Whole Dog University

Our experience with Ruth was amazing! We got our dog from the shelter back in April. She was about a year old and definitely had plenty of issues as a result of being a stray + being adopted/given back within a month. We had a consultation with Ruth within a few weeks of adopting Piper. Ruth went through every single issue we were experiencing in heavy detail and we spent several hours talking through everything. During that consultation, she suggested letting Piper adjust to her new environment before starting obedience training, and gave us super helpful knowledge about handling the dog in the meantime. We eventually started obedience training, and I was so impressed by Ruth's approach each week. We learned how to do all of the basic commands, but she also kept up with all of the other behavioral issues that Piper came with. One of our biggest issues was over-arrousal around other animals, specifically our cat (we've had to separate the two due to him running away and the dog chasing him). After learning about that issue, Ruth brought her dog and cat into several training sessions. This was so helpful for learning about Piper's mental state around other animals. Ruth also taught us so much about how to recognize signs of over-arrousal/fear/etc and how to handle Piper when she's in those tough situations. I think the thing I'd like to stress the most is that there's no doubt that Ruth is passionate about what she does. She's not just there to teach your dog a couple of tricks and call it a day. She actively kept up with Piper's behavioral issues, health problems, adjustment to us/our home, socialization with other animals/people, and so much more! "Whole Dog University" perfectly describes her approach when training. She really will focus on every aspect of your dog's life. I absolutely recommend Ruth and the amazing service she provides!

My hubs and I started working with Ruth at Whole Dog University as soon as we brought our German Shepherd puppy home at 8 weeks old. We learned invaluable training and socializing techniques and graduated on to Basic Obedience training. As I write this review, our 6.5 month old puppy is in "place" with his eyes locked on me. He is nearly perfect on a leash as we walk through our community and we're continuing to expose him to new environments and distractions while training him to stay focused. We've even made it through teething without any mishaps involving furniture, shoes, or anything else! Ruth is awesome to work with. We're convinced that she is fluent in "dog" and she does an amazing job of translating "dog" to humans! Having graduated from Basic Obedience, we'll be registering for the next level, for sure. We're so glad we found Whole Dog University and decided to invest in our puppy!

After consultations with a lot of area trainers, we hit the jackpot with Ruth and Whole Dog University. Our lab puppy Boo went through her advanced obedience program. We as Boo's people learned as much as Boo did! We loved walking out the door each week with new knowledge and skills to work on and are so impressed with how well behaved our dog is. Other people have also commented about how well behaved she is for a lab puppy. It was an amazing experience from start to finish!