Daniel Dagg, Bay Area Dog Trainer

Dan is truly an expert in his field! He is patient and has the ability to get to know the owner & pet and apply techniques tailored to them specifically. It was so refreshing to receive this level of service and not feel like we were going through a cookie-cutter training class. Every day is a work in-progress but Dan has armed us with the tools we need to enjoy our dogs to their fullest potential. Dan's love for animals and what he does is transparent from the moment he walks through your door. You will not be disappointed and worth the investment. Thank you Dan for the impact you've made in our lives. We are extremely grateful to you for everything!

Kira was a poodle rescue that we got for our other dog Kody for some company. Like any rescue she had issues and we made it worse by not setting any ground rules. She became dominant aggressive and started biting to the point of drawing blood. This girl has sharp K-9's and could do a number on my hands. We took her to the vet for calming meds, two dog behaviorist and spent a lot of money to figure out why she was having issues. The last behaviorist suggested putting her down as she was too aggressive and not safe to be around. Needless to say, she got her money and I dumped her and will never recommend her to anyone, what a joke. I was lucky enough to run across Dan's website and figure what do I have to lose, I refuse to put this little dog down without a fight. Dan called me and spent an hour on the phone with me and then came to the house and spent another 2 hours with Lisa and I to set some ground rules for Kira and get her to stop biting and be a happy dog. What a god send this man was. Within the first two hours we learned that Kira's behavior was our fault because we let her get away with whatever she wanted and did not have any rules in place. We learned how to handle her when grumpy and how to make her submit to our rules and not hers. We did have some challenges with her and had to work around them for her mental health and mine. She refuses to do down and I mean refuses; she is a stubborn little girl. So when she misbehaves it is on her bed and she stays there until we release her. She knows when she has been bad so she pretty much puts herself in a time out now. She has learned to wait until she is released to eat and does not lunge at food dropped on the floor anymore. Since she is food aggressive we have learned to feed her and walk away, there is no reason to mess with her during her eating and this has saved us some heartache. We tried to trainer her to lets us take her bowl and it got to a point that she stopped eating because she was afraid we would zap her again. She has an ecollar that is ONLY used on vibrate but it is enough that she got tired of it and just stopped eating. She did not ever get the part if you let me take the bowl I will give it back and not vibrate your collar. There is that stubbornness again. If it had not been for Dan and his patients with Lisa, Kira and myself we would not have the happy little dog we do now. She still has some meltdowns but at least we know how to handle them now. It took her a year to get this way so I figure a year to get her back to normal but with Dan’s help we are well on our way. I can’t thank him enough for the training and time he has spent with us. Picture is of Kody and Kira, she is the little one and Kody is our big boy.

I had heard about Dan from a rave review on the Nextdoor app in the Danville area. My family and pets have been through a lot of transition over the last three years with the loss of my husband and very recently moving from the only house my kids and dogs have known to a new house and neighborhood. My 12 and 10 year old kids, two labs (one 11 and the other 3 years old) plus my cat have had to adapt to a lot of change. I called Dan because I felt like moving to a new house was a good time for a fresh start for me to get control of my dogs and teach them some manners. Max & Rusty listened to my husband but they never saw me as the leader of the pack. After I explained my situation to Dan, he immediately knew I had to establish myself as the leader and "alpha" of this new house. He spent the first session explaining the psychology of dogs and brought my kids into the conversation as well so they could learn how to be good leaders. Two of my main goals were being able to control them on walks (my chocolate lab is 100+ lbs and very strong and had some small dog aggression) and also to get them to not jump on people when they come to the door. Dan showed me in our first session how to train them to not jump or get excited when people come to the door. It was amazing how quickly they learned not crossing an imaginary line when there was a knock at the door. The dog walking was hard for me because I wanted to be confident enough to know I could control them when faced with other dogs coming towards us. Dan is very hands on and would schedule sessions during the heavy dog walking times in my neighborhood purposely to see me and the dogs in action and correct behavior. Much of the behavior he made me realize was how tense I got which transferred right to the leash and my dogs. By our last session I felt so good knowing that we could handle on-coming dogs and even practiced a bit with Dan''s dog as well. The last thing I would say about Dan is he is very personable, funny and is also available for advice even beyond the sessions I paid for. I highly recommend him and his approach to training dog owners to become good leaders and most of the rest will follow.

My experience has been wonderful from the first time meeting Dan. Dan is very knowledgeable in dog training with positive reinforcement. Ricky has learned quickly and improved a lot after 4 sessions. Dan gave me many tools to use with Ricky and help him be the perfect family dog. Dan allowed for his own trained dogs in on the fun to help with the socialization and my dog thoroughly enjoyed the experience and became much more friendly towards other dogs. He always follow up after training session to see how things go. I would highly recommend using his services.