Snorkle's Way Adaptive Dog Training

I can't recommend Dianna Matteson enough, as a dog trainer and as a person - she's wonderful! I adopted my boy Duke in September 2019; at the time, I didn't expect us to need much training. His foster family said he was a gem - he knew basic commands, got on well with their dog and the kittens they were fostering, and was an all-around good boy. While these things were true, I quickly discovered that Duke is also reactive. For such a big dog (he's 65 pounds), he's scared of a lot, especially other dogs on leash. Living in Downtown Frederick made avoiding one of his biggest fears impossible. After a few weeks of (unsuccessfully) trying to figure out how to manage him on my own, I reached out to Dianna, and I'm so glad I did. She not only met us where we were at with no judgement (I am a first time dog owner and know very little about training), but has been a great source of encouragement and support for us. Under her tutelage, Duke and I have developed a strong bond through trick training, and we've worked on his reactivity with her dogs. One of Di's dogs, Juji, is reactive as well. She not only met Duke and I where we were at, but also empathized with us as she's been there. She understands what we've been through, and has shared her experiences and best practices with us. Duke and I have come a long way with her. Thank you Di! 10/10 highly recommend.

I found that Snorkle's Way training to be tailored to my dogs' personalities as well as to my willingness to learn methods to train my dogs. No lasting changes happen overnight when training dogs, I've learned - it takes lots of perseverance, patience and consistency and fortunately Dianna gave me tools that made it easier to stay focused on our homework, and also the encouragement and reinforcement I needed to keep at it. I was also grateful for Dianna's responsiveness when I had questions and flexibility in scheduling me for our lessons with her. Beyond basic obedience, Snorkle's Way offers some really cool and fun enrichment programs that my dogs & I hope to do more of going forward. I can't say enough good things about working with Dianna - both her expertise as a trainer and her love of dogs. My dogs and I have a stronger, happier, more loving bond now and they're calmer & more confident knowing what I expect of them.