Amanda Gagnon Dog Training

I have nothing but praise for the trainers, staff, and programs at AGDT. My dog, Teddy, a Havanese who is currently 6 months old, loves participating in the classes and socials. He always comes home tired and happy. The trainers are fantastic and provide great advice and tips . Teddy attended Puppy Kindergarten, Puppy Level 2, and now goes to Day School at least once a week. He has learned so much (as have I) and is very well socialized because of his interaction with the other dogs and humans. I am happy that the socials are supervised by trainers, who monitor the dogs interactions and engage them in play. Also, the staff is incredibly friendly, responsive, and patient. I am so glad that I discovered AGDT and have taken advantage of all it has to offer. Teddy wanted me to give them a 10-paw rating!

I can’t say enough good things about AGDT! I adopted my rescue ChaCha at 10 months old and she was having trouble adjusting to her new life with me and in the city. Their free decompression workshop was really informative, helping set expectations and giving lots of tips on how to make a rescue more comfortable. We signed up for 1:1 sessions with Liz Kelsay, who was amazing! Liz was super friendly, flexible, and knowledgeable about my dog’s unique challenges, not to mention ChaCha loves her!! She was able to address all our needs from learning how to walk on a leash without darting into traffic, basic commands like sit, to tricks like rolling over and sitting pretty, all with only positive reinforcement. Would 100% recommend Liz and AGDT!

Our golden retriever puppy did kindergarten & attended 10 puppy day school sessions here. He LOVED it, to the point where we can’t walk within 2 blocks of the place unless we’re taking him to school or else he starts crying to go! He learned so much, and there were noticeable improvements in his skills after each session. He loved his puppy friends & having this outlet was invaluable to us before he finished all his vaccines. The only reason why I gave 3 stars is because we didn’t have a great experience with the regular day school (once he was too old for puppy school) so he only went once. Within 30 minutes of getting home after we picked him up he could no longer walk and developed a distended stomach. After X-Rays and vet examination it turns out he had gorged himself on food (no air in his stomach- just ALL food) and it took a full 24 hours before his stomach went down and he could eat again. And then 24 hours of acid reflux and treatment after that. (All up around $700 in vet bills) We’re still really confused about what happened, but since he is sooo closely supervised at home and it happened so quickly after getting back it just seems most likely something happened at school. It’s super disappointing because we loved sending him here and he just absolutely loved going.

I’ve been to a few dog trainers in the past with my first dog who mostly taught how to teach your dog cues. This school is much more holistic, teaching you how to teach your dog regulation, impulse control, capturing behaviors, and building your relationship with your dog. Rather than just outlining the steps to teach a particular behavior, they explain the theory, principles, and behavioral science of positive reinforcement training. I’ve been extremely impressed and grateful to have found it. My puppy has attended the socials, day school, adolescent level 1, and a recall workshop and all of the trainers have been extremely knowledgeable, kind, and go above and beyond to be helpful. We especially appreciated how much individual attention and support we got from Suzanne in adolescent level 1. Liz taught our recall workshop and after only one of the three sessions, my puppy improved drastically in her recall. Melissa has been incredibly helpful in helping us choose which programs to attend and explaining the behavioral issues my puppy was displaying. Michelle has given us such detailed and helpful feedback after day school so I can continue building on the skills my puppy is learning there. Day School has been a miracle. My puppy’s leash skills and impulse control have improved so much more rapidly since she started attending. I felt like I was working on training her every minute of the day I wasn’t at work and it was still slow going, but since she started day school, I see marked improvements every week. Day School and the socials have also been an excellent outlet for her to play with other dogs safely (unlike at the dog park which can be unpredictable) and wear herself out which has been sanity saving for me. Every trainer we have met here has seemed like a true dog lover and excited to help us with our journey, I’m only sorry I can’t recall everyone’s name to mention them specifically in this review, but anyone who works here is obviously an excellent trainer. The administrative staff has also been so lovely and warm and made me feel they are invested in my puppy too! We got to meet Amanda once and I felt she personally cared about me and my puppy even though I’m sure she’s very busy as the owner of the school. It feels not just like a training school, but a community for me and my puppy. I plan to sign my puppy up for every course offered here and would recommend this school highly to anyone.