Houndstooth Training

This organization popped up in my google search today. A few years ago when I was beginning to train my service dog I reached out to the owner. First she was extremely rude. She was dismissive or my valid questions and was vague about her training style. Eventually I got the answer I needed to know she was not the trainer for me. I talked about how I wanted my dog to eventually be off aversives. I talked about how he was sensitive to corrections. The owner told me my dog would be on an e-collar (a mini educator) for his whole career as a “seatbelt” for safety. She stated she wouldn’t do the training without the e-collar. Not so much “train the dog in front of you” if you say before even meeting a dog that it will be on an e-collar it’s whole career. My dog was not good with e-collar corrections when working and I realized it actually hurt his ability to task for me. I found a different trainer who was less aversive (LIMA/ truly balanced). Surprisingly once I stopped using a prong and an e-collar he showed natural alerts and were able to shape them into a nose bump. With aversives these “misbehaviors” that were actually natural alerts needing to be shaped, would have been corrected. I urge people lookin for a service dog to to look for certified service dog trainers such as a BUCS certified trainer. There is so much more nuance to training a service dog that a yank and crank B&T cannot cover. I also saved a major chunk of change not going with this B&T. Surprisingly a well respected service dog trainer certified by Bergin University and has worked with an ADI school, was far cheaper and beyond knowledgeable. My dog is working in a flat collar, has over 80 commands, and 20 distinct tasks. He is also very happy. Thank you for being rude to me in the phone so I didn’t mistakenly send my dog to you! Edit: how are you selling a 6 month old puppy with 8 weeks of training for $15,000 and calling it “certified”. Good gracious! Dog hasn’t even gone through being a terrible teen where reactivity could occur and a skilled handler is needed. There is no certification for service dogs according to the ADA. At best that dog is a SDIT. Other programs have STARTED service dogs under $10,000 at 8ish months old and provide very good followup.

Scout, our 3 year old mini golden doodle, is the love of our family, but had issues with incessant barking, jumping, and resource guarding our bed, couch and especially me. We never knew when he would snap and scratch / bite. We tried many in-home trainers, but with four children ages 9-19 and a busy household, my husband and I were increasingly frustrated and concerned about Scout's behavior. When I started researching and visiting board and train programs, I soon realized that Houndstooth was the place for Scout. Emily, Olivia and Adrian helped me realize that Scout's behaviors stemmed from anxiety, rather than aggression, and told me that they would spend the first several weeks building Scout's confidence, rather than "throwing him in the deep end" and forcing training. Their compassion, concern and understanding of Scout's anxiety laid the foundation for the weeks of extensive training that followed. When Scout returned home, Olivia and Adrian taught each member of the family how to implement the training until everyone was confident. We were thrilled to find that with the love and training he received, Scout was now calm and friendly...and he rarely barks! His resource guarding has almost disappeared, and the one time there was an issue, Olivia gave us detailed instructions on how to correct the problem. I am so grateful to Olivia, Emily and Adrian and the entire team at Houndstooth for giving Scout the confidence he lacked so that the team could apply their expert training so that we can enjoy our beloved pet!

Thrilled with the training, what a huge improvement with my GSD. She was in need of direction and focus as being a working dog. Houndstooth delivered as promised. Showed us ways to handle her properly and keep her energy levels balanced. I will be continuing to use Houndstooth for boarding when we go on vacation and basically for all our training needs going forward. Excellent and professional service, clean and tidy facilities. Highly recommended!