Best Cat Trainer Ann Arbor Near Me

Dawn Branham: I feel terrible giving a small business owner such a bad review, but our experience with this company has been terrible and I feel like potential customers need to be warned. I initially signed up for a group class and paid for it online but due to a very confusing description of the class, i realized after I had paid that this class would not work for me. So I asked the company if they would refund me or else transfer my payment to a private session package. Communication took a very long time and was never very clear. Finally they responded after several weeks and we scheduled an in home session. The trainer was very nice and clearly knows about dogs, but there was no plan for the session and we basically did no training and she just chatted with us for 1.5 hours. She promised to follow up with an instructional email and to schedule further sessions. We never received an email and there has been no response to my inquiries. It’s been over a month now. Clearly this person needs help running a business! They are a good dog trainer, but a terrible business owner. Please invest in some help running the business side of things for you and your customers sake! Meanwhile we’re now still searching for a dog trainer.

Kathlynn Beal: Critical:Reliability,Responsiveness

K M B: Critical:Professionalism,ReliabilityI paid for 6 sessions and after having to chase them down to communicate with me and schedule sessions I stopped hearing from them. I’ve asked for my 4 remaining sessions to be refunded and they don’t respond. So they stole my money and I received NO good advice or guidance. Please stay away! Or expect to get your money stolen!!!

Kayla Lajoie: Positive:Professionalism,Quality,ValueFantastic work ethic, professional, and compassionate!

Jeffrey: We signed our puppy up for the 5 week puppy course. We unfortunately did not enjoy our experience. A lot of factors contributed to this rating.First, we felt that the training content itself was ineffective. The trainer gave us a lot of information about dog behavior and personality. But this is expected of a dog training professional. We felt that the trainer did not really take the time to understand our puppy's personality. Our new trainer (at a different school) took the time to get to know our puppy, working with her constantly and now our puppy listens to the new trainer very effectively. Longsnouts worked with our puppy a little bit, but very minimally and not even close to the level or effectiveness as our new trainer. We did not learn any new commands or techniques. There were a few variations of techniques we had learned in the past, but nothing unique or exciting. In comparison, both our new class and the class we took prior to Longsnouts provided us with far more content, new tricks, commands, techniques, behavior responses, rewarding methods, etc.Second, our puppy learned a bad habit. She used to jump on people, but not too badly. During class, our puppy would get excited and jump on the trainer. The trainer, knowing jumping is bad, would wait until our dog stops jumping. But the trainer would treat the jumping within 1-2 seconds. This resulted in our puppy learning to jump more because she got rewarded for it. We now have to deal with our dog jumping on people and flipping somersaults in the air. But we were really frustrated when it happened. The trainer would say "it's okay, I'm not worried as long as the food is given after the dog sits." But I think it is too soon after. Our dog ended up learning to jump more and more wildly. Before training class, she would maybe stand a little and jump gently. Now, she flips and kicks repetitively. It started happening the day after the first class and got worse after each class. We went to a new trainer that was able to quickly and effectively begin reversing this issue.Third, the class structure is too liberal and unstructured. No curriculum, the trainer just teaches whatever comes up. However, it also resulted in us learning things very repetitively. We practiced loose leash walking maybe 20-30 minutes per class for 3 classes in a row. The trainer walks around to each dog but it's outdoors, and dogs are far from each other (to facilitate training) so it's a very separated experience. And then the trainer will start talking sometimes to give a lesson - if you are too far and don't notice then you will miss it. The trainer gives each dog too little personal time, especially if the class is larger. 8 dogs in a 60 minute class, with maybe 20 minutes of group time, is only 5 minutes per dog at most, excluding walking between dogs. If she spends a long time on another dog you might only get 1-2 minutes with her, which happened a couple times.Finally, the trainer seemed to refuse to acknowledge our puppy's specific issues. Our puppy has a specific behavioral issue that's considered pretty serious. We asked our trainer to address it or give some advice on how to resolve it, but the trainer did not believe us, because she did not see it in-person. We showed her a video, but she essentially told us that the issue was happening only because of the class setting. We asked her constantly, both in-person and in email, to address the issue but we never received a satisfying response. She gave a few thoughts but nothing that was substantial for us. We received similar/better advice from researching online for less than 5 minutes. The trainer made multiple promises to watch our puppy throughout class to see if she is exhibiting the behavioral issue. However, the trainer did not seem to watch; our puppy displayed the issue multiple times every single class and the trainer never acknowledged it. We had to bring it up for the topic to even be addressed.Overall, our experience was just poor. I'm sure others may have a good experience, but that was not the case for us.

Willow Arlen: Love Hannah, she's an excellent trainer! My dog loved the classes and I learned so much.

Heather: Hannah was a savior for our family! We signed up for four in-home sessions to help us manage interactions between our toddler and our dog. After a few instances when our dog had snipped at our toddler, we were fairly nervous. Hannah was absolutely amazing in helping us restore our confidence in dealing with our dog. She is an absolute delight to work with and is incredibly knowledgeable about everything dog-related!

Sarah Brabbs: Review updated-- we've been working with Hannah for many months now and I recommend her to everyone! We chose her initially because we love her philosophy around training, see her website. She's really, really good with dogs, plus she blends science with a deep understanding (and years of experience) of dog behavior. And her prices are reasonable. Plus she has an active FB group for us which is great.

Joe Lohrum: Hannah is great! She is knowledgeable and has a great demeanor with people and dogs. Highly recommended.

Noah Bishop: Best staff ever! Their love for animals is evident, and their professionalism and kindness is unmatched.

Dan Adams: Everyone was very friendly and the animals seemed well taken care of!

Tina Seremak: Big shout out to Michael for helping me with a very tiny concern. He went the mile to find information for me and without that info I was lost! Thank you again Michael! Even the smallest concerns are important!

Crystal Thrall: My kids and I enjoyed the tour. They have a wonderful facility and friendly staff. I have zero intentions of adopting a pet at this time, but I would happily adopt a pet from the humane society of Huron valley.

Elizabeth Duran: This is my favorite shelter.

James Mcmahan: Several pets for for adoption. Love they have gone solar.

Vicki Blackwell: Hello my name is Vicky Blackwell. Last year I got a kitten she was 2 years old. And now she's 3 sure her name is angel she is an angel my cat Bella loves her. She has a great personality. Thank you again for her she was heaven-sent. ♥️😺😺

Lita Harris: Kind and welcoming staff, numerous breeds of dogs and cats that have been spayed and neutered just waiting on great homes. Facility is neat and clean, even has a dog walking area to give you an opportunity to spend time with the animals prior to adoption. They offer a room for birthday parties for children as well

James Yarosz: My experience was horrible here. It's the only time I've formally adopted an animal from a facility, and it's clear to me that the animal care is not their top priority. They care about getting animals out the door first. We adopted an older cat because we already have an older cat at home that seems bored. Well this older cat at HSHV was absolutely not ready to be adopted. He had a number of health issues that I was told were all sorted out or weren't a concern. Then a month later and $1000 in emergency costs, and the poor guy is still struggling. I even took him into the HSHV clinic twice and they have the nerve to charge me for those visits too!!! This is all before we finally decided we had to give the cat back to HSHV so they can sort out these health issues.I personally believe they did a terrible job on the dental work to this older cat, and now he's suffering from infections or abscessed teeth or whatever, and these people aren't willing to do the proper diagnostics to figure it out because they are too busy pushing out any animal out the door that they can. The volunteer worker in the adoption area was way too pushy with her opinions and suggestions as well. This is enough to completely turn me off from adopting from a business ever again. I'll stick to strays born in people's backyards and barns.

David Kaul: They really care about animals

Vicki Davinich: always a good happy place to visit. I rented a trap for a cat to become part of the TNR program.

Autumn B.: The adoption process went quickly and smoothly. Staff members were helpful, knowledgeable, thorough, and friendly.The facility is modern and super clean, with a surprisingly thoughtful layout. The in-house shop is convenient, with a nice selection of quality products at a variety of price-points.

Kimberly Power: We have adopted kittens on three different occasions with HSHV, the most recent being last week. Each time, it is clear that there is a very high level of commitment and compassion towards all animals in the care of HSHV. The are kept in clean and safe areas, they all appear healthy, they are given adequate space to stretch and play, and precautions are taken to minimize the spread of germs and illnesses. All three of the cats we have adopted from HSHV have been wonderful family pets. We recommend HSHV for adoptions, for child and adult programming, fundraisers/ volunteering opportunities, or even their small store for pet needs.

G W: Always really wonderful, helpful staff. So grateful for all they do.

Zach: Best organization ever, period! So well run with such an amazing staff. We have adopted our cats and our puppy from here and can’t say enough good things about them. The care that they show the animals is remarkable. If you are looking for a great charity to donate financial support, time or supplies this is it!

ailen velazquez viamonte: Great experience and perfect services! All the people that work at the HSHV are incredible and take care of the puppies very well.Gracias!

Gerald Hearn: Quick and easy. The pull up and drop off kind of confused me but once I realized what I had to do. It was way easier to have a vet Tech. Come out to my car and retrieve my animal then bringing my animal into a building with a billion other animals.

Jessica Spencer: This is just an amazing Humane society, all around. They were there when my beagle passed away on thanksgiving day. It was terrible, but their services made it easier to deal with. They are also there for my vet needs at affordable prices. The vet did a fantastic job spaying my puppy. They also have a wonderful junior volunteer program. The facilities for the animals are nice as well.

Devon Manntz: This organization takes wonderful care of their animals and makes the adoption process very enjoyable. Super friendly and helpful staff!

Michael Lane: The staff was amazing, very kind and caring,we said good bye to our 14 year old cat and they helped us with the cremation and paw prints, helped get through a tough time, thank you all

Samii Stoloff Photography: Valerie was the best! I got Maggie right before the pandemic in September 2019 and thank goodness I had contacted Valerie so that I could have a social group for Maggie and teach her core values before being in isolation. Couldn't recommend more!

Richard Zarbo: Although we have owned numerous dogs in the past, we sought out Valerie to help us obtain the best trained outcome with our new mini Australian Labradoodle. We knew this would be ‘training the trainers’, meaning us. Valerie was very accommodating, scheduling our sessions on weekends as we both work long days. Right off the bat, our conversations with Valerie hit pay dirt. Our dog, Ruby, in the first week, developed frequent urination and wetting in the house that increased in frequency that turned out to be a urinary tract infection. Were it not for Valerie’s education in our first meeting about urination and UTI, we would have missed this and blamed the dog unnecessarily. At our age, it was important for us to have a fully trained and socialized dog who would fit into our lifestyle of many family members and friends, car rides, air travel and disciplined walks. We learned about the best options for a dog car seat (who knew) as well as an under seat airplane carrier, about educational dog toys and foods and treats of value. Who knew, again? So, this and associated behaviors is what we worked on each week and we can say it was a remarkable success. In her first outing at a national event attended by 3000 folks, Ruby was the star and favorite of the doormen and guests. And never an accident in the hotel or room, which is quite something for a 5 month old dog. We can highly recommend Valerie for her knowledge, implementation and personal style and effectiveness. We wouldn’t dream of adding another dog without her assistance.

Amanda Bohle: My husband and I are first time puppy owners and quickly realized we needed help in knowing how to interact with Potter, train for obedience and help our kids understand his behaviors. When we first contacted Valerie, we were struggling with Potter growling and couldn't understand the "why" behind his behavior. Valerie helped us understand Potter's form of communication and helped us to know how to handle the growling. By the end of our time with Valerie, Potter had stopped growling as we learned how to understand him better. Valerie always listened to our needs and trained us/Potter accordingly. She helped us train Potter to "drop" which has prevented many harmful things from being eaten or swallowed. Valerie spent a lot of time helping us with loose leash walking and how to train Potter for proper leash behavior. The puppy play dates have been a highlight for Potter (and us). He has learned how to play with all kinds of dogs. We would not have been able to socialize Potter in the same way without these play dates. Finally, Valerie had a wealth of information for us, from which harness to purchase, how to use slow feeder toys, referrals to groomers, and guidance on nutrition and foods when Potter was having digestion issues. We couldn't have been more thankful for Valerie's expertise and care for Potter. Without her, we wouldn't be the confident dog owners we have become! If you're looking for someone to help guide you in the early weeks of puppy-parenthood, look no further, Valerie is amazing!

Meghan McGowan: Valerie from A2 Canine Coach was recommended to us from a friend who previously used her services for her own dog and found her very helpful. We were eager for help with our young puppy, Watson, an Australian Shepherd/Poodle mix, who we were struggling to train. Initially, we struggled with loose leash walking, pulling on leash, reacting to other dogs on walks, barking at noises in our apartment, jumping, and some resource guarding of high-value objects. We couldn't find the right treats to motivate him enough and he preferred to graze his food all day, while we tried to coax him to eat. We took him to a "puppy" class in the area, but felt it was not able to meet Watson's needs.Valerie agreed to work with us and after our first visit, we finally felt like we were on the right path. She helped us figure out food ingredients and what treats to buy. She showed us different puzzle feeders to help stimulate Watson's mind to "work" more for his food. She recommended a different harness and we instantly saw results for walks. She taught us various strategies to help with barking at others outside and inside our apartment. We switched his food from his "vet recommended" brand to a different brand and he will now eat out of his bowl without issues. She introduced us to clicker training and positive reinforcement, both of which have been beneficial to help Watson be more comfortable with unexpected noises, objects, etc. Due to COVID19, we weren't able to practice having people come over, but Valerie helped us figure out how to practice ourselves and gave us the strategies needed to use going forward when it is safe.After training with Valerie, we have the tools we need to work with Watson on a variety of areas that are individualized to his needs. Valerie has been very helpful and available whenever we needed her. She answered all of our questions. She also has a Facebook group for her clients to use after training to meet up with other dog owners for dog play dates. Our favorite part of the training was seeing Watson improve after each visit, and things finally starting to "click." Watson loved Valerie from the first visit and we will miss her! We highly recommend her services for anyone who feels they are struggling with their dog. She is definitely worth it. Thanks Valerie!Meghan, Marc and Watson

Grace Rice: No one ever called me back. And the owner is very rude. How dare you say that I'm leaving bad reviews all over the place. I'm leaving reviews on actual service. And I most certainly did call you, on the number that is in your online website, and left a message. My review says no one ever called me back, and that's the truth. Sorry, perhaps you shouldn't say may things about customers online.

Kellen Smithson: Daisy is the first dog I’ve ever owned, so I knew I was going to need some professional guidance to train a puppy as high-spirited as Daisy is! Valerie’s positive reinforcement methods really work, and Daisy just thinks we are playing games when we are training! When I first brought Daisy home she was like a little piranha, constantly nipping my hands any chance she got. Now the nipping has completely stopped, and Daisy knows all her basic puppy manners and commands. My family, friends, and people on the street compliment me on how well behaved she is for such a young puppy. The puppy playgroup is also a lifesaver so Daisy can get socialized and run all of her energy out! Valerie is so knowledgeable and taught me how to communicate with Daisy in a way she understands.

Dana Fair: In August, my wife and I adopted a seven-week-old Cairn Terrier. New to the CT game, we were interested in having someone who could come into our home and walk us through the initial steps of learning what it means to be puppy parents.Valerie has a way with dogs. Her regular visits and useful workbook helped lay the groundwork for training our CT in basic commands. We appreciated her wisdom and thoughts on everything from crate training to feeding and walking to traveling. Additionally, we appreciate the AACC community – a vetted group of dog lovers with whom we can schedule playdates and have a level of certainty they understand the rules of engagement and behavior.Highlights of training outcomes included having our CT fly in-cabin with us to Texas, and having him stay with us in a no-pets-allowed Airbnb. The host agreed to make a special exception and later conveyed that our dog was a “great guest.”My wife and I have already recommended AACC to others. Thanks, Valerie, for helping get our CT and us through the generally challenging and often awkward puppy months.

Lisa Jennings: We have a terrier that came from a less than ideal situation. He is generally good inside the house, but outside he pulled on leash and would aggressively bark on walks at people and dogs as well as our neighbors in the hallway of our apartment complex. We hired Valerie with Ann Arbor Canine Coach. Valerie was great with Jax. She never pushed him to do more than he could handle. We were all responsive to her humane methods. The pulling on leash stopped and he was able to make friends with the neighbors that he used to bark at. He gets many more walks now because he no longer barks at people or dogs outside. He seems much happier since training which was so important to us. We highly recommend Ann Arbor Canine Coach.

Holly Mae: When my husband and I decided to get a puppy this spring, we knew that training would be a critical piece of having a dog that would integrate well into our lives. Neither of us have owned a dog as adults and we knew it was a big step. Upon our search for a trainer, we came upon Valerie Wells, The Ann Arbor Canine Coach.When we began training with Valerie, our sweet Denali was only 8 weeks old and didn’t know a thing. Valerie helped us get started off on the right foot in every way. When Val first arrived, I had questions about everything – food, treats, grooming, recommended toys and puzzles, potty training, crate training, and so much more. Val was extremely patient with all of our questions and gave us some solid advice to make sure our pup got the best care and start in life.Val’s approach to training is 100% positive. In all honesty, I had some doubt at the start that a 100% positive approach would really work, but Val proved that it’s possible and ideal. She made training a fun game for our dog, which helped us bond and has resulted in a dog that is eager to please. Her techniques are simple to follow and work quickly if you regularly practice with your pup. She provides handouts, explains the techniques clearly, will show you how to do a training exercise, and then let you try and coach you along as you do it. Valerie has helped us to learn to be consistent with training (which is SO important) and gently guided us to have the right approach.In 6 sessions with Valerie, our dog has learned sit, down, stand, stay, leave it, drop it, come when called, loose leash walking, heel, rings a bell to go outside, and is fully potty trained and crate trained. I’d like to say that our puppy is a rockstar, but Valerie deserves the credit. Working with Val, it is easy to see that she truly loves animals and our Denali really loved her back. I was sad to see our puppy package end, and think that we will probably seek more advanced training from Valerie as Denali continues to grow.If you are just getting a new puppy or have a dog with some unwieldy behaviors, you should really consider The Ann Arbor Canine Coach as your trainer. I truly believe she can help you with any issue you have, just like she helped us get off to the right start with our pup.Noe & Holly Gomez

Kathy Gunderson: Ann Arbor Canine coach (specifically Valerie) is amazing! She has given us the tools we need to turn our sassy golden pup into a pup with manners! She listens and more importantly enjoys pleasing!! Our older golden even learned a tip or two! We recommend this training style over any other hands down. Thankyou for helping us - help ourselves (well training the hubby is still a work in progress 😉) Val- you are fantastic to work with!

Leslie Stuber: Before we began training, our dog Yoshi often had trouble controlling his energy and his need for affection/attention from guests. He impulsively jumped on guests and tried to give them kisses. He also pulled while on walks and did not always come when he was called while off leash. Yoshi’s behavior has improved tremendously since participating in training with Valerie. He no longer pulls when we take him on long walks and he consistently obeys simple commands. Yoshi learned to go to “his spot” on the back of the couch, which has been useful in multiple situations, such as when someone comes to the door or when he gets overly excited. He jumps on guests much less when they arrive at our house after participating in training. While he still sometimes tries to give kisses when guests are seated on the couch, he is much easier to redirect than he was before. With continued use of the strategies given by Valerie, we are confident he will continue to improve in this area. Valerie was not only extremely knowledgeable but very caring. We appreciated that her training methods focused on positivity. She was not only positive and patient with Yoshi, but also with us. She was encouraging when we were doing our part and would provide additional support when we needed guidance. Valerie was also flexible and worked around our schedules to plan each visit. Our favorite part of the training was seeing the improvement and excitement from Yoshi each week. His face lit up every time we told him Valerie was coming to see him. We participated in the socialization play group and will continue to do so. We were thankful to be able to connect Yoshi with other dogs in our immediate area that had a similar demeanor and play style. Overall, we had a positive experience with Ann Arbor Canine Coach, LLC and would recommend them to anyone looking for a force-free private dog training program.

Solomon Hart: We were very excited to have our new pup (Gildor) join our family, but neither of us had raised a puppy for a long time and we were looking for someone who could help with training. We feel very lucky to have found Valerie and especially appreciate her focus on fear-free positive reinforcement training. Gildor was always excited when Valerie came over for training sessions, and responded very well to her approach for teaching the puppy basics like sit, stay, and leave it. One of our early challenges was teaching Gildor to go up and down stairs. Valerie was very helpful in creating a positive reinforcement program for this - and in a few weeks Gildor was happily going up and down stairs. It was also reassuring to know that we could call Valerie when we faced any issues - especially during Gildor's teething phase. The other part of the program that has been great is the facebook group for playdates. Getting connected to a network of caring owners and facilitating socialization in a safe environment has been wonderful. Watching Gildor learn to play with all of the other puppies has been our favorite thing. Valerie's program helped set a strong foundation for Gildor to be a well-socialized dog and express his fun and energetic self.

Peter Lauderbaugh: Effective, painless training. Valerie was always flexible and accommodating.

Kevin Flannel: Valerie has helped my socially anxious corgi calm down immensely around other dogs, as well as teaching him some new tricks in her agility class. Classes are helpful, fun, and informal, and Valerie is always more than reasonable and accommodating when it comes to private training.

Anne Daws-Lazar: We have had "Valerie train 5 dogs over the last few years. Her methods are totally non-punitive. Our dogs love her! They think they are playing. At the same time we are bonding with them - building stronger relationships with them. With our first 2 lab/dachshund litter mates the issue was walking on the leash and not pulling. They are so much better now. Having Valerie work with us in training our dogs has made them all around better canine citizens. I would (and do) recommend Valerie to everyone!

Dennis Dickinson: We lost our two dogs (Irish Setter Emma and Old English Sheepdog Sky) last November when a distracted driver ran down Dennis and the girls while there were in a clearly marked crosswalk on Hewitt Road. Dennis spent six weeks in the ICU at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. In February, we were given the gift of Hermione, an adventurous sheepdog puppy. Because Hermione was the first puppy we'd had in over 15 years (We'd been focusing on older, already socialized rescues.) we knew we couldn't do this alone.Dennis was pretty frail when Hermione arrived, so our big concern was keeping her from jumping on him--or on anyone else. We'd heard such good things about Valerie Wells (A2 Canine Coach) that it made our training decision extremely easy. Valerie immediately saw the problem and taught us how correct it using positive reinforcement. After one session, we began to see improvement--not only in Hermione but in our own expectations and attitudes as well. Valerie's positive approach to dog training and maintenance has worked wonders for our precocious puppy and has helped us remain upbeat throughout this process.Because of Valerie's methods, training time is bonding time. Hermione enjoys our "games" such as "walk with me," "leave it," and "Come." We especially appreciate Valerie's vast store of knowledge: she's helped us better understand puppy behaviors and milestones, where to find the proper harness, brush, or leash for our specific needs, how to get puppy into her crate without fuss, and how to transition from play time to quiet time. Likewise we appreciate the puppy play groups Valerie is so good about arranging. Hermione enjoys spending 40 minutes or so a couple of times a week running and rough housing with her pals or even taking a leisurely walk in a different neighborhood with a new friend. Our next goal is to have Hermione certified as a therapy dog so she and Dennis can go back to the hospital to help others the way so many other dogs helped Dennis. With Valerie's continuing help, we are positive that goal will also be met.

Jack Riordan: We just finished our training program with Valerie and we couldn’t be more pleased! We had adopted a mixed breed from Huron Valley Humane Society. He was a little rough around the edges and we needed help to make his transition into “our” life easier for him and us. Our young son had been wanting a dog for a while and we wanted this to be a good fit. Valerie was kind and generous with her time and her vast knowledge of dogs. Our new dog learned all the household manners and we learned how to read his body language and how to meet our new dog’s needs. And my son was able to teach him a few tricks with Valerie’s help. The nutritional analysis was also super helpful, the phone support was always timely and on point. And we still enjoy the socialization play group.We thought Valerie’s policies were fair and transparent. She explained everything up front and her contract was clear. It’s sad when a reviewer wants to abuse a small company because they think they can, and then leave a low rating. As a small business owner, I know that small business owners put in a lot of work to make themselves successful and deserve all the respect someone would give a large company.All in all, our experience was fantastic. She went the extra mile to make sure we were happy. We will continue to highly recommend Ann Arbor Canine Coach. Thanks Valerie for all your help!

Trudy Garfield: My training time with Ann Arbor Canine Coach was wonderful. I have a lab mix with many challenges. Valerie has a unique and rare ability to know exactly what to do to work with the dog to resolve their issues. As effective as the training was, it was also light and personable. Very highly recommended.

Karna D: We became the poster family for "Who rescued whom?" after we brought home Janey, an English Setter rescued from Turkey. Janey is sweet, gentle, and gets along well with dogs, cats and people. She loves nothing better than to always be with her Mom and Dad. One would think we didn't need a dog trainer BUT WAIT, for some unfathomable reason she is terrified of our large, bearded, gruff 36 year old son who lives with us. It is truly a Jekyll and Hyde transformation for her! She growled, barked, and lunged whenever she saw him. Sibling rivalry? Help - these two need to learn to get along. We saw Val working with another family and asked if she could help us. She did help by working with us, our son and Janey! She trained us all.What did we love about her? She was always patient and positive in her interactions with us and the dog. She listened well, advocated for Janey that she not be frightened more, because who knows what her experience in the past was like and she is such a gentle soul. She didn't mind our messy house. She worked with both the gifts and challenges we are faced with in our present life stage. She was understanding of our situation and customized interventions that worked for us. After she solved our son/dog make nice problem she went on to help us with other less concerning behaviors as well like jumping in and out of the car so I didn't have to life her. She told me she once trained a pet pig to go up a ramp into a car for the same reason.Val is a font of valuable information, not just her training expertise but what harness would work well for us, what medical considerations are there for Janey, what feeding guidelines are helpful, how can vets help us, what training aids/treats are good and won't break the bank and other advice to support our pet parenthood. Between visits, she called by phone to check on our progress and provide support which was a wonderful motivator for me to keep working on our "homework." She sent follow up emails and answered my questions promptly whether by email or phone. We didn't have to wait between scheduled sessions for information and support because she is very available. She brought us into the 21st Century, something kids in my life have not been able to accomplish - it's a miracle - to set up pet play dates. There is no doubt, Janey is special for me if I was willing to do social media after avoiding it forever. For me, she was more of a doggie doula (a doula is someone who helps before, during and after labor and delivery) for Janey's fitting into the family, than just a dog trainer because of how she educated and supported us all. Thank you, Val!

Matt Hall: Overall I think Valerie is a good person and good dog trainer but regrettably she does not run her business in parallel with what she charges. My experience with Valerie started out overall pretty well but due to differences in opinions with regard to expectations, is the reason behind my review.After signing up for lessons for our dog, Valerie reached out to me in a timely manner to set up times and dates to meet and conduct the 6 one hour lessons at a rate of $100/hr which I did not think to be unreasonable since she does come to the house rather than having to take your dog to a training facility.On the first lesson Valerie brought over a contract to be signed, which I was a little caught off guard by, but glanced over it and signed it by the second lesson. We completed the first and second and third lessons without a problem but prior to the fourth lesson is where things started to go downhill. Prior to signing the contract my fiancé and I had expressed our concerns to Valerie that due to the nature of our jobs we are on call the majority of the time and that while unlikely it was possible that we would have to change our lesson times somewhat last minute. 24 hours prior to the scheduled 3rd lesson we both had been called into work at the hospital and notified Valerie with what we thought was a sufficient amount of time. Valerie proceeded to count our absence to the third lesson as a full lesson which I thought was a little unreasonable given the circumstances but decided to let it go.After missing our scheduled 4th lesson we were in the process of moving locally and didn't reach out to Valerie for about 3-4 weeks, nor did she try to get in contact with us. When we did finally get settled in and reach out to Valerie the next 3 weeks or so were a revolving game of phone tag. I would reach out to her and then not hear anything back for a week and then the game would continue.Eventually Valerie and I did end up getting in touch so that I could plan on scheduling our 5th lesson (which really in my opinion should have been our 4th). Valerie proceeded to tell me that on the day we had spoke marked the 3 month date since we had started training and that the contract states that all training must be conducted within that time span. I tried explaining my concerns to Valerie that I had tried reaching out to her for a period of time and that we were a little pre occupied during the move. She was not very professional or reasonable in my opinion, I think that if she would have tried reaching out to us prior to "our contract expiring" or giving us a discounted rate, or anything really I would have appreciated the situation a whole lot more. I think that it was a little bit of a coincidence or ironic that by the time we had eventually gotten in touch to schedule the lesson it was on the date that our training contract was set to expire. Valerie did proceed to come out and conduct one more lesson after pleading with her on the phone for a while which brought our total lesson count completed to 4 out of 6.In my opinion the I was expecting more out of a small local business with regard to respect for customers and ethics. Unfortunately there was nothing that I could do legally because I did sign her contract but it would have been nice if she had emphasized that part a little more or at least tried reaching out to us before we played phone tag for almost a month. Ethics is what I believe was the common, lacking, common denominator in this situation and with her business model.It is not my motive to deter people from working with Valerie but rather, hopefully in the future she can change a couple things and continue to excel.