FirstBarkThey take good care of the dogs. They just had more pea gravel added in back to make it more comfortable for the dogs walking to their exercise area. I'm a dog lover and it's nice to see them pay attention to the small details even.
A Pleasant Dog
Grand Rapids, Michigan
About A Pleasant Dog
A Pleasant Dog offers gentle, modern dog and cat training, behavior help, and grooming in keeping with the advice of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior.
Training & services
Training goals
- Behavior consultation
Program details
Resource guarding, territorial aggression, fear based aggression, conflict aggression, interdog aggression, separation anxiety, and hypersensitivity hyperarousal syndrome are all challenging behaviors. We can help you modify these behaviors using evidence based training and management strategies.
- Leash training
- Obedience training
- Puppy training
- Socialization
Behavior support
- Aggression training
- Counter surfing
- Reactivity training
Program details
Reactive Dogs Are Good Dogs Too! We live by this motto at A Pleasant Dog and have a host of offerings for our reactive friends, everything from private lessons to group classes, and beyond! We are particularly proud of our group sport classes for reactive dogs!
- Resource guarding
- Separation anxiety
Program details
Separation anxiety is a complex behavior disorder. Our owner and head trainer, Jenn Gavin, has developed a method for treating this disorder that is the subject of a book, Pleasantly Independent, and scientific research demonstrating its efficacy. In person or virtual training available!
How training happens
- Board and train
- Day training
Program details
Too busy to train? Let our professional dog trainers train your dog for you with drop off day training. Drop your dog for a full or half day, and we will teach them what they need to do between fun play sessions with other dogs and/or humans. Also available for reactive dogs!
- Group classes
- Online or virtual training
- Private training
Dog age
- Puppies
Assistance and working dogs
- Therapy dog training
Dog sports
- Agility
Your dog’s background
- Rescue dogs
Training approach
- Positive reinforcement
Additional services
- Boarding
- Daycare
Program details
We offer luxury doggy daycare with a care ratio of four dogs per human on our 2.5 acres of rolling hills in the city! Our doggy daycare is staffed with professional trainers and offers the safest, gentlest doggy care in the city! Add training for an additional fee.
- Dog walking
- Grooming
Program details
Fear Free Grooming for your dog. We groom dogs one at a time and owner may be present for the grooming session. Perfect for fearful, anxious, or reactive dogs. Does your dog struggle with the groomer? We can help!
Other listed services
View 24 additional details
- Dog bathing and blow dry
- Dog ear cleaning
- Dog training
Program details
We offer group classes for general obedience and dog sports, private lessons, and behavior consultations, as well as classes specifically for reactive dogs.
- Animal Behavior Consultants
Program details
Does your dog struggle with anxiety, separation anxiety, noisephobia, reactivity, aggression directed toward humans or toward other dogs? We can help! Our behavior trainers are the best in the state, and we can help restore harmony to your household.
- Animal Learning
- Canine Trainers Academy
- Classical Conditioning
- Continuing Education
Program details
We offer continuing education to the training and veterinary industries on a diverse array of topics. Our research in animal behavior has been consistently honored with selection for presentation before the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and others. We also offer trainer workshops.
- Dog Barks
- Dog Camping
- Dog Parks
- Dog Parties
- Dog Sports
- Dog Welfare
- Education Seminar
- Family Dogs
- Flea And Tick Prevention
- Medical Treatment
- Play Groups
- Private Consultation
- Six Week Class
- Stay & Train Program
- Veterinary Behaviorists
- Walk And Train
Confirm current programs and availability directly.
Business-stated qualifications
Qualifications stated by the business, not independently verified.
- Jenn Gavin
- CPDT-KA
Questions & answers
From GoogleWhat people have asked about this business.
What are your fees for taining and what specific training do you offer?
Our fees vary depending upon the service provided! We offer positive reinforcement training in private sessions for basic skills and tough behaviors, group classes, and drop off day training; together with grooming and cooperative care training sessions! As of 7/2024, our fees start at $160 for six week outdoor agility classes, $199 for our 6 week indoor basic skills classes, and go up to $350 for or reactive dog classes. Private lessons start at $100. Behavior consultations start at $250.
Community answer · A Pleasant Dog · 2024-09-21
Public community answers. Authors are not verified as business representatives; details may have changed.
Customer reviews
Google listing4.4
216 Google reviews
Mentioned in reviews
- Positive reinforcement 22
- Managing reactivity 14
- Reactive dog training 11
- Puppy class 7
- Welcoming atmosphere 6
- Anxiety management 5
All 10 topics
- Knowledgeable trainers 5
- Private training 3
- Arthritis specialist referral 2
- Small class sizes 2
Google review topics, not confirmed services.
The fear free groomers at A Pleasant Dog are amazing! They have done a wonderful job working with my foster dogs and helping them to be ok with being brushed, shaved and having their feet touched! A huge help in getting them ready for their new families. Also, they taught me a lot about how to work with a fearful dog. Thanks so much APD!!!
We took our 5 month old puppy here to establish training and we will not be going back after our first session. 30 minutes of the 60 minutes was spent going over the intake paperwork we had already sent in previously with our concerns and what we wanted to work on. Medication was…Read full reviewClose full review
We took our 5 month old puppy here to establish training and we will not be going back after our first session. 30 minutes of the 60 minutes was spent going over the intake paperwork we had already sent in previously with our concerns and what we wanted to work on. Medication was brought up right away "if" he were to never straighten out his reactiveness, and for a 5 month old puppy I wasn't fond of medication being brought up during the first session without even getting to know him as a dog. We just found that off putting for a first interaction. Quite a bit of time was also spent out of the room cutting up treats, etc. as we were left waiting and would assume that would have been taken care of before arrival. We were charged a $50 deposit and $200 for only 15 minutes spent in the hallway with the puppy actually teaching and doing a short drill. My husband and I were extremely disappointed in the professionalism of the trainer we had, mostly because of the the foul language that was being used during the session and we felt like it was not taken seriously at all. Speaking like that is for being around friends / family, not to clients who are paying a business a lot of money. This should never cost someone $200 and should have been a $50 / free consultation for what we got out of it. We don't normally complain and try to get our money back on things but we did try and they offered us a discount on the next session, which we are deciding to not attend and end services either way. I am hopeful this was a one off situation and that the business as a whole does not treat sessions like this one. I heard good things so was excited to give it a try, pretty bummed on how it turned out for us!
Staff are amazing.
Our dog was really starting to concern us with his aggressive behavior toward other animals, especially on walks. After meeting with Jen we now know our dog is anxious. Jen gave us very clear, concise plan of actions to take to start to alleviate the issue. I'm happy to report th…Read full reviewClose full review
Our dog was really starting to concern us with his aggressive behavior toward other animals, especially on walks. After meeting with Jen we now know our dog is anxious. Jen gave us very clear, concise plan of actions to take to start to alleviate the issue. I'm happy to report that our dog is doing much better in just over a week. (That doesn't mean things are perfect, but they have improved a lot!)
Original customer experiences from the collected Google data. Ratings without comments follow written reviews.