Noble Woof Dog Training PDX

My first steps post first puppy adoption were searching for the highest quality support as I knew I would need it for the adventure ahead. I wanted to be sure to give both me and my little buddy the best chances of establishing good puppy manners and behaviors from the get-go and thanks to the team at Noble Woof I can confidently say we are well on our way! Noble Woof's stellar reputation has been on my radar as others in my life have navigated this daunting process and done oodles of their own research and shared reports of their experiences. I am grateful it all paid off as I've utilized pretty much all of the puppy services NW offers and been bolstered and impressed along the way. Puppy training is a significant time and financial investment and I feel that the level of support, quality of professionalism, and results in observed growth and skillfulness for both me and puppy have made it well worth it to collaborate with Noble Woof. I've worked specifically in training with Jaime, Meredith, and Valerie and am constantly stunned by their generosity of patience (with both me and pup!), abundance of kindness, excellent communication, and competencies in both depth and breadth. I've found the customer service support and process to be thorough, well organized, highly responsive, and overall super smooth. I feel equipped with resources, both by way of digital/printed collateral and for professional recommendations and leads, that I know will continue to bring value to my training and maintaining efforts for a long time to come. Oh and I did I mention kindness and patience?! I've been met with so much of both as my tired puppy person brain has attempted to take on all this info and feel like I'm doing it all okay enough while my buddy grows faster than I can keep up with ;) If you've recently decided to invite the darling chaos that is puppy into your world, or are considering, I highly recommend working with the fine folks at Noble Woof for the benefit of both you and puppy alike!

The puppy social was structured and we were given good advice for the most part. My puppy was eager and patiently waiting. When he was finally allowed to interact with the other dogs, he was excited and returned play bows. However, they were seperated and prevented for playing because the trainers didn't want them to "lunge" at one another. My puppy learnt he shouldn't interact with other dogs, and then kept to himself, exploring other areas. Shortly afterwards he was sent out of the play area for being "nervious". He wasn't, he was bored. I understand neutrality to outside influences is important, but I don't think discouraging dogs from a healthy outlet such as play is healthy either. Spending over 30 minutes of our social with my dog on the side wasn't a good use of time. We can practice neutrality in the outside world as well as training classes, but we chose to come to a social to you know, socialize.

THE ISSUE: Our young adult dog (Chorizo) was born and lived as a street dog in mexico until he came to us. This meant he was used to running around doing what he wanted, with whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Making the transition to pet life, he was struggling immensely with reactivity on leash. Less lunging and growling and more like he would have a screaming meltdown if he saw another dog and couldn't run over to greet it. It made life outside of the house nearly impossible. His screeching sounded like an animal had been hit by a car or a woman was being murdered... I'm not joking at all when I say many times people came running out of their homes to see what was happening only to find us desperately trying to calm him. We couldn't go anywhere where other dogs might be, even if they were so far away they were nothing but a tiny dot on the horizon. BEFORE NWDT: We'd tried a couple trainers and series of group reactivity classes. We learned a couple tricks for distracting him but none of them resulted in any actual behavior improvement at all. We knew we needed serious help and we'd heard SO many great things about the process they use with Noble Woof. We knew if ever there was a dog that needed really skilled, high quality help, it was going to be Chorizo. ADHD & NOBLE WOOF TRAINING: We had a really hard time deciding if and how we would be able to afford the full training. It's scary to look at that price tag knowing how little improvement we'd experienced with other trainers and worrying this could be an much more expensive version of the same. But both my partner and I have ADHD so follow through, consistent actions, memory are things we struggle with and we knew that if we could just get the extra support of someone coming to us and working directly with our dog, it might be the special sauce we needed to help our pup. We were delighted that Heidi wrote out summaries of each session along with skills to practice for the week so we always had a reference. A FEW MONTHS LATER: We've just wrapped up our first series of trainings with Heidi, it's been a few months of working with her. Yesterday we took Chorizo to Laurelhurst park for the very first time. A TRUE test of all the skills we'd been practicing over the last several months. I'm talking: people laughing, picnic-ers, runners, yoga-ers, bikes, small children, ball throwing, squirrels, crows, music, AND SO MANY DOGS!! He had his usual little whimpers when he saw something he wanted to go do but we could see him catch himself and redirect back to sniffing or look to me for a treat like we'd been practicing. We pulled out his relaxation mat and set up on top of a little hill overlooking the off-leash dog area. And he laid there (haha, I'm tearing up writing this right now because I just never dared to hope a scenario like this would ever be possible for us) he was about as relaxed as this little ball of goofy energy is capable of. In full view of dogs running and playing without him. You could tell he really wanted to run over and play with them but his restraint and capability to do as I asked just blew me away. We'll definitely be continuing with Heidi to build skills as needed. NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS: - The price tag might be higher than others out there but is a much better value than wasting $ on stuff that doesn't help. - The trainers are in high demand so you'll probably have to wait a while to get on the schedule. It's worth it. Wait until you can schedule all your sessions together in a consistent timeline so there aren't gaps in the learning. - You can let the trainer come to your house and do all the work while you're off doing other things, but you shouldn't. If you want to get the most out of training, you should really be involved in the whole process. - If your dog needs serious help with behavior issues, just go with the full package. You'll start seeing changes right away but I think the value of committing to several sessions and follow ups will truly create lasting change with your furry friend. It will change your lives.

I've had dogs for 30 years and worked with many trainers- but my experience with Heidi and the whole team at Noble Woof was fundamentally different. The amount of preparation they put into every exercise, each action item in their plan for you and your dog and how they communicate it to you is exceptional. It reads more like highly competent project management. On the ground, the way they communicate during training with you and your pet is comforting without fawning or overpromising. The entire way they communicate to you inspires a lot of trust and faith from day one. I was also impressed at how customized our training was to my dog's specific needs. I saw changes in three sessions in my rescue doberman that I know I would not have attained with any previous trainor over many more sessions. While I was at first concerned about which trainor I chose, ultimately its clear that when necessary, the entire team of NW is there to help, as they did when they hopped on a call to discuss concerns about my dog's leg pain during training and an action plan. That said, I am so pleased with Heidi, who shows genuine empathetic care for me and my dog. I genuinely feel that choosing Noble Woof is like deciding between a four star restaurant and fast food. You can set your expectations higher and you won't be disappointed.

We can't say enough about the kind, fun and enthusiastic approach that Brie and her colleagues take with dog training. It is so refreshing and motivating. We just finished the functional tricks class and learned so much that has already been proven useful. We noticed a great improvement in our bond with our rescue dog which goes a long way in building trust on both sides of the relationship. The facilities were clean (no doggie smell!) and well set up for each class. Brie was always organized and ready with a clear plan for the session where she continued to reinforce past skills and introduce new ones. She is a very skilled trainer. We all had so much fun and we are already signed up for Rocket Recall. Please support Brie and and Noble Woof. You will not regret it!