Instinct Dog Behavior & Training Portland

Creating lasting behavior change and practicing new skills, despite what is portrayed on popular 30-minute-long television shows, can take time: in extreme cases, weeks and months if you want to do it without intimidating or harming your dog and your relationship with them. In that way, dogs are not that different from people. The folks at Instinct Portland are at the top of their game in this field. I have worked with rescues and training facilities for 14 years and the folks at Instinct Portland are highly educated and passionate and have helped me make life-changing progress with my dog who has big, loud feelings about a lot of things. They can take on the really difficult bite-history and highly reactive cases and at the same time help you raise your puppy. A trainer can work 1:1 with a dog and create change if the dog is comfortable but in reality, it is the guardian that is being taught. The guardian will need to manage the pup's environment to ensure success and prevent mistakes and keep up with the skills taught at the facility for lasting change to occur. Stephanie and Emily, the two behavior consultants and trainers that we have worked with see the big picture, have a wealth of knowledge and skills and always have a way to address what is going on with my pup. Dr Pachel, who is one of less than 200 board certified veterinary behaviorists in the world is a rock star and is enthusiastic, hopeful, friendly and available to his patients. We are lucky to have him in Portland. The rest of the team there; TK, Jen, Connor, Kirah, Lance, and Katelyn are supportive and go the extra mile to make sure my guy is comfortable and stimulated during his day school sessions. We've enrolled him in "Reactivity Foundations 1 & 2" and "Patient and Polite" classes. We drop him off in the AM and he has a private session with his behavior consultant and play time and enrichment with the rest of the team several times during the day where the team plays with him and supports the ongoing lessons. When he comes home he is peaceful and mentally tired. This facility has been a literal life-saver for my dog and I would give them 10 stars if I could.

We have had such a great experience with Kirah at Instinct Dog Behavior and Training! We had the pleasure of working with her to train our 1-year-old cattle dog rescue, Rocky, and she has been absolutely wonderful. From the very start, Kirah was a fantastic coach, providing us with the tools and techniques we needed to better understand and communicate with our dog. Her approach was both thoughtful and effective, which made a real difference in Rocky's behavior. We are only mid-way through our sessions with her and I have so much hope and optimism for the pup that Rocky can be with good training. One of the things we appreciated most was how accessible Kirah was between sessions. She was always available to answer questions, troubleshoot any challenges, or provide additional resources to keep us on track. This level of ongoing support made the entire training experience so much more valuable. Additionally, we loved the outline platform that Instinct uses. It’s a great tool for keeping everything organized and gives us easy access to learning materials, as well as a way to continue our communication with Kirah. It was so helpful to be able to refer back to our training plan and stay connected with her outside of our sessions. Overall, working with Kirah has been a positive and rewarding experience. Her expertise, responsiveness, and commitment to helping us succeed have made all the difference. While professional dog training is an investment, I wholeheartedly believe that this was such a worthwhile endeavor. We are developing the tools we need to help Rocky be successful. I also feel like we've invested in ourselves and any future pups we'll have. I would do it again, hands down.

We signed our Corgi up for the adolescent socials and have attended twice with fabulous success. Not only is our boy having a wonderful time playing with other young dogs, he is learning to properly socialize in a controlled and safe environment. The trainers are super skilled and quick to point out the various aspects of our dog that are normal and instinctive, plus they happily answer our questions and point out the things we should keep in mind as he grows and matures. Instinct is a fabulous place run by people who really love dogs.