Golden Standard Canine Training

Carissa helped us overcome some hard obstacles with our dog Turtle. He started off extremely reactive to most things, and having no idea how to settle and relax. After eight weeks he’s a completely different dog! We now have the tools needed to further his training and we feel comfortable walking him in new environments that we never would have thought capable of going to. We appreciate everything she’s done for us!

We were very pleased with our experience with our five month old giant schnoodle, Sailor. Carissa is wonderful to work with! She is patient, kind, and very knowledgeable when it comes to working with dogs. Sailor’s behavior was evaluated by Carissa and she was able to give us many helpful tactics in which to deal with our giant puppy! Sailor responded well to Carissa’s instruction. She not only taught Sailor but also her humans! We appreciate all she has done to help us bring this sweet pup in to our family! You won’t go wrong with her help and teachings!

We had such a wonderful experience at Golden Standard Canine Training. Carissa is organized and professional. She sends (VERY) detailed instructions at the end of every training session. These "cheat sheets" made working with our pup SO much easier at home. We didn't have to second-guess or struggle to remember what we learned earlier in the week. Carissa is also very easy to understand. I was pretty intimidated before we started training. I didn't know anything about correcting our pup's unruly behavior. Carissa's knowledge and skill quickly put me at ease. She broke down all of the new information so it was easy to understand and implement. On a more personal note, Carissa is super fun and relatable. We always enjoyed our weekly training sessions. She even gave our pup a graduation gift after he completed his training. I can't imagine how different our experience might have been without Carissa's leadership. Seriously, she's the best in southern Illinois. Overall, a wonderful trainer and person. Definitely recommend.

First time dog human here. I started training with Carissa and my 10 month Westie to focus on impulse control, reactivity to deer, squirrels and just about anything outdoors!! We worked to reinforce the basic commands sit, down, stay, place, and come. Carissa boosted my confidence as my dogs handler and taught me so many little things like how to hold the leash more effectively and mark my pups positive behavior more consistently. I’d read so many books and watched so many videos, but having a trainer right by my side made all the difference. Our last lesson included some agility and trick training that incorporated all the commands my pup had been working on. I had told Carissa I was interested in this and was really happy she thought to work this in. Carissa runs a professional outfit and every week provided me a handout covering what we worked on each week and how to keep working on the skills from the training session. Super handy. She’ll answer texts and overall I think Carissa and Golden Standard are top notch dog trainers.