LA’s Dog Trainer

Thank you Trudi for your wonderful review!! Your dedication to training your dogs inspires me and your accomplishments with them are outstanding!! What a great dog mom you are!! It is always a pleasure to work with you and your babies and to see how far they progress!!

Kate hired us to take Bella for Board & Train to work on her undesirable behaviors. For 4 weeks When I picked up Bella I was given a 2 page list of things to work on. I informed Kate we would not be able to address all of those behaviors in 4 weeks, but that her behavior would be improved and would be the beginning of Bella’s journey towards better behavior. I agreed to focus on the 5 following behaviors: 1. Refusal to come when called. 2. Ballistic response to the apartment buzzer. 3. Aggressive lunging, barking & going after strangers. 4. Going into & staying in her crate willingly (rather than breaking out of it, screaming, and barking uncontrollably). and 5. Separation anxiety. All behaviors noted above were significantly improved by Bella’s return. She came when called 95% of the time. She went into her crate and stayed there without barking 100% of the time. Her reaction to the buzzer was either non-existent or she would come to me for a reward. The separation anxiety became almost non-existent, with only one or two barks when I would leave. Her excessive reaction to people was minimal and would cease with one cue of “quiet”. In addition, her excessive paw licking behavior had completely ceased. Bella’s behaviors were much more ingrained (after 3 & a half years of practice) than Kate had told us. The severity of her behavior meant it was going to take more time to achieve a behavioral change, so I offered to extend her 4 week stay into 5 weeks, free of charge. “Not having as much time as I would have liked” meant that Bella needed much more time and work than most B & T dogs. I kept Bella longer because Bella was showing improvement and I felt it was in her best interest to keep her another week which proved to help Bella immensely. I’m not sure how she sees that as a negative? Follow through: I offered her the Beginning Obedience Class Free For Life included with most B & T dogs (as long as I am the instructor and I currently teach 4 days/evenings a week). In addition Kate was offered to come to the studio 2 times per week for private sessions for 6 weeks to help build her confidence which would help with her fear aggression (going after strangers) at no charge. Kate missed the directions to the 1st group class she was to attend because she didn’t get the email in time. She then refused to continue with Bella’s training or pay the balance of her Board & Train, which was due upon Bella’s return which she refused to pay when I took her home. Her balance due is $1,150. Separation anxiety worse? Please see her wonderful 5 star review of the groomer California Groomin’ 08-12-20 (after Bella’s return) who she claims “I could barely peel her off of me at the groomers.” Kate did not want to follow directions including coming to class, the studio, or refusing to put Bella on a leash to keep her safe at her apartment building. She is a wiggler dog and could easily wiggle out of Kate’s arms, fall and hurt herself or go after a neighbor in the hallway, elevator, or lobby. Kate was informed that there would be no updates for the first 2 weeks due to the nature of Bella’s issues. Kate was never promised videos or in depth updates for this reason. Despite this, Kate began demanding updates and videos 6 days after her arrival. Kate’s expectations were completely unrealistic as her emails use words such as “astronomical & magic” when referring to the modification of Bella’s behavior. An email on the 6th day asked for updates on her training and progress reads “Totally realize it’s just 1 week and they won’t be astronomical yet in comparison to how she’ll be when she comes home.” And “I cannot wait to see and learn how to reinforce the magic you have done in training her.” Behavior modification is a process that must be reinforced. Her review has no basis of truth and she does not show anything that can be called “a lack of professionalism or unethical business practices”. Bella's behavior was significantly improved in the 5 weeks.

Thank you! It was a pleasure working with your family and Charlie!

Thank you!

Thank you! You are great students and dog & people parents!!