Woodlands Dog Kingdom

About 1&1/2 years ago we adopted a sweet 1&1/2 year old yellow lab, Lottie. Being the third owners in her short life, she also had leash aggression with most dogs, so we knew she’d benefit from a deep and focused training retreat.Thanks to Cary Hixon, big fan of WDK, we learned about the magic of Ayesha and WDK. Lottie is now responsive to commands, has great walk manners and seems more confident and happy. An added bonus is Ayesha’s and her teams’ dedication to service and humor working with their four legged clients. Let alone her owner refresh training that can sometimes be greatly needed. Finally, Lottie loves to go for visits to WDK when we are gone traveling. Ayesha’s pick up and drop off service from our home is fabulous and Lottie can’t wait to get in her car as it means more romp times with favorite pooch buddies in the pastures. Thank you WDK. You are the best of best!🐾! Alison, Matt and Lottie

We are so grateful to Ayesha and WDK for educating us and giving us the tools and techniques to create a healthy and happy relationship with our dog! We don’t have any regrets about the investment we made and will do it again with our next pup. Ayesha is easy and fun to work with and is patient in helping hesitant dog moms like me understand the philosophy behind the approach. It’s been over a year since Lox went through the program as a puppy and we’re enjoying him more and more.

We had a great experience with Ayesha training our 6-month-old Aussie Pit Mix. Ayesha has a wonderful way with dogs. She clearly is attuned to them and understands the signals they send with their body language and behavior. She is calm, kind, and authoritative. A good model for all of us dog parents! Our puppy came home from her training calmer, more obedient and still very happy, affectionate, and playful pup. But now our puppy walks by our side without pulling; she’s not reactive to stimuli like squirrels, other dogs, loud noises, etc.; she is very good at waiting for a command before going in and out of doorways and cars; she can sit quietly “on place” for 1-2 hours at a time; she sleeps through the night without a sound and waits patiently for us to let her out of her crate in the mornings; she comes when called. Life with our puppy now feels a whole lot easier and more peaceful. We’re still on the steep learning curve at home doing our part to maintain boundaries, practice commands and using the training tools, and Ayesha has been accessible and responsive to our follow up questions. She was also very communicative during the time she had our puppy. We got regular updates on how she was doing with photos and videos. She takes the dogs on training field trips to hardware stores, restaurants, the farmer’s market. She lives on some acreage with open grassy fields and wooded hiking trails with several dogs of her own, goats and chickens too. It’s a veritable dogtopia! I know our pup also learned lots just by being around Ayesha’s well-trained pack. Ayesha will board any dog she has trained. And I know our pup would be thrilled to return for a visit whenever we need boarding. I cannot recommend Ayesha enough if you are looking for a highly skilled and experienced trainer who is also a lovely human being. Check out her Instagram page to see the transformations of the dogs she trains: Woodlands_Dog_Kingdom

I have had dogs my entire adult life and consider myself slightly-better-than-average when it comes to training them. Hard as I try, each dog seems to have "a thing" (e.g., jumping on people, leash aggression, guarding, barking, etc.). Two years ago I got a puppy and decided I didn't have it in me to go through months (and sometimes years) of training effort and end up with another dog with "a thing". I found Woodlands Dog Kingdom through word of mouth. Ayesha has a ton of experience with all kinds of dogs. She worked wonders with my sweet, little puppy but I have seen her successfully train stubborn, adult dogs with pretty big behavioral problems and am so impressed with her ability to adjust her training to meet a dog's needs and an owner's expectations. I sent her an obnoxious puppy and a few weeks later she returned an enthusiastic, but behaved young adult dog. Honestly, it was magical. In a few weeks time she accomplished more than I could have accomplished in years. There are a couple of lessons I learned that I really want to emphasize. First, she trained my puppy but didn't break her spirit. She is still an extremely loving, trusting and enthusiastic dog. Secondly, for the first time ever, I have a dog I can take everywhere. I guess I didn't realize how much richer/fuller a dog's life is when they can go everywhere. I instituted limits for my other dogs because of their "things". This dog has no limits because she doesn't have "a thing". I take her traveling with me. I can board her with no anxiety (for me or her). I can take her to a dog-friendly restaurant. I can take her off-leash at the beach/hiking and know with 100% certainly that she'll come when called. And, best of all, we can go on long walks in the neighborhood or even on busy thoroughfares and she stays in a perfect heel. Ayesha trained my puppy and then helped me learn easy ways to maintain her newly learned skills. Since our board-and-train, I have asked Ayesha for advice on specific/new behaviors and she is always very helpful. Finally, once she has trained a dog she will board them. My love of dogs AND love of travel are not conducive but boarding with Ayesha has liberated me. My dog loves going back to her place. Her boarding fees are very reasonable and the dogs are not crated for hours and hours. They have lots of outside play time and lots of human/cuddle time. I know there are a lot of board-and-train options but Woodland Dog Kingdom is the best!! PS The picture was taken when my puppy was six months old. She is learning to stay put despite some MAJOR distractions. Impressive, right?