MuttSchool: dog training and behavior

My daughter and I had a wonderful experience, we had her German Shepard at MUTT School and he was difficult at times. He too had to be sequestered; and we were glad we had the option, his behavior was no longer taking away from the other pets and their owners. It gave our teachers extra time and attention to dedicate to our dog; we found that the experience created an exceptionally well disciplined dog. We are extremely grateful for the teachers of MUTT School.

Mutt School in general, and puppy manners in particular, has been a great experience for not only our puppy, but my husband and I as well! We came into class not knowing what to expect, but willing to learn. What we have gained is more than just the basic “sit” and “stay” cues that you expect from a puppy class, but insight into teaching our puppy how to use her brain and to really think. We've learned not only how to shape her behavior in regard to basic commands and fun tricks, but also how to maintain our patience with an eager puppy without expecting too much of her too quickly and setting her up for failure. Nadja and her team have been great at developing fun and interactive training sessions, as well as assisting with specific problem areas (i.e. crate training, biting, etc.). Our Mutt School experience has been a great one, and we look forward to another puppy class and private training in the weeks to come!

Couldn't be happier with our decision to use Mutt School for our puppy. We've done both group classes and private training sessions. I highly recommend doing both. The classes were a terrific, safe environment to socialize our puppy and the private sessions helped tremendously to work on specific training situations we had. For some of the private sessions, we were there working along with the trainer and for others she came while we were out and worked with our puppy one on one, in those cases it was always fun to read his report card when we got home and sometimes have a video of his progress to watch. Having Mutt School as a reference when we have questions is invaluable. Beware, you might get addicted to training and classes with Mutt School, it's so much fun to see all the cool things your dog is capable of!!

My husband and I enrolled our dog in the Nose Games class, which teaches your dog the basics of using their nose to find food or a particular scent. At first, our pup was the worst in the class and her ability to stay focused on the task at hand wasn't very good at all. Nadja adjusted our dog's time working so that she stayed exciting during her session and didn't lose focus. This, paired with practicing at home, allowed our dog to improve so much that she ended up being just as good, if not better than the other dogs by the last class. I was really happy with the amount we covered in the class and we even moved to using odor and going outdoors by the last class. We hope to continue this activity for fun and exercise and possibly even competing eventually! Even though I know the dogs need breaks (especially mine!) throughout the class, I do wish they had more time working while Nadja and Kristen were there to help with any troubles they saw. Overall, I really like Mutt School and wish I would've knew about it when we first got our puppy. I would've loved to take her to the puppy classes that are offered. I'm also really hoping that an advanced Nose Games class will be offered...we will definitely sign up!