Ridgeside K9 Central Florida

Heilig is our 4 ½ year old Rottweiler that has always been a cuddle-bear to us and anyone else that has earned her trust. But she also has always been highly reactive to strangers out and about or in and outside of our home, and she could be quite scary. We avoided having people over to the house and we seldom took Heilig on a walk where we knew there would be a lot of people. We wanted a better life for her, and it was our good fortune to stumble upon Ridgeside K9, Ocala at Pet Palooza this past fall. Ridgeside set up an evaluation to get to know Heilig and determine our best path forward. We learned that her issues are quite common with Rotties where they can lack self-confidence and are fearful of anything or anyone new or different. They suggested a 4-week board and train which we were reluctantly happy to do. Heilig’s trainer was Charles and he was wonderful. We received several 10 minute videos across the 4 weeks where we could see not only the progress he was making with Heilig, but more importantly, how he was doing it. And it was clear to us that he and his family loved and cared for Heilig as much as we do. We were put at ease right away and knew we had made the right decision. At the end of 4 weeks, on pick-up day, we had our training session where Charles and Jay reinforced training techniques and provided tools that we should use to continue building on the solid foundation Charles created for Heilig. That was 2 weeks ago. I waited to write this review because I wanted to see 1] how Heilig improved, and 2] if we could continue to improve her. At this point, after having strangers in our home for Christmas and Heilig interacting socially without incident, we are ecstatic. We look forward to continuing the training program Ridgeside prescribed and are hopeful for the future…maybe taking Heilig to Pet Palooza next year to say “HI” to the Ridgeside crew.

Enzo 🐾🐾 had already attended a beginner training before I came to Ridgeside K9 and I was terribly disappointed with the results. I had already taught him more at home than I learned in the classes. I was still very frustrated with Enzo when I was at home. I didn’t know how to get him to do the things that I wanted. He was jumping on me all the time, he was counter surfing, he was reactive when I walked by people and other dogs. This was not the dog that I wanted to spend the rest of his life with. I went to Pet Palooza hoping to find another trainer. I met Jay with Ridgeside K9 and I felt an immediate connection to him. Shortly after this I was at the dog park with Enzo and a woman there raved about Jay, his wife Nikki and the other trainers at Ridgeside K9. This helped reinforce my initial feeling so I arranged a meeting with them. Jay met with me for well over an hour and discussed his training techniques. I was impressed. It was everything I was looking for in a trainer. I made the decision to sign up for private training sessions with them. I knew that I needed to be trained as much as Enzo did. Since then, I have had two sessions with Kendall. Already Enzo is a completely different dog and I am much less frustrated at home with him. I still have a ways to go with training, but my life at home is so much better. I can’t even wait to see the dog that he will become! Thanks Jay, Nikki and Kendall! Tami and Enzo 🐾🐾

We are incredibly happy to have finally found a trainer we could trust who loves our pets as we do and get amazing results! Ridgeside K9 Central Florida has proven to be the best trainer you could ever go to. We have used at least 7 other board and train businesses over the years with little success, and our 3.5 year old german shepherd has been to 3 other trainers for board a train and came home every time with the same reactivity to other pups. We were desperate for help because we wanted our german shepherd to live a full life with confidence, calm walks and fun with other pups - we finally got everything we asked for and more with Jay, Nikki, Kendall and others at Ridgeside K9 Central Florida (and at a reasonable price!). Our shepherd is now happy, peaceful, calm, confident and obedient without reactivity. Not only did they train our german shepherd and give us the tools through our own education to continue the success, they also trained our 3.5 pound 3 month old pup and gave her the foundation to have a happy and fun life as a well behaved pup. Through training, we found out our german shepherd is a big baby who just didn’t know how to socialize. He loves to play with other pups!! Ridgeside K9 Central Florida gave him the skills and structure he needed to help him learn socialization and he’s loving it. We are extremely grateful to have found Ridgeside K9 of Central Florida. We will never use anyone else and recommend you skip all the other trainers and only go to Ridgeside K9 of Central Florida.

I don’t know where to start. Massive thank you to the team at Ridgeside K9 and a HUGE shoutout to Kendall for taking my baby in as her own. I inquired with growing concerns of reactivity with my Rottweiler (Berto :P) and other temperament issues. I was swiftly contacted back and scheduled for a meeting/assessment (Thank you Nikki !!!) . Mr. Jay and the team met Berto and explained what specifically he could do to help Berto be the best version of himself. By the next week we were able to get Berto in for his board and train program and I truthfully feel like I made the best decision I could have. They will send you several videos and pictures of your baby throughout the program showcasing their progress. Pick up day is very educational and everything you need to continue training at home. Overall very pleasant people and a great place to get your dog trained!