MotoDog Training

I am not exaggerating when I say that MotoDog changed my dog’s life—and, by extension, my life as well. My Shetland Sheepdog named Tuuli was, by nature, very reactive and fearful toward dogs and people. Tuuli’s fear-based reactivity kept her world small—we felt like we couldn’t take her anywhere with us, and we were often waiting until after dark to walk her, dodging people and dogs the entire way. Walks weren’t enjoyable for her or for us. For over a year, I had worked really hard and tried a lot of different trainers and training methods—including positive-reinforcement-only and traditional balanced training—and none of them had a transformative effect. Even though Tuuli made marginally progress, her life was still very limited by her reactivity and lack of confidence. I decided that I was going to “bite the bullet” and try a board-and-train program, and I searched for a long time to find the exact right fit. I found Jill at MotoDog, spoke with her in a free consultation call, and decided to trust her with Tuuli’s training. This turned out to be the best decision I could have possibly made! After just four weeks with Jill, Tuuli’s world completely changed. She become confident enough that she rarely “blows up” at other dogs, and she has gotten way better about meeting strangers. Equally importantly, I have become a much more capable owner because of the skills and strategies Jill has taught me. Jill’s training philosophy, which I know is shaped by her education at Training Without Conflict, is so radically different from what we encountered before. Other trainers, both positive-reinforcement-only and balanced alike, advised us to keep Tuuli “under threshold.” In doing so, we never let strangers interact with her and kept her far away from other dogs. Jill emphasized to us the importance of letting Tuuli make her own choices and pushing her safely out of her comfort zone. And instead of strict obedience, Jill also impressed upon us how much play and freedom to move means to dogs. We went from walking Tuuli on a six-foot lead at a tight heel at the advice of our previous trainer to walking her on a Flexi lead at liberty and meeting new people and even new dogs whenever possible. It has been six months since I picked my dog up from Jill, and I am happy to report that the improvements we saw immediately after the board-and-train have proven durable. I truly do think of Tuuli’s life in two periods: a “Before MotoDog” when she was scared and limited, and an “After MotoDog” when she has been able to live her life to the fullest. If you are deciding which trainer to send your dog to, I would look no further. Thank you so much, Jill!

I would absolutely recommend Moto Dog Training. I brought my dog Polly to the 6 week training and had a super positive and effective experience. Polly is 1 year old, she’s a rescue from the south, and a border collie, German shepherd, mutt. She is a high energy dog who loves to use her brain, exercise, and play. But she is also very cautious, suspicious, not really food motivated, and a guard dog. That has been a tricky combination and made training her on my own daunting. Ultimately I brought her to training because she was really struggling with fear reactivity: she was barking and lunging at other dogs on leash and even getting into tiffs with other dogs and I couldn’t take her off leash because I didn't have strong recall with her, especially when there’s an animal to chase after, she has a really high pray drive. If this sounds like your dog Moto is a great dog trainer for you!!! Jill is absolutely fantastic at working with working dog breeds. I am a huge fan of how she uses play to strengthen your relationship with your dog. I had previously tried to train Polly on my own just using treats and to a border collie treats are just not as cool as a deer running through the woods. Jill taught me how to play with my dog in a way that sets rules and boundaries so that Polly really has to listen to me. And her commands have gotten so much snappier because we practice them all the time during our play. Play is so rewarding to Polly (in a way that food is not!) and is such a good way to reinforce training. After working with Moto, Polly has a strong recall, my communication with her is so much clearer, and she is able to cope so much better with situations that have previously caused her to react. Having a stronger connection between us allows me to confidently take her to places such like on hikes and to the farmers market. I am so grateful that Jill was able to work with me and Polly and am excited for all the places I can take Polly with her new skills!

Our two Bernese mountain dogs had never had a history of aggression but had a few problematic behaviors my wife and I wanted to address - especially being larger dogs. MotoDog helped with the behaviors but gave the dogs (and us) so much more! Beau and Goldie developed so much confidence and self-assuredness in how they interact with other dogs, people, and the world around them. Jill also gave us the tools to continue building on their work moving forward - it's been especially rewarding to continue strengthening our relationship with the dogs, and to see it pay off with more trust and freedom together. It's been life changing for us to enjoy more adventures with Beau and Goldie, and it never could have happened without MotoDog. We can't recommend MotoDog highly enough!

Working with Jill and the MOTO Dog team completely changed our lives — and Grady’s. We had reached a point where we desperately needed help with his behavior, and sending him to their Board and Train program was the best decision we ever made. Grady came home more confident, calm, and responsive, and Jill gave us the tools to keep building on his progress. We’re so grateful for the care, patience, and expertise they showed every step of the way. I truly can’t recommend MOTO Dog and Jill enough.

I sent my 7 year old hound to a three week board and train with Motodog training and it was the best decision I could have made for my boy. He went in a nervous, shy, unsure dog who was either shutting down or lashing out when things were too difficult. He wasn’t clear on what he was being asked to do from us(our fault) and therefore it was a constant battle with him in every aspect. He came back to us a confident, more independent, willing to listen, please and learn boy. Thanks to his e-collar training he also has amazing recall and if by chance he doesn’t we have it as a fallback now. I have never enjoyed my outings with him as much as I do now. Knowing that he will stay with me, wants to stay with me and also have the freedom to run again and be himself has been a complete turn around! I can’t recommend them enough. If you are on the fence about signing up, don’t be. It will be the best experience you will probably ever have with a trainer, in my opinion, Jill is the best of the best.