Dog Savvy Dog Training

Like a lot of folks, we got a puppy in 2020. We really didn't realize what we were getting into with Bluebelle, our bernedoodle. We got through initial training and basic commands. Bluebelle was an anxious puppy outside but was very playful and almost too energetic at home. It was hard taking her on walks due to her anxiety. We were told we needed to board and train her. Desperate, we reached out to Andrew and Brittany, who recommended the online training with in person consult instead. This worked perfectly for us given busy work and school schedules. Andrew and Brittany are very responsive and the training is very effective. We are able to now take Bluebelle on long walks! The training helped us help Bluebelle with her anxiety, calm herself, not nip anyone, or jump. Thank you Andrew and Brittany!

I could not recommend Brittany and Andrew Gleason more highly. I adopted my dog Tyrion in 2016. He was a 6 month old puppy with endless energy and anxiety. He had been rehomed 3 times previously (not for anything serious), and when I met him we immediately bonded. I don’t know why we were compelled to choose each other, but we were. Fast forward several months, and Tyrion was in a board and train to help with his insatiable energy levels and obedience. He came home a wonderfully obedient dog, until he was about 18 months. After he reached maturity, all of his anxiety regarding strangers, leashed dogs, and new situations transformed to forward aggression. I attended training workshops, paid for more individual lessons, but nothing seemed to work. I was overwhelmed and helpless. I thought about giving him up a million times, but I knew I couldn’t. Finally we found Dog Savvy. Tyrion did a 6 week board and train with Brittany and Andrew. My husband and I drove cross country to work with them. While he was gone, we adopted his little puppy sister, and watched the amazing online classroom modules Brittany and Andrew make available to their clients. When we flew back to Austin to see Tyrion after 4 1/2 weeks, I couldn’t stop crying. Physically, he was a different dog. He had gained 7 HEALTHY pounds. His coat was shining. He was soft. He had a light in his eyes I’d never seen before. Over the course of the next 10 days, Brittany and Andrew worked with us to learn the new relaxation techniques they had taught Tyrion. They also helped us integrate Tyrion and his new puppy. They spent many hours with us, and we are so grateful. Tyrion has been home 3 weeks now. Sure, there are setbacks at time. He’s still him. But now we have the tools to help him. I’ve seen so many moments of progress, and for the first time in years, I feel hopeful. We will remain consistent with his training because he has an amazing foundation for relaxation. He has had zero issues with the new puppy, and is an amazingly tolerant big brother. We are so proud of him, and we cannot thank Brittany and Andrew enough. Training is not linear, but we are on the upswing. Working with Dog Savvy has transformed our buddy, Tyrion. It has improved my relationship with him tremendously. I got my companion back, and I could not be more grateful.

I am so happy we did the advanced online training modules with our two doodles from the comfort of our own home. We boarded our dog Zeus in February through a conventional board and train location and he could listen to sit and stay but wasn’t calm or understanding that running on the furniture and digging was not appropriate. When we got our girl Nova (who had 0 training when we got her!) we could not process the chaos of two doodles zooming around the house like crazy animals. We came across Dog Saavy and Brittany and Andrew came over to our home and was able to teach Nova to come “here” in about two seconds, not to invade our personal space, loose leash walking (which I thought would be nearly impossible, but we got both our doodles loose leash walking side by side in two short sessions). They use a method that trains the root of the dogs behavior and thinking. We reward our dogs the things we like (relaxation, listening when we ask something, improving behaviors, etc) and we are able to transform the way the dog sees the environment and reacts to the environment. We had dog scavengers who loved the trash, and worked on that over a few days...now I can leave the trash can open and they rarely get in it. Overall I have seen a huge shift in behavior for both of them. I am so excited to learn why a dog thinks the way they do and what is important for a dog to live a mentally and physically healthy life (conventional training just does not teach this stuff). I 100% recommend their online training modules in the advanced format...16 weeks (which can truly be 11), 1:1 coaching hours, and an online Facebook social group to ask questions and post your short weekly homework. Andrew and Brittany have this down to a science and are so supportive along the way. I will never do a different learning experience after this one here. Highly highly recommend!

Brittany and Andrew (Gleason Dog Training) are true dog whisperers. We have two Great Pyrenees rescues. Our youngest dog had bad resource guarding, and would cause dog fights with our older dog. The fights went on for several months, and the fights got worse and worse, to the point where a fight was so bad, I tried to break it up and got bit on my arm. The bite was so bad, I had to go to the ER and get stitches. At this point, we were at a loss as a family, and felt we had two choices to make. 1. re-home the younger dog, or 2. send her to training. We researched different dog trainers in the area, and found that there were two kinds, ones that taught a dog to sit and do tricks (which is cute, but does not address the real problem), and ones that "beat" the dog into submission (which who wants a dog that is forced into submission, the dog will eventually break, IMO, and who wants that?); and then we found Gleason Dog Training (GDT). GDT learns the dog and digs down to the root of the problem, and then goes from there. We sent our younger dog to board and train and did the online program (videos) with our older dog at home. After week one, we saw a big difference with our younger dog, and the progress continued from there. We learned that even though our younger dog was 2 years old, she was immature and still had puppy tendencies (who knew a dog could be immature???). GDT addressed her immaturity, addressed her stress, and figured out how to get her to relax and even relax in stressful situations, and guess what that meant....no more resource guarding! Fast forward to when we brought our dog home; she is a new dog. NO resource guarding, she is calm when she wants to be and plays when she wants to, instead of being in a volatile state all the time. She truly is a new dog. Everything we thought was a problem before was addressed, and is not a problem anymore! Our older dog made progress from the online program. We were able to watch videos and then practice training our older dog while at home. The videos are super informative, and have such valuable information in them, that they also transformed us as dog mom and dog dad, and our two kids. We learned that as much as our older dog seemed to be a "couch potato", she actually isn't. Once we put her in a situation to try and get her to relax, she could not relax, and became rigid and stressed to the max. We had NO IDEA that she was this stressed out! Because the videos in the online training program help to address situations with dogs being stressed and rigid, we were able to address this at home, and work through it with her! Since we learned that because our older dog was so easily stressed out, that when the younger dog started fights, the fights exacerbated the older dog's stress level which caused the fights to escalate much faster than they should have. Now that both dogs are home, GDT has equipped my family with the skills to be successful dog parents, and we now have two very happy doggies at home that are relaxed, super chill, calm, and the stress level in the home as a whole has gone from level 10, to level 1. GDT saved our family.