Sweet Pines Kennel - Dog Training

Ditto-ing Johanna's description of -her- stray puppy ... may I begin by saying that it was simply a consultation with Mike that so impressed me. I returned -my- puppy to his foster mom shortly thereafter ... acutely aware that I had adopted a young fellow far too in need of a canine playmate at his age. But Mike's expertise in handling my Heathcliff that day was indeed inspiring - in demonstrating with him and to me the three 'homework' exercises he suggested we first concentrate on. And the six private lessons package he offered me in follow up to our consultation ... a promising next step without question. If only I could have been that canine playmate, too .....

We took in a stray puppy that appeared to have a really tough start in life. Lots of nipping, yanking on his leash, fear of/growling at strangers, & roughly the energy of a pinball machine in the house. He’s back from board & train and is very much improved— walks nicely on a leash and doesn’t react to humans or dogs, knows all of his commands, isn’t nipping at hands, & is far more calm. I’ve even noticed that he’s more confident and will do things he previously was too scared to try (like going down the stairs to the basement). Mike did a phenomenal job (understatement). Seeing how terrified the dog was to leave was heartbreaking (he threw himself on the ground and wouldn’t move) but 3 weeks later he’s returned & is behaving like a charm 😊

I can't recommend Mike enough. I have had dogs all my life and have worked with a variety of trainers over the years and Mike is my favorite. He has a very calm energy and his training is tailored to the specific needs of your dog. He is not using a one- size- fits- all approach and will work on whatever is important to you and your dog. Since we started working with him, I do see a big difference in my two dogs. Their focus and attention in distracting environments has greatly improved and the reactiveness in one of my dogs is completely gone while my second dog's reactiveness has also gotten a lot better. I take my dogs just about everywhere I go and they are behaving really well in public in just about any setting now. I have learned new ways of keeping control over them over larger distances when they are off leash as well as new ways to get them to relax and settle while on leash and got introduced to a variety of activities I can do with them that are super fun and that I, despite having trained with trainers for so many years, had never known about before. When I was out of town for 4 weeks over the summer, I didn't trust anyone to petsit my dogs and was worried that the potential sitters might ruin the progress my dogs had made, so I did the board and train program with Mike instead of using a pet sitter. He sent me photos and videos throughout the entire time that I was gone and kept me well informed about how they were doing and what he was working on with them. We have had such great success with him and his methods that I cannot recommend him highly enough.