned to interact with other puppies and play appropriately but also wore herself out so our afternoons were much more comfortable and easier to manage. At one point, i needed help with being able to touch my puppy's eyes (for eye drops and cleaning eye boogers) and they worked on training her to be comfortable with that! It felt like cheating. All in all, I can't recommend this enough. Susan and Brian and the rest of the team really transformed our dog. I am very grateful. Hence this post. read more

We brought our Dobey to Puppy Kindergarten and Middle School, and were not disappointed! Susan does a great job of training the dogs, and in a lot of ways the owners! I still find myself hearing Susan's voice in my head doing things she told us that will confuse your dog when focusing on recall or any tricks. The group class environment is great too for socialization, and I will absolutely be bringing our next pup to Susan for training! read more

About a year-and-a-half ago I brought in a dog that was very reactive and also had separation anxiety and was just too much to take on. School helped me recognize that quickly and was very professional about handling the situation. In the first lesson I got a tip about using peanut butter on the end of a spoon that I now use with my brand new dog that will be a success and that in and of itself with worth my experience :-) read more

Our dog completed the puppy training class at Paws4Training in Summer 2019. Susan is an excellent trainer: patient, thorough, observant, and direct. We were thrilled with how much our dog learned in the class--he now has mastery of the basic obedience commands and the foundations for more advanced behaviors like loose leash walking and stay for long periods of time. We regularly hear from strangers that our dog is polite because he always sits when greeted by strangers -- a behavior he picked up from weekly reinforcements at class. More importantly, Susan taught us the essentials for training and reinforcing good behavior. She gave excellent and thoughtful feedback and focused first on how to keep our puppy safe and secure. She gave us great advice on what to expect in different stages of development which was incredibly helpful to identify the source of sudden behavior changes during the transition to adolescence. Susan helped us identify ways to creatively use commands to distract or incentivize our dog. She also offered advice to match different owners' expectations and goals for their dog (someone looking for a perfect obedient dog, vs. someone who wants a reasonably polite dog). We deeply appreciated how direct, but tactful, Susan was with us. We're paying her for her expertise to help us train our dog--and every week she delivers in a huge way. She offers us ways we can improve to reinforce good behavior and appropriately and kindly redirects us to more effective methods when needed. We are thrilled to enroll our dog in the middle school class at Paws for Training to pick up some more advanced behaviors like "go to place", 60-second stays, heel, and more. Whenever anyone asks us about puppy classes, we enthusiastically recommend Paws4Training -- really good value for step-by-step techniques and advice to raise a really great dog. read more

I highly recommend Paws4Training to anyone with a puppy. We've enrolled our Rottweiler mix in Puppy Kindergarten, Puppy Social, Puppy Daycamp, and a private training session. Susan has done a great job of tailoring our training approach to our specific needs. Susan has been extremely supportive and accessible in person, over the phone, and via zoom. Susan won't sugar coat things. She makes it very clear that she is training the person in addition to training the dog, and she will be honest and straightforward with you, which we needed as first time dog owners. In addition to Susan, we've had positive experiences with the other trainers at Paws4Training. We've seen huge changes in our dog's behavior. To name a few examples, Korra (our Rottweiler mix) sits when she is approached by people, has learned bite inhibition, knows multiple cues and tricks, and can safely play with kids and other dogs. She's so well socialized, despite social distancing, which we never could have done without Paws4Training. Susan uses positive reinforcement training. This has been successful for us because Korra is so excited to learn and train. She can hardly wait to get inside when we come to class or drop her off for Puppy Daycamp. We just signed up for Puppy Middle School this fall, and we're excited to continue our journey with Susan and everyone there. read more