We have used Tip Top Tails twice and have been extremely pleased both times. The first time Mr. and Mrs. B. hired Holly to help them with some separation anxiety their foster dog was experiencing. Holly was a wealth of knowledge and set out a clear plan that made it easy for my parents to follow. We were able to set up a simple schedule and re-set their daily routine to include Holly's training games which helped improve their foster's situation.
Mr. MVP and I recently hired Kelly to help us with our senior Aussie and her dog park issues. We are members at Meadow Run and our senior Aussie, although a huge fan of the park, is not a fan of the wild puppies and the erratic running and playing. She has also grown very protective of our younger Aussie and started to get bossy when another pup wanted to play ball.
Both of our Aussies know all their commands at home, but at the dog park it can be hit and miss. Kelly helped us set up easy and very reachable goals to work on with our senior girl to help her understand that playing dogs are just happy dogs and she has nothing to worry about. Her behavior improved almost instantly. Per Kelly's suggestion we also started working on commands more seriously at the park and both girls have been doing amazing.
We picked Tip Top Tails above the other trainers in the area because they focus on positive reinforcement, only. I heard from a friend who used another training company that they use squirt guns to spray water when the dogs do something wrong and choke collars for correction we wanted absolutely nothing to do with that. Kelly and Holly use treats, positive commands and the jolly routine (which is something we had been using for about a year already, which was so nice to hear!).
Holly met with Mr. and Mrs. B on a Sunday at their house and we met with Kelly at Meadow Run on a Saturday morning - both private lessons. Tip Top Tails has group lessons, puppy classes and a whole bunch of other class options. We just signed our youngest Aussie up for a private dock diving lesson next week at Meadow Run with Beth, another trainer at Tip Top. We would highly recommend Tip Top Tails as a training option. Mr. MVP and I have read all the books and done weeks of research and even though we knew a lot of the information Kelly shared with us, we still learned quite a bit. read more