Animal Alliances, LLC

My dog Neffy and I have taken 3 classes here so far. We’ve done beginner and intermediate manners along with beginning agility class. We’ve had Darcy and Alex who are both great and very knowledgeable about dogs (I haven’t had experience with any of the other trainers). Neffy and I have learned a lot- and still have more to go. I appreciate that the classes are capped at a certain number for people. Most of the classes I have taken have 4 dogs total, which means you get some individualized attention and can learn from each other. There are lots of useful classes to chose from as well and even special classes for reactive dogs.

My young dog has a good class work ethic, but he was so reactive that taking him into a classroom with other dogs and keeping him focused was a huge task. I took him to a log of classes 1/2 to 1 hour away from our home. Great teachers, but nothing that really helped his reactivity, in class or on walks. I found a course for reactive dogs at Animal Alliances a couple of miles from our home. The class organization offerred complete social protection from start to finish. The teacher was clear about the process, understood the stress we were undergoing and prepared our expectations. The class was super supportive and progressed each dog and handler at an optimal safe pace. My dog knew there were other dogs in the room, but he was not confronted with them in a challenging way. At the last class, I bumped into our partition boundary. The neighboring dog reacted normally and briefly to the surprise and my dog ignored it. Major progress! In other classes, I had learned a lot of training games and techniques, but the Animal Alliances trainer added a secret ingredient to each technique. For instance, with the "back-up" leash focus technique, they taught a fun method of getting the attention of a dog who is too focused on the environment to notice the handler. I was anxious to start the second level reactive training session, but scheduling issues kept me from continuing immediately. It was a good thing, because my dog and I have continued improving on our own, working with the skills we had been taught. We are even more eager for the next session. All good trainers understand how to help a dog learn without fear. Great trainers understand that the human handler has the same need for non-judgmental instruction. There are great trainers at Animal Alliances.