Contented Canines

Great place and great service, helped my realize a lot of the issues I had with my dog were because I did not know what I was doing. Gave me all the tools to help me learn the best way to help my dog. Very attentive to beginner questions and ultimately just want the dog owner to understand how to best manage the relationship with the dog. Highly highly recommend if you feel you and your dog need training on how to best understand each other

This review is long overdue but I wanted to express my gratitude and praise for Tom’s training of my Aussie pup, Hannah several months ago. Hannah was between 6-8 months old and a very outgoing, rambunctious aussie and we had done no previous training with her. My husband and I took Hannah to train onsite at Contented Canine in Columbia for several sessions with Tom. He taught us while he trained Hannah. This investment in time and money has definitely been worth it. Hannah is now 15 months old and much of what Tom taught us and her has become routine. The bridge and reward skill of giving a command, saying yes, then giving a treat has stuck- we now skip the treat most of the time. She also loves her crate and will go rest in there when wanting to have her own time out. She loves the raised bed - her “place” as well. Hannah still has a long way to go as she is in her terrible twos- heads straight for the lake as soon as we let her out the door and is a bit too talkative “barking” for our preference but we love her so much. Thank you Tom Kelly and Contented Canines for training all of us!

I have had countless dogs over my 60+ years of dog ownership and never felt I needed a trainer to help me. However, my present dog, Merry, began showing signs of reactivity toward dogs, people, noises, odors, and unfamiliar objects at 8 months of age, and these only got worse over time. I tried everything to get her under control, including a local trainer and a canine behaviorist, but got nowhere. By a strange coincidence Tom Kelly came into our lives a year ago (11/2021), and he has worked tirelessly with Merry and me. She has spent several weeks with him in his training facility, in addition to having had many hands-on training hours with him and me at home. To say Tom is excellent at what he does is an understatement. In my book he is nothing short of amazing. My dog positively adores him. As far as she’s concerned, he is #1. Tom’s training philosophy centers primarily upon teaching a dog to make its own good choices. He doesn’t believe in a lot of outright obedience training. Instead, he prefers to reward the dog when it makes a choice he likes or to disagree, in some form, if he’s unhappy with the choice. He puts great emphasis on getting anxious, overly reactive dogs to relax. This is a time-consuming proposition, but he patiently takes it on. He’s strict, but calm and consistent. He makes the dog understand that he’s the leader and assures the dog that he will take care of any uncomfortable situation that may arise. His focus is totally on what the dog is thinking and what he can do to help the dog get through stress-inducing encounters. I’ve heard other people call Tom “the dog whisperer.” He is certainly that, and then some. Merry, with her hang-ups, is a work in progress. She has made great strides forward under Tom’s direction, and so have I. We keep practicing what he has taught us day after day and are grateful to him for showing us how to make things better. Barbara Wright - Charlotte, NC