The Puppy Perfectors

Better with dogs than they are with people! I had an unfortunately bad customer service experience that will have me driving across town to another place that is farther away. They are spoken well of when it comes to dogs. But they refused to speak with me on the phone for even a few minutes and it still wanted to charge me an initial private consultation for a decent amount of money and everybody else that I spoke to just said great come on down.

I took agility and obedience classes with my rescue dog Bailey, and had a great experience with the classes. The teachers were friendly and competent and great with dogs. I've also sent Bailey to day training for over a year and it's been fabulous. We were initially worried that we would be unable to keep Bailey when we first adopted her, because of her separation anxiety (which was severe). We weren't able to leave the house at all for about 5 months because Bailey would try to eat her way out of her crate, or scratch at the walls of the house, which caused significant damage. After working with Nancy for a few months, she grew into a normal dog who could stay home alone. During day training, she worked on socializing normally with other dogs, obedience, and crate training. I am still in awe of the changes in her, and this is largely due to Puppy Perfectors. I highly recommend Nancy and Puppy Perfectors, especially for dogs with special needs.

Nancy is a professional and knows what she is talking about. I adopted an abused reactive pit bull terrier. Every week I attend class I see him improve and become a better more well behaved dog. I have 4 cats and it was important to me that my dog can be around my cats and keep focused on me. Not only is this becoming more possible, but he is starting to redirect his attention on his own as training is slowly improving. At first I was a little lost feeling about my dogs' aggressiveness, and it made me feel nervous when he would lose control.. He would bite if you tried to take a toy and attack other dogs. I researched many different trainers and options and ultimately decided to try The Puppy Perfecters because I liked the reactive dog training description online. I also liked how I could go to the orientation for free to get a feel for the place, the flexible lessons, where you can pick when you go, (and you could start immediately with training). Immediately walking into orientation, attendees were to give our dogs breed and their age. At this point I immediately knew I was in the right place because she could pinpoint what each owners' dog's stage of development was at. The orientation is very clear on expectations on arriving to class, how to make a reservation for class, and how to bring your dog (ie. Hungry, with training food /treats/through the back door for those who are reactive etc). The policies were very clear and a handout/outline was also given. Anyone who complains about this clearly can't read and or have listening ears. I did the private lesson and then the class package for reactive dogs. I was able to get a private lesson scheduled the day after orientation so I could start training immediately. In level 1, I have attended classes with just one other owner/dog and myself, and also classes that were full. No matter how many people, I always felt that everyone receives equal attention or help when needed. Since I was in the reactive area, an assistant trainer was there to help make sure I was getting the same tools as everyone. The format is great, Nancy trains humans the way we need to train our dogs. She has level skills we need to master, and shows it in class, everyone practices and she helps with corrections to owners as needed. For example, I didn't realize I was dragging my hand back when on the leash walking training, or how to make a pull when redirecting. Such a slight difference in the way I am holding my hand, to the way she reminds me to do it, makes the skill possible to accomplish over practice that week with my dog. Each week you go over the skills until you master them. My dog was the type/breed/personality that could either be a really great dog with training, or go very wrong and be the type that reacts and needs to be put down for causing harm. I was not looking for someone to baby me, give me super princess attention, or make my dog be able to do triple circus flips or cartwheels. I was just looking for someone who could honestly give me the tools I needed to make my dog safe to be around. I feel that Nancy has done that. She gives great examples and has her students practice where she she gives appropriate corrections/help that has made my dog a better managed boy and have hope for the future. He not only is becoming a better behaved dog, but I see how circus tricks (aka agility) can be possible some day! I plan on continuing training every week with this business. On a side note, my dog is the type of reactive that has pulled out a 200 lb resistant stake in the ground and ran through a wooden fence cemented in the ground to chase down other dogs. However, the environment at the facility calms my dog in a way that he looks forward to going. My dog slowly gets exposure to other dogs in a safe way, so while he gets excited to be at the building and sits at the back door(where the reactive dog of the class must enter) he is not reactive attack dog excited, just happy to train excited! Thank you to the Puppy Perfecters! I highly recommend this business.