Unleashed Abilities: Coaching People, Training Dogs

Working with Unleashed Abilities has been a five star experience. I met Keri in spring of 2019 while walking my 1y-old Bernedoodle, Daisy, in the Mosaic District. Keri was just finishing up a training session and I had seen her train other dogs in the area in the months preceding. Just by the way Keri greeted Daisy I could tell that she had a "way with dogs." In other words, Daisy was instantly on her best behavior! Daisy was always fairly well behaved and had already mastered puppy-school at our vet. That said, her recall was spotty (at best) and she was prone to being too smart for her own good. Why come when called when you can smell all these interesting smells?! A short conversation with Keri persuaded me to give Unleashed Abilities’ Day School Program a shot. What came next has been a nearly 2y relationship of working with them to help transform Daisy, and her younger sister, Rosie, into the two best dogs anyone could ask for. Daisy and Rosie have worked primarily with Mark P., who could best be described as a "Dog-Whisperer." His Day School training with Daisy turned her into an extremely reliable off-leash dog. We spend many weekends at the beach in Delaware and Shenandoah Mountains and having the ability to let her run and explore, while still being safely within recall range, brings me as much joy as it does Daisy. While Daisy has always been friendly and willing to let (literally) anyone hug/pet/kiss/scratch her, Rosie was the opposite. When we got Rosie at the end of 2019, she was so loving and friendly to us, but quickly displayed some anxious tendencies (read: house training and issues with manners). And then COVID-19 happened. With the lack of people interactions outside of my wife and I, Rosie developed separation anxiety and had a hard time meeting new people. We knew the only people to call were Keri and Mark.

From the first time Mark came to the door until the recent completion of Day School training, Rosie has shown remarkable growth and confidence. Within minutes of meeting, Mark was able to get Rosie to accept treats and listen to basic commands that only my wife and I were capable of doing with her. He was also able to modify everything to best fit with her personality (and Daisy’s too). We’ve seen massive strides with her manners with walking and greeting guests at our home. She’s honestly better at it now than Daisy! Rosie has also mastered the basic commands (down, stay, leave, come, etc.) that she lacked consistency with. Her recall is continuing to come along nicely and Mark has been a great sounding board over texts when we aren’t in a training session. If you couldn’t tell by this (somewhat rambling) long-form review, we think the world of Keri, Mark, and Unleashed Abilities. The experience we have had makes it easy to recommend them to anyone. The investment has been worth every penny.

Keri did an amazing job working with me and my new Belgian shepherd puppy. She not only helped me train my dog but also gave me lots of good pupping-training tips. I was then able to translate many of the skills she gave me to working with our older dog, who is now no longer a leash tugger as a result. she also helped us work through issues of separation anxiety and stranger danger. I have worked with several dog trainers but she was by far the best. I recommend her highly.

We were looking around for a trainer ,our 4 month old puppy was driving me bonkers, and we needed something and we found Keri. With out a doubt the best decision we made, she has helped us so much in 1 hour, she has the best attitude, and gave me a sense of relief. She is super responsive when you meet her you can tell she is dedicated to coaching you and giving you the tools you need for your dog. I am so excited our little guy is going to have the best trainer in NOVA . I talked and met with a few other places, and they just weren't what I was looking for. If you are thinking it just say YES! :)

I am a new (and very stressed) dog mom to an opinionated 6 month old Golden Retriever! I have super high expectations and hopes for my puppy but a month ago I had no clue how to get her there. I found Keri and expressed the frustrations I had (like leash walking, general obedience etc) and she has been BEYOND helpful. She has been the translator that I needed between my puppy and me, and because of that, our communication has never been better. Keri makes me feel confident in my own abilities as a new dog mom and I will forever be grateful for her getting me through some puppy energy and adolescence :)

I don’t know who loves Keri more, us or our golden doodle puppy, Penny! Keri has given us great guidance & tactics that have been so helpful in raising an energetic puppy! And Penny loves Keri’s enthusiasm and caring ways. Win-win! We had a puppy 20 years ago but didn’t take the time & trouble to train her properly. As a result, she grew up with a fair number of idiosyncrasies. We were determined to do better this time around. Keri has made the difference for us, setting us on the right path for raising a well-socialized & we’ll-behaved puppy. You’ll be glad you called her!!