Good Wellesley Dogs

To say working with Good Wellesley Dogs has been a life changer is an understatement. We could barely walk our 18-mo-old frenchie Simon due to his reactivity. Getting him to sleep thru the night was even difficult. However, it was when he started to show signs of aggression that we knew we needed help desperately. In a short time of working with Hillary we saw an incredible improvement. She showed us the proper use of the Place command, his collar, and even how to talk (and not talk) to him. Suddenly, our walks became pleasant and enjoyable, and Simon was listening to our commands more consistently. With grandbabies on the way, however, we knew more work was necessary. She explained the importance and high value of crate training, and we booked a board and train for two weeks. What a difference this made! This is not a magic wand and takes follow up on our part to be consistent with the tools, techniques, and training we have learned from Hillary. We are so thankful for her patient instruction to help us bring out the best in Simon!

Hillary helped us so much with our shy young rescue hound. He's our third rescue, so we thought we knew what to do...but he was definitely in control! She showed us how to make our expectations clear and helped us understand what he needed from us, and he responded right away. Many of our neighbors have commented on the positive difference in his behavior. Hillary's experience with training dogs (and their people), her understanding of canine behavior, and her responsiveness to our questions and concerns leads to me to highly recommend her.

We came to Good Wellesley Dogs after having been to a couple different training classes with different philosophies which weren't quite working for us in practice. Hillary listened to our concerns and gave us simple tools and suggestions that worked for OUR dog and lifestyle. She showed us what was possible and reasonable behavior to expect and taught us to lead with confidence. We made great strides in a short amount of time with patience and practice.

Hillary at Good Wellesley Dogs is THE best. Do yourself a favor and contact her immediately for any and all of your dog training needs. We have been using Hillary's services since day 1 and I think this has made a world of a difference! Every person that meets our beloved Archie says "wow he is such a good dog" "wow he is so well behaved" and he is only a puppy! We could not have done it without her. She prepared us from the beginning about what to do and not do so bad habits were not formed at an early age. I was a first time dog owner, and so excited for a puppy, but felt VERY overwhelmed by all the videos, I tried to read a Zak George book - it was just too much! Hillary breaks it down in such an easy, digestible way where you can feel like the training is doable and easy to keep up with. The structure at such a young age is key. You also learn that the crate is not the enemy, the puppy likes the crate, use the crate! I know some people say "wait til they are 6 months or a year" - but they already have bad habits by then, ... start from the beginning if you can! One common misconception is the playpen... Do not use a playpen! It delays potty training - we had a full playpen situation set up when we called Hillary to do our preliminary pre-puppy pick up call and immediately collapsed the pen after. She has SO many simple tips and tricks that are actually feasible to stick to (no running around with a clicker, who actually wants to do that?). With this said, Hillary can help all of your needs, not just from puppyhood - fixing existing problems big or small. We have also had the pleasure of participating in the puppy pre-school which has been so great for Archie to build confidence and learn to socialize appropriately with other dogs. Archie has a special leash for when he goes to pre-school so he can run around with it (it's light, can get dirty in the yard, etc). As soon as I go to get this special leash he knows where he is going and perks up! He loves going to GWD. Honestly, I wish all dogs could go to Hillary! I never noticed other dogs bad behavior so much until I had a dog... even my husband who has had dogs all of his life, has been enlightened to some life changing tips and tricks (that you may not even realize are bad habits!). You will not have that problem if you go to Hillary :) One of the fundamental key differences with Hillary's training philosophy is you want a WELL BEHAVED vs. a WELL TRAINED dog - sure you can teach a dog to do paw, roll over, sit for a treat, etc. but what happens after the command is over? You want a dog to be calm and obedient all the time, regardless of getting treats... Once i shifted to that mindset, everything changes!