Gary Maria Professional Dog Training

We contacted Gary because our once social/happy 2yo Havashu had started to show aggression to other dogs out on walks, and even some strangers that got too close. While he was so kind and gentle to our new baby, we were afraid his new behavior might show itself at home and it had us on edge. We started with a consultation with Gary where he pointed out behavior “ticks” and assured us that our dog hadn’t become an aggressive alpha, but was showcasing fear-based aggression. Over the next 6 sessions we were educated on how to read our dog at home and outside the home, how to instill trust, and key commands to help us have successful outings. Before we called Gary I had gone to an outdoor coffee shop with the stroller and the dog and had left embarrassed after my little dog had aggressively pulled the leash towards another dog and caused me to spill tea everywhere — the day after our final session I attempted another visit with a crowd of people and dogs and he laid down while I ordered, and was cool & collected the entire outing!! Our happy pup was back, and that was worth every penny!

Our experience with Gary was wonderful! When we first sought out Gary, our American Brittany, River, had run out of the dog park and into the hills chasing after a bird. We could not get him back for quite some time, which scared us to bits. Gary took his time with training, ensuring us that although our main goal was recall, River needed his foundational skills. This started with charging markers, proper sits/downs/stays/etc. Gary was very clear that training a dog is really about training the owners to know how to train the dog. Gary was great in that he combines Positive Reinforcement and, if the dog demands it, Avoidance training styles. He is very knowledgeable on using other tools such as prong/e collars. I was apprehensive about using these tools, but once we exhausted all other options and River was still at risk of injuring himself in certain situations, it was wonderful to know that we could learn to use these tools appropriately. Three months later, the culmination of River's training was when we took him to Shell Ridge Hiking trail. River was running through the hills, chasing birds and truly enjoying himself. The best part was we knew if we told him to come back, he would without a shadow of a doubt. The most meaningful part of this process has been learning about River's psychology, which has created a level of trust between us that we never would have imagined. Thanks Gary!

Gary Maria did an excellent job of helping my husband and me get through a difficult time with a challenging Pitbull-mix rescue dog. Since we don’t have young children, I was looking for a German Shepherd &/or Pitbull-mix because there were so many of those breeds in the shelters. One of our adult daughters had adopted a GSD rescue about a year ago & was having a great experience with her. Another close family friend also worked at a rescue with Pitbulls & had had so many positive things to say about them. After submitting many applications, I was finally contacted by a rescue agency about a 1-year-old female Pit-mix who was dog-friendly and child-friendly. We went to meet her with our dogs, including our daughter’s German Shepherd, to make sure the rescue dog would get along with all of us. It went fantastically! And she was such a cutie! We brought Montana home with us to be the latest addition to our family. I started noticing that this experience was going to be a challenge when I brought Montana into the backyard the next day. She started doing zoomies, but then she started growling at me (not in a friendly way) and jumping and biting at my feet & hands. I was able to distract her and got her calmed down. I was crate-training her & training her on-leash every day, as I had done effectively with all of the other dogs I had. She was doing fairly well with those things. And, she could be very sweet when she was calm. However, she would growl, lunge and bite at me whenever I would take her out to play. If I said “no,” she would back away and growl more seriously. I started to be a little afraid of her at those times, especially since she was a Pitbull-mix. I was really starting to wonder if I had made the right choice in adopting her. I just wanted a friendly, loving companion, not a Doctor Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. That’s when I started looking for a dog trainer and I was lucky enough to find Gary Maria. Gary came to our house (we were all wearing masks) for a consultation. He has been working with all types of dogs for over 30 years. He had Montana calmly lying next to him within about 20 minutes of coming to the house. After talking with him, I realized that this was not going to be a quick, overnight solution, but it was going to be a process that he was going to teach us that would require daily work on our part and have Montana behaving well after 6 weeks. Although I was concerned about Montana’s behavior in the short-run (I must confess I didn’t want Gary to leave while I still had a little bit of fear of Montana), I knew that this would be the best solution in the long-run – we would have the tools that we needed to work with our new dog and we would also be establishing our relationship and trust with her, as opposed to sending her away to a boarding dog training school. So, we signed up for the once-a-week in-home training. Each week, we would work on training different behaviors. Gary would listen to the problems we encountered the week before and make suggestions as to what we could do to address those issues, in addition to progressing through his training steps. By the end of the 6 weeks, Montana has turned into a really sweet, affectionate, playful, “normal” dog. She no longer jumps/growls/bites at us – she is able to play with us politely. She also plays really nicely with the other dogs in our family. We still have things that we’re working on (barking at dogs we pass when we’re in the car, being very stressed/barking when we take her to new places, etc.), but we feel like Gary has given us the tools to train Montana to improve these behaviors. And, Gary is just a phone call away to help us with any more challenging issues that might come up. We HIGHLY recommend Gary Maria to help you train your new rescue dog. He’s especially experienced with helping to bring out the great qualities in the more challenging breeds of dogs (Pitbulls, German Shepherds, etc.) that fill the shelters/rescue agencies. With your commitment to the process, Gary will help you have a wonderful outcome.

Gary is a great dog trainer. Our family could not recommend him more. He makes dog training simple, fun and he gets your whole family (we have kids) involved if you want. We have seen tremendous improvement in our Portuguese Water Dog puppy and the training has created bonds with our dog. He walks you through everything you need to know about puppies/dogs and is responsive to any questions. We spoke with him the day we picked up our puppy at 8 weeks and he told us everything we needed to focus on for those first weeks home. Gary kept it simple and he assured us that the crazy behavior we would see is all normal. He told us it wouldn't be easy. This was key for us early on with the puppy because we were not dog people. It made us less concerned because things would happen and Gary already warned us. As the weeks went on Gary checked in on our concerns before each training session, patiently answering our crazy questions and concerns. Then he focused on training. We learned the rewards system, walking training, luring, down, and come. Our puppy has really taken to training and we feel good that we have a solid foundation going forward, all due to Gary. Hopefully, we won't need second level but if we do, we will use Gary again.