Wiggle Butt Academy

We highly recommend Wiggle Butt Academy from our experience of putting our 5.5 year old lab/chow chow mix through weekly private sessions for managing fear and anxiety around meeting new people! We worked directly with Alexis Middleton on a weekly basis for a few months to create a structured visitor plan and we learned skills and techniques that helped our dog have a positive experience meeting new people. We also learned other helpful skills like recall, "place", etc. We also worked with a couple other trainers (with Alexis) at Wiggle Butt to test out the visitor plan which helped build our confidence prior to introducing it to friends and family. We really appreciate the time and dedication Alexis put into helping our dog live a less anxious life! Our dog will probably won't ever be "cured" from his anxiety around people, but we have the foundation to set him up for success and keep others safe. If you are hesitant with putting your dog through behavior training, let this be your sign to try it out!

We went to Wiggle Butt Academy looking for help with Bandit. He was resource guarding water, us and could be aggressive toward bigger dogs. We knew we needed help before heading to St. Louis to be around family and help with the baby. The Nicole worked with us using positive reinforcement, leash training, and techniques that truly addressed his behaviors in a calm and encouraging way. They helped us understand Bandit better and gave us tools that actually worked. The difference in him now is amazing. He and furry cousin not only get along, but they actually share a water bowl and often drink together peacefully — something we honestly never thought we’d see. We are so grateful for the patience, guidance, and support we received at Wiggle Butt Academy. They helped give us confidence and helped Bandit become a happier, more relaxed dog. Highly recommend them to anyone needing help with their pup.

We had such a great experience working with our trainer, Nicole and honestly can’t recommend her enough. Our Cane Corso was never an aggressive dog, but as anyone familiar with the breed knows, they are incredibly intelligent, protective, and can easily be misunderstood if you don’t understand their personality and needs. She came to our house to work with him in his own environment, which I loved! She believes in only positive reinforcement & for our dog, that's what he needed! Corso's don't respond well with aggressive commands. One of our biggest goals was helping our family feel more comfortable and confident around him, especially with a new baby in the family. The transformation has been amazing. Not only has our dog done wonderfully with training, but the relationships within the family completely changed too. My son-in-law, who was initially nervous around him, now absolutely adores him — sneaking him bacon, treats, cuddles, and all the love. Watching that bond grow has honestly been one of the best parts of this experience. Nicole helped us better understand our dog, build trust, establish boundaries, and create a calm, safe environment for everyone involved. We still supervise interactions with the baby, of course, because he is still a dog, but we now feel confident, comfortable, and at peace. If you have a large breed or a misunderstood breed like a Cane Corso, I highly recommend investing in proper training with someone knowledgeable. It made such a positive difference for our entire family. They do have a variety of trainers at various price points. You won't go wrong with Wiggle Butt Academy!

Jenny was phenomenal. We had just adopted a 2 yr old doodle of some type from Operation Kindness. As the first week with him progressed so did his "playfulness" that almost became crazed and slightly scary. We had Jenny come to our home and of course he was on much better behavior for her. She gave us some tips and tricks to start with crate training, and disengaging in the undesired behavior. She had a list of enrichment toys that were great starts, however he kept progressing in his nips and jumps. Jenny checked in and we shared this. She recommended trying to take him off of the Trazodone that we were sent home with for him. That suggestion changed everything. He became the dream pup. We cannot say thank you enough for Jenny's care about our situation and diligence to reach out to do her own research and reach out to all of her resources to make the suggestion about his medication that ended up making us a happy family. She shared that for some pups, Trazadone can have the opposite effect and make them wired and hyperactive. Once he was off of it, everything else fell into place. Our vet learned we were working with Jenny and he also sang her praises. I can't say thank you enough to Jenny. She is the reason we are a happy family now. I was worried a trainer would come in with an ego or not listen, but Jenny was not only knowledgeable, but patient and listened to everything we wanted to share. She never dismissed our emotions and not only reassured us through the struggles, but ended up finding the solution to help our sweet boy be so wonderful. He is a totally different pup thanks to Jenny.