LifeStyle K9

I was recommended by a friend of mine who had their dog trained by Drew. I reached out, he was very knowledgeable and helped me establish a communication with my rescue. He’s been fantastic on a leash now and actually enjoyable to walk. Ive been doing it wrong the whole time. He taught me a series of attention breaks, leash pressure, proper rewarding techniques and trust earning exercises that have made a world of difference! Worth every penny. Thank you Drew!

I wholeheartedly recommend Drew to anyone seeking help with their dog, whether for minor adjustments or significant behavioral changes. I have a 100lb rescue Shar Pei/Mastiff mix who was highly reactive, and I struggled to find effective solutions through online videos or training tools. My goal was to help my dog accompany me to more places, improving his well-being and reducing my stress. After feeling overwhelmed, I decided to work with Drew, and it was a game-changer. From the outset, Drew’s communication, methods, and patience were exceptional—not only with my dog but also with me. I quickly realized that his training extended beyond my pet to include me as well, teaching me valuable insights into canine behavior and psychology. The knowledge I gained was equivalent to a comprehensive education in dog training, making every penny well worth it. I considered sending my dog to a “bootcamp” for quick results, but I wanted to build a deeper connection with him by understanding his thought process. Drew’s approach allowed me to achieve this, fostering mutual respect and communication between us. While quality training isn’t inexpensive, the value Drew provided was outstanding, and I would choose his services again without hesitation. Thank you, Drew, for transforming our relationship and making every outing with my dog a joy!

I trusted Drew with my best friend, my ESA and soon to be service dog, Hazel. Initially things went well, and I was happy that I’d hired him. We discussed the approaches he would take with her. I made sure to communicate to him that I needed to be aware of any type of leash, collar or training approach that he intended to use. He agreed and said that he always works that way, with communication with the owner and permission before he tries any new type of approach. Sadly, Drew did not keep his promise and he broke my trust. What’s worse is he broke my dog’s trust and that was a trust we took months to form and used baby steps to try to gain. My pup has fear issues with men based on the reports of abuse from the rescue where I found her. Drew assured me that he was “the male” that could earn her trust and who would help her become more confident and less anxious. After several months of working together at $200/session, I was offered an opportunity that would require my pup to spend longer periods of time alone. I asked Drew for help with this. His response was to say he needed to see what she would do when I wasn’t there, which made sense to me at the time. Instead of walking in to see what her reaction would be, and then leaving to discuss how to best help her, Drew did something I did not expect nor approve. He used an approach called flooding, which is demanding a behavior/task from a dog when the dog is giving an indication that she is very scared and unable to perform the task. This floods her with the very emotion or behavior she is trying to communicate that she can’t tolerate. This is a very harmful tactic and I never would have approved it had I known he was going to use it. He did not ask for my permission and he did not tell me this was what he was going to do. I have a 38 pound rescue, a beagle mix who was happy, funny, goofy, and was doing extremely well in training, until Drew decided to use flooding without my permission. He forced this technique with her in my home without me present, for over 25 minutes. She barked so much she was hoarse after he finally left. I was also very scared, and was trying to hold back tears and trying to hide the fact that I was shaking because of what happened. He simply did not relent in trying to make her stop barking, instead indifferently remaining in her space, forcing her to simply surrender. Forcing trust and cooperation is not natural for anyone; trust cannot be forced. After he left, she hid from me. Because of this, I decided to check the inside cameras and was astonished at how he treated her. I immediately reached out to him. He did not respond. I then reached out to him again and told him we needed a more gentle approach; I wanted to repair the damage that was done by the flooding. He still didn’t respond. A week passed. I finally received a text from him at 6 am, the day before he was leaving for vacation, stating that because I had asked for something different/a more gentle approach, he would not work with us. I was stunned. He didn’t ask about Hazel, nor how she was doing or if she had stopped hiding or started eating. He didn’t care, plain and simple; this was very obvious. Drew began our training by very sincerely expressing that he would *never* do anything without my permission nor implement anything unexpected in training my dog or anyone else’s dog. Unfortunately he broke his word, and he did that in a big way. Trust is crucial with a dog trainer: if you love your furry family member, you absolutely must have trust in whoever works with that family member, as they don’t have a voice to tell you what happens when you’re not around. That trust is earned, it’s not demanded. There are many positive reviews here and I would’ve felt the same way the first few months I was working with Drew. However, the day he decided to implement flooding as a quick fix for Hazel before he left for vacation, he ruined all the progress she and I had made and all of our hard work was lost. It didn’t have to be that way, and I’m very disappointed and very angry.