Calm Canine Academy

We had a wonderful experience working with Ingrid as our trainer through Calm Canine Academy. She was super supportive throughout our training, gave us so much helpful guidance, and really helped us feel empowered and informed on how to best care for our dog. She also went above and beyond to steer us through our dog's many medical problems and help us advocate for our dog's needs with our vet. Plus, it was so easy to work with the whole Calm Canine team on scheduling. Highly recommend the whole experience!

My sweet sensitive girl was dog reactive with a history of dog aggression and resource guarding when I started with CCA. Adolescence hit her hard. With Ingrid, I discovered underlying health issues, managed her anxiety, and even started to help her safely make some dog friends m. CCA helped give my girl her life back, and we couldn’t be happier. It’s beautiful to see the dog that she has become. Thank you Ingrid for being on our team ❤️

I signed up for the Feisty Fido group class so that I could learn and train alongside others, feel less alone in my journey with my dog, and have some accountability and support without having to pay the high price of individual sessions. I’d say it mostly worked out somehow. The trainers seem very knowledgeable, are compassionate, and give helpful individualized feedback and advice. I didn’t feel much sense of community though and the content of the course covered some information that did not apply to my situation at all. The curriculum covers a bit of everything and I think the content is helpful for people who want and/or need a more holistic approach to training than just teaching a dog new skills. You‘ll likely have material you can work through after the course is finished. The course documents are very well organized and you can rewatch videos. The response time to questions and videos posted in the course Slack was a little slow, made worse by the time difference between the US and UK (and an unforseeable emergency which is obviously out of everyone‘s control). The expectation is that you organize your own training setups so you should know people and dogs who are willing to create training situations with you or you should be ready to find people through social media posts. I found that part challenging. If you’re looking for help with stranger danger, Feisty Fido does not specifically address stranger danger, it focuses on meeting your dogs needs, general anxiety, noise sensitivity, multi-dog household issues, and resource guarding. There‘s a separate second course particularly on stranger danger. If that’s your dog‘s issue be prepared to pay for two group classes, since Feisty Fido is a pre-requisite for the Stranger Danger course.

Calm Canine is a godsend! Life with a dog who has debilitating separation anxiety is hard…really hard. From the first night that I had my little guy, it was very clear that he had a hard time being alone, even just in another room alone. As I tried to crate train him (because that’s what it seemed “everyone” recommended as the “right thing to do”), it got worse. And then trying to leave him by himself for short periods of time as a puppy so that he could “start to get used to being alone” (again, based on the influence of friends and family’s suggestions”), the separation anxiety just got worse. He would cry and howl for the entire duration, sitting fixated watching the door, unable to lay down, unable to settle, no matter what treats or toys were put out. It never got better and it became very clear to me that it was not healthy for him, so I fully suspended any chance of him being alone. He went to daycare during the day while I was at work and stayed with friends or puppy sitters if I had evening plans. I had worked with two trainers in the past to help with his separation anxiety, but the first, although amazing as a dog trainer, wasn’t an SA expert. The second trainer, who was an SA expert was cold and harsh with her communication to me, leaving me once again feeling like I had done something wrong. I was a little hesitant with Calm Canine- the idea of a class vs. one on one training sounded impersonal at first, but I quickly understood the method to their madness within the first 10 minutes of the first class. As the class went around introducing themselves and their situations, I realized for the very first time that I was not alone! Knowing there are other dog parents who were suffering from the same debilitating separation anxiety that we were, I finally felt like I had found the support that I needed. Also to hear “it’s not your fault” from the instructor, brought tears to my eyes. Calm Canine offers a non-judgement, science-based approach. They focus on providing the humans with the support and tools to train the dogs, and they encourage it to be in a loving and compassionate way. Yes, the process is a HUGE commitment, requiring a dedicated practice, and no, this is not an overnight solution. But I can honestly say that I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. We just did 22 minutes! (Two years ago, that seemed like an impossible accomplishment) We started last July with Nikkita's class at 2 seconds and made our way up to 15 seconds. We had a very slow start, but the group dynamic really helped to feel supported and not alone. After moving in November, we decided to take the course over again starting in January with Lauren. Even though it was the same course, being in a new house and new environment, I felt like I needed the group support and expertise to restart where we left off. And I’m so glad we did! Hearing the curriculum over again was great, Lauren provided great perspective that just layered on top of what I had learned from Nikkita, and being in the group setting once again gave that additional support. I can not recommend Calm Canine’s Separation Skills enough! Stick with it, stay focused on the marathon of the training, and know that there are others that are working through the same hard journey- it’s all about finding a non-judgmental community to support and guide you through the process. Thank you, Calm Canine team! You guys are amazing!