Michelle is the best trainer we could have imagined for our corgi. A friend actually recommended her before we even got our puppy. We wanted to make sure our puppy got training right away, and Michelle fit us in her schedule with no problem! She is so flexible with her time that she'll sometimes work on days that she normally doesn't just to accommodate you. From our first private training session with Michelle, you can tell that she genuinely loves dogs and she really puts her all into her work. She was so thorough and even helped us out with making a routine/schedule for our dog, Finley. She is super sweet and patient! Finn loves seeing Michelle & always listens to her. Her positive reinforcement way of teaching is so awesome. It really strengthens the bond between the dog and the parent. For example, when Finn does what she's supposed to, she gets a treat and lots of encouraging words like "yesss!" and "good girl!" And when she doesn't get it right away, Michelle always cheers her on with "You can do it, Finn!" I love that she believes in our pup so much. In addition to the training session, she'll also send you videos/links to reinforce what you and the dog had just worked on. We find these helpful when we forget what we're supposed to be doing. Some are also good articles explaining the premise behind Michelle's chosen techniques. We have also experienced having Finn board with Michelle for a weekend. Michelle sent us updates even when we didn't ask. She took Finley out shopping, they ate at a dog-friendly restaurant, and Finn learned even more things when she stayed with her. We trust Michelle with our puppy so much that we had already asked to board her for an entire month when we go away on vacation. She is also an expert at everything dog-related. I swear, we ask her everything because we're newbies -- from potty training to the raw food diet, she knows it. She is our #1 resource! She's only a text away and is always ready to help. We've worked with Michelle since our pup was just 2 months old and we're definitely going to enroll her in group training sessions this May as she has just graduated her basic training. Finn learned so many foundation skills and more because Michelle has guided us the entire way. I can't thank Michelle enough for everything she has done for Finley and us! read more

Michelle is the best trainer that we have used for our dog. Honestly, we could not be more satisfied. If you choose to stop here and read nothing else, you should know that we recommend her wholeheartedly. We discovered Michelle through a referral from a friend and we were not disappointed. Right off the bat, she conveyed a measure of professionalism and warmth that we really appreciate it. She was punctual, responsive, and an extremely effective communicator who helped us to understand her philosophy of dog training and what specific techniques she would use. Beyond her first class professionalism and service, she understood our puppy. Michelle demonstrated a degree of compassion and understanding that is rare to find in an animal trainer or frankly any human being. Our dog instantly connected with her as soon as they met. They truly bonded over a two-week period when our dog 'boarded' with Michelle. During this time, she taught the dog a series of simple, straightforward and extremely useful commands. After two weeks, the dog was remarkably changed for the better. And, more than anything, she was happy, reflecting that she received a lots of love when she was under Michelle's care and that her training was grounded in the model of positive reinforcement for which Michelle is known. After the training, Michelle has continued to be responsive when we posed additional questions. I would chalk it up to her deep love of dogs and her passion for her work. She really is a pro. We are excited to continue to work with Michelle in the weeks, months, and years ahead so she can build on the training and further enhance our dog's ability to participate in the family and to understand its place. I would not hesitate to recommend her for lessons or longer-term training. read more

I don't even where to begin! I was so frustrated with my corgi Money as he started getting more and more aggressive with strangers and very near to becoming dangerous to other people. I was busy all the time and when Money bit his vet on a visit one day, that was it. I knew it. I had to find a trainer and change his behavior. That is where Michelle came in! I found her through social media outlets for dog training and after consulting with her and reading all these awesome and positive reviews, I decided to work with Michelle in changing Money's behavior for the better. Michelle was very clear and straight to the point starting our first introductory lesson. She not only focused on teaching Money but she was teaching me on how to fix my dog and I's relationship and how important it is that I become consistent with my training methods. She was concise and very accurate as she was quick to point out the things we needed to work on with Money. I love the fact that she implements a positive reinforcing system and was so accomodating to my busy schedule. She even offered to do Skype sessions with me when I moved away for grad school I cannot cannot CANNOT say enough good things about Michelle as she is a lifesaver. Money has shown great improvement for the past half year and I cannot imagine doing it with someone other than Michelle. Love this girl. WORK WITH HER!!! Do not hesitate. I will most definitely work with her again in the near future when I move back to NYC and start training my younger corgi! - from a very satisfied DOGGO LOVER read more

If I could give more stars, I would! Let me start off by saying almost 2 years ago I was so nervous when looking for a trainer for my baby girl. She is my absolute everything and I only wanted the best for her. Finding Michelle was the best thing to happen to Violet and I. Michelle has taught us both so much, and she is always there, any time of the day, if you have any questions or concerns about your pup or even just to talk. We are currently working on Violet training to be a service dog (migraine alert dog). All I can say is I have seen Violet grow so much as a dog and I have never had that experience in the past with my dogs. Michelle is WONDERFUL!!! I cannot stress this enough. I would travel as far as I could to have her work with my Violet. I have reccommended her to many people even to just ask for advice or a question, and I will continue to reccommend her to any dog owner in need or any pet owner at all. Michelle is so knowledgeable about animals that I have come to her with questions not only about my pup but also my guinea pigs and fish! Point Blank MICHELLE IS AMAZING!! Love, Tina and Violet read more

This is my first dog, so I have a lot to learn. I have always been so impressed with how dedicated, hard-working, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic Michelle is. She goes way above and beyond: has spent so much time answering my questions, sending me links to articles, recommending products, and giving me advice outside of classes. Michelle has been working with my dog, Bassie, and I in group classes (Puppy 2 and Canine Good Citizen classes) since Bassie was 16 weeks old (she's now almost a year and a half). With a little help and encouragement from Michelle, who coached me on what to work on with her on my own, Bassie and I passed the TDI Therapy Dog/handler test without needing any extra classes! She could have enrolled us in classes we didn't need, but she is too honest for that. And Bassie loves her. I've NEVER seen Bassie so overjoyed as the day when Michelle came to our house one day a few months after classes had ended. I wholeheartedly recommend her. read more

Seriously awesome classes! I have taken online classes with both Michelle and Nisa (on trick training and canine enrichment!). I cannot recommend them enough. Me and my cattle dog Lucy had a great time working through the lessons. And these online classes were perfect during the stay-at-home period here in NYC. In their online classes Michelle and Nisa provide easy to understand reading material (I'd even call it entertaining!) and videos. And we got personalized feedback and suggestions every time we posted. My favorite thing we learned was having Lucy catch a frisbee and drop it into a box (put away her toys)! What I liked the most about the classes I took with PWA was the mix of scientific information and fun. Dog training is my hobby and I learned SO much I didn't know before. Michelle and Nisa know their stuff. Lucy and I will definitely be signing up for more classes and hopefully some in-person training later this year! :) read more

Michelle is the BEST. She is incredibly kind,patient and extremely knowledgeable on everything dog training. She really has a gift for working with/understanding dogs. She has been training my Mini Goldendoodle, Disney, since she was 9 weeks old. Disney is a service dog in training and Michelle has been nothing but helpful throughout this entire process. She always answers any and all questions that I have (and trust me, there are a lot). I absolutely LOVE that she uses positive reinforcement and fully believes that it is the best way to go about training a dog, because it absolutely is. Disney is constantly improving with every lesson! She even sends out personalized training information and gives you a super handy folder to keep all of your training/dog papers in! If you need a dog trainer you should absolutely go to Michelle! She's the best of the best! read more

Pawsitively Waggin Academy was an wonderful experience for my family and our 16 week old Corgi. Michelle our trainer was amazing. Calvin our Corgi instantly fell in love with her. She spent time bonding with him on the first day, and from then on he was beyond excited to see her. Everything she recommended we do with him to train him worked. She is caring , compassionate and considerate. I can't imagine any dog or owner that would not like love working with her. We were very lucky to get a good dog in Calvin, and even luckier to have met and worked with Michelle. I would highly recommend her for any training needs. She is the best. Having a new puppy is a wonderful experience, but they are a lot of work, and Michelle taught us how to make the best of that hard work. And because of her it truly paying off. read more

Michelle is an incredible trainer!! She is both sensitive and strong!! Riley and I have been training with Michelle since he was a 5 month old puppy. He is now 21 moths old. She has trained us both so that Riley has passed his Canine Good Citizen test and is working towards his Therapy Dog status. He is able to walk along side me "unleashed" in a park with numerous distractions. This is a huge accomplishment for an energetic, very social, inquisitive puppy!! He happily and lovingly obeys commands. He has come to dog friendly restaurants with my family and is so well behaved. I would highly recommend Michelle to anyone who loves their puppy/dog and wants positive results with training to truly enhance the appreciation of a very special four legged member of the family!! read more

My puppy, Bailey, went to the 2 week Board & Train and came back with so much more knowledge of what she is supposed to do and what is wrong. Michelle trained her so well and made sure to make the training fun for the dogs too! She also made sure that the dogs got plenty of breaks for playtime and relaxation in between training sessions! Michelle gives so much love to all the dogs that she trains and truly cares about each dog's success in their training. Whenever you have a question, you can text Michelle and she'll text you right back giving you all the information that you need. When your puppy comes home, Michelle makes sure that you have all the materials to maintain what your puppy learned and is always available when you have a question. read more

I contacted Michelle during a low point in my puppy raising adventure desperate for help and I am very glad I did. My corgi puppy Rudy was showing increasingly worsening episodes of resource guarding and body handling issues and since he is my first dog I was completely at a loss and had no idea what to do. Michelle worked with us throughout the past few months to help us build a better relationship with our dog. She gave us exercises to practice during the week and also taught us about reading dog body language which has been immensely helpful. We still have a ways to go but Michelle gave us the tools to be successful and his guarding reactions have lessened. Thank you! read more

My fiancé and I worked with Michelle, who helped us so much with our mini Austrian Shepard. Our pup was struggling with resource guarding and being reactive towards other dogs (barking). Michelle helped us teach our pup that it is okay for us to touch objects that he finds, etc. She also helped us work with him on not reacting to other dogs. He now whines when we pass other dogs, which is huge progress for him. Our pup has become such a good listener and we have really seen the progression in each training lesson. We are fortunate to have Michelle as a trainer. We would recommend her and the business she has started to our friends and family. Thank you Michelle! read more

Michelle is absolutely awesome! Our dog George is very anxious so we have been working with her to try and help him be less fearful and more generally well behaved. In only a couple of sessions she has made such a difference! He loves her and I can tell he enjoys working with her. She's helped us to understand the techniques she uses so that we can recreate it in our practice sessions and daily life. Michelle is a lovely person who seems to genuinely love what she does. She is always willing to answer questions and provide information to help us be successful during our doggy homework. I can't recommend Pawsitively Wagin' Academy enough! read more

Michelle is amazing! She helped us so much with our dachshund puppy for house training and discipline. We could tell that she genuinely loves dogs, and our puppy genuinely loved her! We got our puppy at 4 months and some trainers we talked to told us that she was already too old to start training. Not Michelle! She came to our home and spent time with our family, always demonstrating patience. Whenever we had a crisis in between sessions and even after our sessions were completed, Michelle was always available to give advice and answer questions. We would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for a trainer. read more

As most pet owners, I could not be more hesitant when leaving one of my dogs with someone for even 5 minutes. I recently left my 13-week old puppy with Pawsitively Waggin' for a week while away on business, and his reaction upon pickup said it all! He didn't want to leave he had such a good time! What a great experience for a young dog at this crucial stage in his life! I'm so happy to know that I've found someone I can leave my dog(s) with without any concerns whatsoever! They were so professional, kind, courteous...and even sent photo and video updates daily! HIGHLY Recommended!!!!! read more

Michelle is absolutely amazing! She has taught both my girlfriend and I what it means to be a good puppy parent. We did in home lessons and it was the perfect environment when we felt going to classes outside the home just caused our dog to be distracted. She makes each lesson specific to what we need to work on and our puppy absolutely loves her. After each lesson we would have "homework" which was basically things to practice until the next lesson. We are so grateful to have met Michelle and had her guidance to help Nova mature into a wonderful trained dog. read more

Michelle gave an excellent board and train experience for Caesar. She made us feel confident that Caesar will prosper without us present for a week, and he only flourished. When we saw him again, all of his previous training was reinforced to an amazing extent. During our time away, Michelle sent multiple pictures and videos with updates on how he is doing which made us feel as if he was with us. Great experience overall and it is good to know that Caesar has a place when we are away. read more

Pete is the first dog we ever had, and on top of that, he is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. We were in way over our heads. Thankfully, we came across Michelle, who has been a lifesaver. Michelle is super knowledgeable, extremely professional, and always pleasant and fun to work with. Pete always looks forward to working with Michelle (and so do we), whose patience for our questions and concerns is never ending. We cannot thank her enough for bringing sanity back into our lives. read more

Michelle is amazing and even though she is across the other side of the world from us, she has been able to provide me with solid advice to allow me to continue with my training as well as provide me with compassion and reassurance that I am doing the right thing. Definitely, a person you can count on for behavioural problems and positive training techniques and if we lived closer, someone I would see on a regular basis for all aspects of our training. read more