Really Special Animals

Having Really Special Animals come to our home to do an evaluation was life changing for me. Our almost 2 year old Rottweiler was a good dog with a lot of potential but being such a stubborn breed there were several important things we hadn't made progress with using previous trainers. Barbara Jean asked us to come up with 3 of the most important things we wanted to work on for our session for when she came. When she arrived she did a thorough job getting our back story and really learning our situation. By the time she left we had already made progress on all 3 things on my list. (place, not constantly nibbling looking for attention/calm around the children, and being put on a leash). Barbara Jean helped us learn more effective ways to do what we were already trying to do. She is a wealth of knowledge! After just one session we are able to be outside at the same time without him barking for attention, we have only used his crate for evening sleeping and otherwise he goes to "place" when we need him to out of they way for any reason, he is less anxious now that we can go for walks and he can even do it with the kids tagging along. He seems to be a happier dog and we are certainly happier dog owners. he comes when called, I could go on and on. I feel like we have what we were looking for in our family dog finally!

Really Special Animals has helped me and my dog, moochie - beyond measure. Barbara Jean and her staff are amazing. I brought my puppy in for bootcamp and he came back calm, well trained and eager to learn. During bootcamp, we learned Moochie was deaf and Barbara Jean was so supportive. Reassuring me that deaf is not dumb, we just need to train him differently. He came back with 12 different hand signs and he’s continuing to learn more. In our follow up appointment we introduced an e- collar to assist in leash training and in the two hour session we had, he now walks on a leash like a perfect gentleman. I have a completely new dog. Barbara Jean and her team are fully invested in your dog. They don’t just care about your dog while they’re at bootcamp, they will help you with your dog for as long as you need them. Cannnot say enough good things about my experience with Really Special Animals.

My new rescue hound “Ringo” was a crazy dog in the car. He was a screaming, barking, howling, Tasmanian devil dog on every car ride. He would thrash around, shred blankets and bark at passing cars. I recently left Ringo with Really Special Animals for 4 days of training and boarding. Some sort of doggy miracle happened. Ringo was quiet and well behaved all the way home ( for 90 minutes). I am in awe of Barbra Jean’s skill with fur babies. Now Ringo can travel nice places with his people!! This is life changing for him and for his family. Thank you RSA!!

Barbara Jean is one of the most professional and knowledgeable trainers our rescue has come across in 42 years. She worked with a blind dog of ours for 9 weeks and taught her “ language” to navigate everyday life. More impressive was that when meeting potential adopters she had a written evaluation to go over all with the family. So many trainers never give us written evaluations . Her facility is clean, safe and fun for the dogs.