Service Dog Tutor

We are so glad to have found Jean. Her training expertise and true love for dogs comes through in every interaction. She’s patient and thoughtful while being methodical about her work. Jean reviewed each lesson with us in person, then provided homework and often sent supplementary helpful videos and literature to improve our technique. She checked in on us and ALWAYS put our pup’s physical and mental well being as a top priority. Jean is an engaging and caring trainer, and I recommend her for adults and teens seeking dog training for service and therapy related needs.

We have been training with Jean for the past six months with a combination of online and in-person classes. As I am in a wheelchair, our goals for our dog Nuka are to assist me in activities of daily living & accompany me into the community for companionship and mobility assistance. Jean has extensive experience working with clientele experiencing a wide range of disabilities and helping them to thrive in both residential settings and public spaces where a service dog accommodation truly equalizes their owner’s access to the community. At first I had my doubts that we could really train our dog with a remote instructor on zoom, but Jean’s a natural with digital tech; and she carefully structures our zoom training to reach a milestone at each session. At our in- person trainings we meet at a park where we can challenge our dog’s ability to remain focused in public. Jean is worth the drive   - 78 miles each way! Jean is helping us get the fundamentals with Nuka down rather quickly. Currently Jean is training us to help Nuka reduce his excitement and distraction around other dogs. It is very challenging, but she’s taught me a variety of positive reinforcement and classical conditioning techniques to get the dog to focus on me. We are also learning tasks that the dog can do to help me while I am in my wheelchair.

Five stars for Jean! My little dog and I just completed our fourth training session. She was just great with him and immediately identified several effective techniques that improved my dog's behavior. She also explained aspects of canine communication that helped me modify my actions to more effectively train my dog. Jean came to my house to work on specific issues related to charging the door after the doorbell rang, which produced a significant improvement. We also had some fun leash-training sessions outdoors and she also provided very useful handouts and video links. I now feel more confident and knowledgable about going forward on my own.