The Dog Institute of Williamsburg

We cannot recommend The Dog Institute enough!!! Elizabeth is so knowledgable and the facetime sessions were incredibly helpful for us learning how to train our puppy at home in between sessions with her. The play and train classes have been amazing too, teaching our puppy how to play with other dogs and the entire staff has been so amazing. He gets so excited whenever we get close to The Dog Institute! Elizabeth has been so great to work with, always there to answer any questions and she always has a solution that works beautifully. We can't wait to keep working with her as our puppy continues to grow!

The Dog Institute is truly exceptional. From the moment I first spoke with Elizabeth, the owner, I knew we had found the right place to support us after bringing home our American Shepherd puppy, Ruby. In that very first phone conversation, Elizabeth could hear the uneasiness in my voice. I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed about doing everything right to raise our puppy well and give her a great life. Elizabeth immediately put me at ease with her calm, thoughtful approach and clear depth of experience. Since then, The Dog Institute has been an incredible resource for us. Ruby attends Play & Train regularly, and it’s easily her favorite thing in the world. The staff are fantastic: friendly, attentive, and clearly very experienced with a wide range of dogs and personalities. It’s such a positive, well-run environment, and we always feel confident knowing Ruby is spending time with such a great group of people and dogs. We also work with Elizabeth for Ruby’s 1:1 training sessions. Her knowledge and experience really shine in how clearly and effectively she teaches both dogs and their owners. The sessions are practical, approachable, and incredibly effective. Ruby soaked up her early lessons and quickly grew into a confident, well-behaved puppy thanks to Elizabeth’s guidance. We feel so lucky to have found The Dog Institute and are incredibly grateful for Elizabeth and the entire team. We’re excited to continue working with them as Ruby grows.

Elizabeth is an incredible trainer! I call her the puppy whisperer because she gets puppy’s trained so quickly. And she cares so much about each pups wellbeing - her puppy socialization classes are unmatched. I would trust her with my pups training and life. Her team is also incredible and take care and love the pups. I couldn’t recommend her more. She has also helped us as new first time dog owners learn to train our dog and build a philosophy and approach to taking care of them.