Good CitiZEN Dog

Deborah clearly has this dog training thing figured out. We participated in a reactivity class, which included a variety of dogs with a diversity of reactivity challenges, yet the strategies/tools she teaches seem to be effective across the board. You can tell that her strategies are well refined. While the reactivity isn't totally corrected (you can't expect to change engrained behaviors overnight), I can confidently say we are on the right track, and more importantly, now have the tools to continue making progress. Deborah's courses don't just train your dog, they train YOU to be the best trainer you can be for your dog. She employs a group-structure for her reactivity class, but recognizes the individual and unique challenges of all dogs/owners, and will interface 1-on-1 when fitting. Unfortunately, we joined the course a bit late and missed out on the first couple of sessions. However, Deborah was kind enough to catch us up to speed and provided opportunities to make up the lessons we missed out on. She was more than fair with us! Regarding some of the negative reviews: Deborah has a unique sense of humor, but she is clearly passionate about her work, is deeply knowledgeable, and is supportive and accessible. She provides a judgement-free environment that encourages participation, provides constructive criticism when needed, and genuinly cares about the developement of the class. Her training is safe, effective, and sustainable. Would highly recommend to anyone seeking a trainer.

Wow, I thought I was the only one who was feeling the aggressive and rudeness of Deborah, but it looks like not. I initially called to get more information about a puppy training class, and upon hearing more I thought it best to look into private lessons as well. Deborah insisted I join the puppy group class in which I agreed, on top of the private training. I told her we live in Port Orchard but also could do Seattle, in which she immediately said with an absolutely righteous attitude "I will not come to Port Orchard, or Seattle. With the drive and extra time I just won't make any money. So you would have to come to me." I understand this, however as a business owner I expected a much more professional and welcoming approach towards a potential customer. Upon speaking with my husband about the interactions I had with Deborah, we concluded that it's not worth trusting our puppy, and our money to someone who can't be bothered to do some people-to-people training themselves. There are plenty of puppy/dog trainers in the Tacoma/Seattle area that will have decent manners.