MKE Puppy Pal LLC

Justine is a wonderful & organized person and an excellent dog trainer. Our yellow lab, Cleo, used to be reactive to strangers and would pull and lunge at people and other dogs on walks. After working with Justine, we’ve seen a dramatic improvement. Cleo is much calmer and more regulated, and my husband and I now feel in control during walks. She no longer lunges, and we can finally enjoy peaceful walks together. We are so grateful for Justine’s help and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a knowledgeable and compassionate trainer.

We initially began training approximately three months ago to help our dog with PTSD-triggered reactivity. Early on, we noticed that Justine tended to be quite pushy. We first observed this during our initial consultation. When we informed Justine that we would like some time to consider whether we wanted to hire her as our trainer, she said she understood. However, she quickly transitioned into asking when we wanted to begin and discussing payment amounts depending on the payment method. Although we were somewhat skeptical, we decided to purchase her eight-lesson obedience training package, which was priced at $3,000. Because we paid in full upfront, we received a discount and ended up paying $2,700 for the eight sessions. We completed several in-home training sessions before transitioning to group lessons with other dogs. During the first month of training, Justine canceled two sessions. One cancellation was due to illness, which we completely understood. However, cancellations and rescheduling later became a recurring issue. Within the first few months, we did notice some improvements. However, we eventually encountered a setback when our dog stopped responding to the prong collar as effectively. Week after week, Justine insisted that we needed to purchase her additional e-collar training package, which cost $1,000, because the prong collar was no longer as effective. Justine advised that it might not be a good idea for us to try the e-collar on our own. However, I have years of experience working with animals and training horses, so my husband and I felt confident that we could safely handle our dog and try different approaches responsibly. Additionally, our dog had already been properly introduced to an e-collar before we began training with Justine, so we did not feel it was necessary to purchase another training package. We also chose to walk our dog using her harness on one occasion to give her a break from the prong collar. During one of our walks, we decided to use the e-collar and later informed Justine that we had positive results using the e-collar while our dog was wearing her harness. For clarity, the e-collar was used properly. She did not respond well to this and appeared upset that we had a successful experience using the e-collar on our own. Shortly afterward, she informed us that she was terminating our contract. Potential clients should be aware that if you do something she does not “approve of,” she may choose to discontinue working with you without warning. Fortunately, we had already completed our eight paid sessions before the contract was terminated. After termination, we initially miscounted our sessions and politely requested a refund. After reviewing the schedule more carefully, we realized that we had in fact completed all eight sessions and apologized for the mistake. However, Justine then claimed that we had actually received a total of 12 sessions. When we asked her to provide the dates for those 12 sessions, she did not do so. Over the course of three months, she canceled four sessions and failed to show up once without notifying us, later explaining that she had taken an extended break for the holidays.

100% HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Paws down the absolute BEST dog trainer!! I adopted a Belgian Malinos to train as my service dog and after almost 3 months I wasn't sure I was the right fit for him. That's when we contacted MKE Puppy Pal and legit had what felt like a "new dog" after the first meeting. They explained how to properly feed his breed and that change made the first huge difference. Every week we all learn more and I am beyond grateful for Justine, their expertise and patient but assertive demeanor. My crazy energy Belgian Maligator is now my sweet and smart Belgian Marshmallow. I can't tell you how grateful we are for the difference having Justine's training has brought to our home!