Sensitive Dog

Julie has not only changed the lives of our dogs for the better but has changed our lives as well. She has given us priceless insight helping us more deeply understand and connect with our furry family members. She has taught us new techniques for handling and training, breaking things down in to clear steps and helping us understand the "why" behind what we are doing. We have been to countless trainers and classes and nothing has even come close to what we have gained through a program with Julie. We feel so incredibly fortunate to have found her and all of us (humans and dogs) are so grateful for her unparalleled knowledge and experience. Highly, highly recommend Sensitive Dog!

Our rescue, Dottie, had hurt her back and had to be on over 2 months of crate rest. This just blew her mind, and in the process she became really reactive to other dogs and people. Julie worked with her over the course of just a few weeks and we now have a dog we can walk in crowds, introduce to new people and dogs and not worry about what will happen. Julie not only built our trust. She very quickly built Dottie's to the point that Dottie could not wait for her weekly trip down to Sensitive Dog. I would give more than 5 stars if I were able, she gave Dottie a new life.

I worked with Julie recently to address our Corgi’s issues with resource guarding and lunging at other dogs that has left us feeling less than confident going out with him in public and being around other dogs. Julie provided me with a lot of helpful information in our first session, including: holistic wellness and nutritional resources (that sadly we had never thought about or had anyone even mention- just fed him the prescription food the vet recommended), a new collar approach (e collar from other trainers wasn’t consistently effective), new commands and more communication structure to use, and more than anything, a path to forward with actionable steps to help us move the needle. Julie was confident in her professional opinions, encouraging in her delivery of information, and I feel well supported and hopeful in our new journey to help support our loving dog. I would recommend Sensitive Dog to anyone who loves their dog and wants to invest in the best training and care possible to help them thrive in the world and at home.

I love dogs, and particularly MY dogs. I have had pups consistently since college and my current boy, Doakes, for coming up on seven years. He's been loving around the house but a nightmare in public. Barking, pulling, snapping on walks. Unable to ignore dogs when we try to go to a market or restaurant. Impossible to calm down or redirect. We had tried a lot of different trainings over the years; 1on1, group settings, day boarding. He always was recognized as brilliant but we never really got to a point where we could manage the aforementioned in real scenarios. The closest we got, the trainer suggested a shock collar as a next step which we just didn't feel comfortable with. We decided to accept our little psycho, flaws and all. Unfortunately that meant he just stopped being a part of our days when we decided to go to outdoor restaurants or enjoy leisurely walks -- we had given up on him. And that's how it was for a few years, but after a really rough trip to Portland where he howled in the middle of a market and another weekend where our pet sitter complained about his incessant barking we decided to give him another try. Serendipitously, we found Julie at SensitiveDog after a quick Google search as they were located nearby and had good reviews...and wow were we lucky! Julie is truly world class! We did an exploratory session (where my wife was skeptical walking in but immediately committed to the month long program as we walked out the door). And in that one month we have gained an entirely new relationship with our boy. Julie's approach of first understanding Doakes and us and then incrementally building our relationship feels almost magically effective in retrospect. No pain, no 'do as I say because I said it' mentality that crushes his unique personality with brute force. We started with just games to keep him busy and stimulated. It taught us how to communicate, understand and celebrate him in low pressure, genuinely fun ways (we love playing 'search' with him every day as he hunts for a tin of treats we hide around the house). Slowly (actually pretty quickly) we worked our way up to the real goals of leash walking and being around other dogs. Our expectations were admittedly low going in, but Julie actually was so damn effective that we ended up spending our last session just talking about other 'stretch goals' we could work on since he was already excelling at everything we wanted to focus on. We now take him for walks around the dog-heavy neighborhood and aside from an occasionally light 'ruff' he barely acknowledges the other dogs as he's so focused on his 'job' of being by our side. I just had a contractor enter my home which used to be a whole ordeal of barking, jumping, and apologies, but a simple "place" command and they entered my home to see a docile, upright little angel waiting for his treat. We have been taking him to Lowes, pet stores, restaurants and it's an entirely different relationship dynamic now. Even our pet sitter said he was noticeably different. Barely barking, listening, not pulling on walks -- even things we didn't work on have improved. We went into this wanting to curb bad behavior as our primary goal, but I honestly feel like the relationship and pride we have gained is so much more rewarding. He feels so much more confident and excited to show off his good behavior and not just beaten down to do as we say. For those of you like us that have a problem dog and might see this as an expensive engagement, I can wholeheartedly say that I have zero regrets and am beyond grateful to Julie for what she's given us! I'm literally taking time out of my day to write this novel to sing her praises for no benefit other than showing how thankful we are. Julie doesn't train your dog, she teaches you to communicate with them -- the difference is worth every penny!