Out N' About Dog Training

To those who want the quick and easy answer: Julie is beyond amazing! Perfect if you arent into/need to GET AWAY from the shock collars/prong collars/choke collars. Pure love and patience in this house. She builds up your dog handling confidence just as much as your dog's confidence! Julie was THE ONLY trainer in the area that gave me an immediate call back AND instant consultation, over the phone, right off the bat (you'll find out why this is big at the end of the review). Being in Virginia, in the middle of a move, and of course the 2020 pandemic, i was at my wits end and I always appreciate immediate and upfront conversation. We talked about everything. EVERYTHING. From where we are moving from, what training my dogs have had (Both of my boys had training in Virginia, and both of the trainers used prong collars, something that i wanted to get away from), what their skills are. Their individual personality quirks. What I was looking for out of training (leash skills. Barking. Confidence in my anxious dog, training my husband to handle the dogs. Yes. Husband training.) My own level of training with them. And where we were planning on living when we get to California. She guided us away from areas that wouldn't be conducive to our anxious one (gaslamp) and present options that were a compromise for everyone (Hello 7 flights of stairs, 3 times a day in Hillcrest!). Now when it comes to the training of the doggos, Julie truly is a dream. After 2 weeks with her, my anxious little Duncan had a confidence i hadn't seen in months! He was relaxed, very playful, happy boy. She showed me her tricks to keep him from getting over excited and advised from him to have his own special quiet time spot to decompress. My Shephard Mix, Loki, spent a week with her learning to not pull when we walk, how to be able to look at triggers without screaming like a banshee and how to wait to get out of the car, go out the door, run after food. She catered the training my boys received based on their own preference for wards (sniffs for Duncan, food/love for Loki) My dogs manners were fantastic and I felt comfortable bringing them in public together! Lastly, the people training. Yes people. Julie was always very positive with the dogs and absolutely stayed positive with us. She pointed out the things we needed to work on as dog owners (tone of voice) and how to read and react to our pups. She advised us on fun games to play with them when feeding, to build their confidence and trust in us as dog owners and adjusted training words to meet our own personal weird verbiage that we use. She got my husband on the same page as the boys and able to handle them without him getting frustrated. We never felt belittled or shamed for our previous choice in training and discipline. Julie simply explained her concepts, her reasoning, and her execution of her master plans, even asking questions that offered opportunities to self reflect and realize when we have been inadvertently rewarding unwanted behavior and alternative actions we could use to get the behavior we wanted (i.e Ignore the air barking, then cuddles when hes quiet. INSTEAD of calling him over and having him train. He learned he was getting the attention he wanted!) I spent many hours trying to find an affordable trainer that didn't use shock collars and focused on reward based training. . A lot of them were trying to force me into an "in person consultation" and upon further (and almost neurotic) search, I would usually find pictures of dogs wearing an indiscreet shocker on their neck. Nope. Positivity was goal. And folks, let me tell you, positivity aint cheap. But it sure is worth it with it with Julie's guidance!