Happy Dog Training

Anyone struggling with their dogs and looking for an answer, please give Ralf at Happy Dog Training a chance. I have a 7 year old GSD, Athis, that I've worked with other trainers with. No matter what I tried, it felt like Athis would play the game for rewards and be doing what he wanted as soon as training was over. I felt like I was getting something wrong and this sent me down the rabbit hole of training through play and without conflict. That's when my wife found Happy Dog Training. Working with Ralf was just as much of a growing experience for me as it was for Athis. I've learned a lot about how my dog thinks, feels and what he's trying to tell me. I also learned that I held many misconceptions about dogs in general and being the "leader." Ralf has helped me become the best version of myself for Athis. Over the past few months my relationship with my GSD has grown in ways I didn't think possible. He's become cuddly, calm, welcoming to our new baby and most importantly, just wants to play and have fun as a dog. Athis is still himself, but has shown more of his personality over the past few months. Anyone else that is struggling to build a meaningful and lasting relationship with their dogs, I highly recommend Ralf. If you keep an open mind and put in the work. You'll be amazed at the difference.

I can't say enough good things! We sent our GSD mix for board and train to address reactivity. Ralf's communication and professionalism was excellent start to finish, and our pup was clearly super comfortable with him from the very beginning. Now that our boy is home, he's much calmer and he has a strong foundation that we can build off of to ensure that what he learned with Ralf integrates back into our day-to-day life. We are so impressed with how he's handling certain situations that would be been really difficult for him in the past. Thank you, Ralf!!

Honestly life-changing. When I first rescued Brock around 2 years ago he was a rambunctious pup with behavioral issues and close to being put down. Before seeing Ralf, I took Brock to a number of trainers (board & train, group classes, privates). Unfortunately the problematic behaviors still persisted. I contacted Ralf to help me understand Brock better and unlock his true potential. Ralf coached me on play based training and gave me very specific critiques on the areas that we needed to focus on. He also reviewed training tape in between our sessions to give additional feedback. I was astounded how drastically my relationship and understanding of Brock changed in this time, guided by a few tweaks and conceptual shifts from Ralf. While Brock still has a little ways to go, I am significantly more confident in my training abilities to set him up for success after seeing Ralf.

We have a set of 3-year-old litter mate extra-large pit bulls and our female has a re-direction of aggression issue. We've gone to many trainers, but very little results. Finally, we attended a seminar, and we were referred to Ralf. We finally got the results we were looking for! He was able to help us in too-many-to-mention ways and we finally have the re-direction issue under control, along with other great results that have helped our family live in peace! We are so Grateful & Thankful for Ralf's help. We even have a few training sessions left, that he allowed us to "bank" for future use, when/ if needed. Best investment in our "Hairy Babies" that we ever made!!!