Very Good Dog Training

We had such a wonderful experience with Stephen and our dog Maggie. From the very beginning, I really appreciated how kind, patient, and grounded Stephen is. He has a natural way of understanding dogs, and it was amazing to see how quickly he understood Maggie’s personality and individual needs during her 28 days of training. What really stood out to us was that Stephen didn’t just train Maggie and send her home — he gave us the tools and guidance to continue her training ourselves. Even after her training was complete, he has continued to make himself available whenever we have questions or concerns, and he has guided us every step of the way. We have already decided that we will be sending our other, more complex dog to Stephen in the future, which says a lot about how much we trust him and his approach. We are so grateful for everything Stephen has done for Maggie and for us. Thank you, Stephen, for treating our dog with so much understanding and care and for giving us the confidence to continue building on everything she learned! We couldn’t recommend you more highly! ❤️🐾

We cannot thank the entire Good Dog Training family enough for everything they have done for our Stormy! ❤️🐾 When we first brought Stormy, our Giant Schnauzer puppy, home, she was a complete ball of energy! She was sweet, playful, and meant well, but she just didn’t know what to do with all that puppy energy. Her way of playing was constantly jumping, biting, nipping, and growling. She didn’t know how to settle herself or relax, and she would literally keep going nonstop until she was completely overtired and finally passed out on the floor. The hardest part for us was that our youngest daughter became extremely afraid of her because of all the jumping, biting, and nipping. We knew Stormy wasn’t trying to hurt anyone—she simply needed to learn how to channel all of that energy and understand what was expected of her. Sending her to Good Dog Training for the 28-day program was one of the BEST decisions we could have made! The difference in Stormy since coming home is incredible. She now understands how to settle and stay in place, and most importantly, she actually feels comfortable and relaxed doing it. She LOVES to work, loves doing her commands, walks beautifully on a leash, and is so much more obedient and enjoyable to be around. We finally feel like she understands what we are asking of her, and we understand her better too. Seeing the transformation in just 28 days has been amazing. We are so proud of Stormy and so grateful to everyone at Good Dog Training for giving her the structure, confidence, and skills she needed. It was 100% worth it, and knowing what we know now, we would make the same decision and send her again in a heartbeat! Thank you, Good Dog Training family, for taking such great care of our girl and helping turn all that crazy puppy energy into such a smart, happy, confident girl. We couldn’t be happier! ❤️🐾

When we first rescued our Akita/Shepherd Nikki we were immediately intimidated by her high energy, general craziness and all the experience required when owning a high drive working breed. When Stephen and very good dog training was recommended to us it felt like the sign we needed to leave the training efforts to a professional. Nikki spent 5 weeks with Stephen who taught her everything she needed to know and kept us updated every step of the way! When Nikki finally came home all of our concerns were completely negated..no nipping, no jumping, no eating household items, and she had an overall sense of calmness so unlike how she was before. We were finally able to bring her along to family members homes, introduce her to older relatives, and give her off leash freedom. Stephen was there for us and very supportive after bringing Nikki home - answering any questions or giving advice. Nikki is a completely different dog in all the best ways - while still being her spunky, fun self. We can’t thank or recommend Stephen and Very good dog training enough for taking the best care of our girl and giving us all the tools to be successful!

We rescued our coonhound, Maci, in February. By June, we realized we were in over our heads. We truly wanted to do the training ourselves and had multiple trainers come to our home, attended classes, and tried everything we could. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to click. Then I came across Stephen at Very Good Dog Training. From our very first conversation, he was patient, encouraging, and gave us hope that Maci could become the dog we knew she could be. Before board and train, I couldn’t even walk Maci. She pulled so hard that I was genuinely afraid of falling. We also have a two-year-old granddaughter, and visits had become stressful because Maci just couldn’t settle down. Maci has only been home for four days, and I honestly can’t believe the difference. She walks beautifully on a leash, listens, is calmer, and we finally feel like we can enjoy her instead of constantly worrying about what she’ll do next. The training wasn’t just for Maci—it gave our family confidence too. Stephen, thank you. You truly have a gift. You gave us the tools to continue her success, and you changed our relationship with our dog. We are beyond grateful and would recommend Very Good Dog Training for all pup owners.

5 stars is not enough! We started out with sending our one pup Fred (brown and white) and then frank (6 months black white). When we sent Fred he had severe separation anxiety, lack of manner, not listening, and being able to have perfect recall, as it's less expensive then putting up a fence. When Fred came back a month later, it was night and day. He was polite, recall was amazing, and the separation anxiety is gone. At that time he also nipped at my past older dog. We adopted a 2nd dog, frank, as a companion dog for Fred. Everything was going smoothly, until fred started snapping at the puppy. After a few times this happened we narrowed it down to resource guarding. Some other behaviors Frank started was self mutilation. He would bite and nibble a spot until it was red. Even with anti yuck spray and long cone, he still kept obsess We contacted Steven to set up another board and train immediately. He has been and is still is helping us. And agreed that it would be beneficial. While frank was training, Steven was giving us step by step instructions for Fred's training. Fast forward to 1 month after Frankie has been home. Frankie is no longer self mutilating, has impecable recall, and has more confidence! He was from a hoarding situation). Today I put them together for the first time today. Still we are at baby steps. Frankie had separation anxiety from being completely alone, but unfortunately did not present itself at boarding. Steven just followed up and recommended an at home session. Thank you for helping Fred and Frank ❤️