I found A Canine Affinity from a recommendation in a Facebook group. I had recently adopted a dog from the shelter and I suspected she had separation anxiety, so I was looking for someone that was specialized in it. The advice online is confusing and conflicting -- from keeping your dog in a crate or letting them free roam, giving them a kong toy before you leave to not giving them anything, etc. So I scheduled a consultation with A Canine Affinity to learn more about the trainings and determine if it was in fact separation anxiety, or just normal decompression from the shelter. Melissa was wonderful right from the beginning and was very thorough and explained everything very clearly. You can tell she has a passion for this area. I decided that it wasn't too early and it couldn't hurt to do the initial assessment and get some good foundation to try to nip the separation anxiety that she in fact was showing. Melissa built us a solid plan and gave great advice on things like how and where to get my dog situated before I leave, stress body language, desensitization trainings, etc. I'm excited to share that my dog, Birdie, can now be left alone for about 1 hour and she lays down on her bed that's right near the door I leave from while I'm away (although she is still very alert/has her eyes on the door). I even saw her on the camera lay her head down for about 30 seconds, which is such a small thing, but such a BIG WIN! It means Birdie is starting to get a little more comfortable alone. I find myself so proud of my dog and celebrating her small wins, which has been the most rewarding part of this training. Birdie does regress every once in a while, which I'm told is normal, so I am trying to take it one day and one week at a time. Birdie has made HUGE strides and is building confidence and comfort being alone. Just 5 months ago, she couldn't even be left alone for 30 seconds without pacing, howling, scratching at doors, and having accidents in the house. So thankful for Melissa and the wonderful foundation she set me up with. We'll continue with our trainings and hope Birdie continues to progress over the next few months, but if she doesn't, I won't hesitate to reach out to Melissa for some more trainings and guidance. Thank you Melissa, you are a lifesaver! read more

I am a veterinarian and worked with Melissa on my own dog, I would recommend her to anyone. She is very knowledgeable and very good at what she does. I love that she is truly an advocate and voice for pets. She has a lot of patience for both me and my dog - and that is definitely what we needed. My dog was very fearful and was scared of everything in the world. My dog would panic and freak out on her walks, afraid of strangers. Through private trainings and her "while you're away" day training - I saw my dog becoming more confident, and is enjoying her walks more and is not freaking out at every little thing. Melissa helped me understand dog behavior more, what my dog needs with a lot of positive reinforcement. She helped me set realistic expectation and taught me tools that is helpful in the long term. read more

Thanks for a great few months, Melissa! My dog has shown great improvements and we couldn't have done it without you

We worked together for a year and Melissa's guidance was incredible. Charlie (my dog) went from barely 30 seconds alone to almost 4 hours, and even though it took a year, it was worth it to make it so he could feel comfortable staying alone. We wouldn't have been able to do it without Melissa's guidance and suggestions. read more

We first worked with Melissa at her Beginning Manners class at HSSV, but reached out to her for private training because of our dog's reactivity to people and other dogs. Our dog started to become reactive when she was about 6 months old. However, it wasn't until we moved into a condo from a house several months later that we realized that she was extremely noise sensitive as well and that her reactivity to people was becoming a big problem. Our neighbor was constantly complaining about her barking during the day, said our dog was "aggressive," and suggested that we consider rehoming her. As a result of her reactivity, we also stopped taking her out on walks because they were very stressful. Unfortunately, we turned to using a bark collar but that made her more reactive and didn't stop the barking. Feeling discouraged that we weren't seeing any results, we decided to contact Melissa since we've worked with her before. At the initial consultation, Melissa helped us understand our dog's reactivity and gave us tips for managing the noise sensitivity which worked immediately. She was also very understanding about why we resorted to using a bark collar and helped us understand how the bark collar was negatively affecting our dog psychologically. Even though our dog worked with Melissa for only two months, we've already seen a big improvement! We're able to take our dog on walks again since she's generally not bothered by strangers across the street anymore. It's also easier for us to redirect her if a person or dog gets too close. We were also able to enjoy a day at the park without her reacting to anyone (even strangers who were right next to us)! Overall, we highly recommend Melissa! She's extremely knowledgeable, patient, and has a way of connecting with dogs. Our dog loved Melissa so much that she'd wait at the door for her around the time of her scheduled training sessions! Although we know that there's still more training that we have to do on our end, Melissa not only set up a solid foundation with our dog but also taught us a lot about our dog's behavior and effective training methods. We're so happy with the progress our dog has made with just two months of training and with everything that Melissa has taught us, we're optimistic that our dog will continue to improve! read more

Melissa Dallier, of A Canine Affinity, is a wonderful teacher, mentor, trainer and dog lover. I rescued a 4 1/2 year old female, and she had some leash reactivity that I needed to manage. She did well with my then older male (who has since passed on), but was easily overstimulated the minute we left the house. Melissa worked with us on confidence building activities inside that helped translate into more confidence and trust while on walks outdoors. She has shown my rescued Boxer, Neveah, and myself so much, and I can see by the way Neveah lights up when she sees her how much she enjoys learning and working on new skills! I highly recommend Melissa! My dog loves her, and she is able to help build your relationship with your dog with positive reinforcement! read more

A Canine Affinity - My dog Neveah and Melissa after one of our sessions! - Pet Training Near Me

I've had the pleasure of working with Melissa on our journey to help our pup, Rafi, through separation anxiety issues. I searched for a CSAT after I felt that all of the resources I currently had available were insufficient to adequately help Rafi feel comfortable during alone time. When we first came to Melissa, Rafi couldn't be left alone for even a few seconds, and today he is able to comfortably be alone for several hours. Having a dog with separation anxiety can be extremely stressful and feel hopeless. Starting to work with Melissa, I felt in control for the first time. By providing us with individualized plans and having regular check-ins, we were able to get Rafi on the right track. Melissa has regularly checked in with me regarding different goals, including building up to certain durations, working in a dog walker, or being able to comfortable leave Rafi alone multiple times a day, and helped us work towards those goals. As different events have occurred - whether it's been a move, Rafi getting sick, or changes in Rafi's everyday routine - rather than these becoming great obstacles in our journey, Melissa has tailored our plan to set up Rafi for success. In addition to all of the wonderful training plans, Melissa also provides you with a wealth of resources and support for navigating life with a dog that has separation anxiety. I cannot emphasize enough how helpful this is. Melissa is the exact person you want on your team: she's hardworking, she's empathetic, and she's honest. Getting Rafi to multi-hour absences wasn't a quick process, and I know that we couldn't have gotten here without Melissa. We're incredibly lucky to have her as a part of our team. read more

This review is long overdue. I met Melissa at the Humane Society Silicon Valley's puppy training class in 2016. She was so critical in our dog's development. Since then, we have contacted her for a slew of topics from gaining confidence to managing separation anxiety. Melissa was phenomenal at reframing our mindset so that we can better understand our dog and what she needed from us to succeed. While Melissa has relocated to CO, I would not hesitate to reach out if my dog needed further training. read more

We've had nothing but a great experience with Melissa and are so much happier with the progress we've seen with our pup. She has such a solid fundamental understanding of the best training practices and a ton of patience no matter how excitable our dog would be (and sometimes he could be a handful but she would never miss a beat). She's helped create a custom tailored training routine/activities for us to work on at home with our puppy. We've seen a ton of progress and are so thankful we went with her services. I enthusiastically recommend working with Melissa (A Canine Affinity) to anyone looking for an awesome trainer! read more

Melissa is an expert in dogs and she is wonderful to work with. I highly recommend her. She did a great job helping us to train our dog. She visited us when our dog was 3 months old, the problem was barking at dinner table. Her training was very effective, she was focusing on finding ways to satisfying dogs' needs/rewarding rather than punishing. Recently, she offered us a video consultation (our dog is 1.5 years old) - dealing with barking/want to play. She taught us to how to DIY toys/puzzles, suggested different ways to keep our dog busy, it was very effective. We will definitely consult Melissa again if we need help in the future. read more

Melissa has been wonderful helping our two very different dogs! One with separation anxiety and fear of strangers and another very dog reactive. We met Melissa through a puppy class and never looked back. She is attentive, creative, and always looking to do what's best for the animal. She has helped us better understand the needs of our pets and taught us patience as we started a very long journey to change. We are so grateful to have met and worked with her and can't recommend her enough! read more

Five stars and two paws up for Melissa. We really dig her positive reinforcement methods and she really helped us out with some behavioral issues. She took time to learn our situation and we worked on a plan with live sessions and things to work on ourselves. Thanks again! read more

Melissa helped my dog Sullivan overcome separation anxiety. When I connected with Melissa, I couldn't leave without Sullivan following me to the door and he started barking as soon as I left and panicked. After working with Melissa we gradually added time where I could be away and Sullivan wasn't panicking. It takes a lot of consistent effort and Melissa was patient and reassuring even though part of me thought this was hopeless. I'd highly recommend working with her even if you think you have an impossible situation with your dog. read more

A Canine Affinity - Sullivan - Pet Training Near Me

Melissa is a phenomenal trainer and I would recommend her to anyone. When I first adopted my dog Randy at age 4, he had a lot of health and behavior issues that we needed to address. Not only did Melissa calm my nerves about everything, she provided me helpful resources and guides to help with his separation anxiety. Her methods of training are positive, fun, and fear free for all dogs and they WORK. Her home consultations are wonderful, as it gives her a chance to see and come up with a plan for YOUR particular situation, as everyone's flow at home is different. Working with Melissa has changed my ways of approaching behavioral challenges with my animals and I have the confidence to improve their response to certain stimulus that may cause them stress and anxiety, all thanks to the skills Melissa has taught me. Randy is now a well-rounded, happy boy and I couldn't thank her enough. read more

A Canine Affinity - All thanks to Melissa's expertise, he is comfortable and not as much of a nervous nellie anymore ;) - Pet Training Near Me

Melissa is your gal when it comes to positive reinforcement force-free training methods. She taught us how to train our dogs and we use what she taught us, every day. Plus her IG has tons of good tips, too. You can tell she really cares about dogs, her expertise, and she is continually learning her art. Highly recommend her! read more

We first met Melissa through the Humane Society of Silicone valley training classes. She is AMAZING! Her force free training approach and creative ideas on how to keep your dog mentally stimulated made the training process fun and successful for both our dog and us. We can't thank her enough! During this stay at home time, we did a virtual training call with her to get training recommendations for a new foster dog. By following her guidance, we have been able to channel his over excitement into different activities, and he is loving the training process also! Melissa is really friendly, very responsive, and extremely knowledgeable. We highly recommend her for any dog training needs! read more

It is important to work with someone like Melissa who is so passionate, personable, diligent and dedicated to not only your family pet but your own training. She goes above and beyond in every aspect, I recommend her to everyone I know. read more

Melissa is a fantastic, professional, and knowledgeable trainer--I've been working with her virtually for months on my rescue dog's separation anxiety. With personalized daily missions customized to my pup's needs, and periodic "live" sessions via Zoom, I feel confident that I'm giving my rescue pup the help he needs to thrive during alone time. Grateful that virtual training allows me to work with the best professionals, regardless of location! read more

My 2 pups and I adore Melissa. Her way of communication is easy to learn. My pups are waiting to learn and she teaches me how to teach them. I am getting ready to start my second class with my second pup. I look forward to going to class. If you want someone who is very positive and loves your fur baby, she is the one. Melissa is very patient and knowledgeable. So glad I have met her. I know my pups appreciate her and I will for years to come. The training never stops. I wish I had half of her determination and drive. read more

A Canine Affinity - Pet Training Near Me

When we started with Melissa our rescue pup would start howling (scream-howling more accurately) within seconds of our leaving the house. We were getting complaints from our neighbors and had to significantly limit our social / extracurricular lives. Under Melissa's guidance and instruction, we've successfully worked our way up to ~4 hours departures and are back to living normal lives - going to the grocery store, out to dinner, etc. Every step of the way Melissa has been available and supportive, discussing the nuances of our situation, adjusting to regressions, and proposing custom strategies and solutions. She devised personal training plans to meet our needs and advised on our dog's care more generally (medication, routines, dog sitting suggestions, etc.). In addition, her flexible package options helped us adjust support to the level we needed as we got more comfortable with separation training (and it did take many months of sustained effort to break through). Overall would highly recommend Melissa's service to anyone struggling with separation anxiety. She is patient, caring, responsive, and genuinely cares about your pup. You too can get your lives back and help your dog learn to manage stress! read more

I loved working with Melissa! She helped my dog with her separation anxiety from my other dog! She is kind and super helpful, she was great at breaking down all the steps into easy achievable pieces for me. I would recommend working with Melissa and going back to her again if the occasion arises. read more

Canine Affinity provided a complete weekend overhaul with my 2 dogs. Melissa set up goals and training objectives. One of the main things she provided was tips and tricks working with our Bulldog and her aggression towards the television. Melissa also helped us better understand our freedom harness for walking our Bulldog. She worked with our smaller pup with instigating aggression while walking with other dogs In just a weekend of work she was able to set up a plan and we were able to execute these objectives. In just a few weeks, our dogs are better behaved and showing vast signs of improvements. read more

Where do I start? Cannot say enough amazing things about Melissa. We found her back in December when we were really struggling with our dogs separation anxiety. I felt lost and didn't even know where to start. She listened and gave us direction. We have been working with her since, and cannot believe that our dog, Leo when we started this couldn't even handle seconds alone. Now we are at several hours! A lot of work and commitment, but she was there every step of the way to guide us (and Leo) to learn that alone time is okay. It's amazing just to be able to run errands with my husband again and know that Leo is comfortable! We are not quite done with our journey yet, but without Melissa I quite honestly don't know where we'd be. I recommend her to anyone, and am truly going to be sad once Leo "graduates" (hopefully soon) and we won't be working with her anymore. She has truly become a friend! read more

I used Melissa for my dog Bailey, an American Staffordshire Terrier, and I would recommend Melissa whole heartedly. She really understands all dogs and is very kind, compassionate, knowledgeable, trustworthy and patient. I had her come to my home a couple of times a week to train Bailey and she did a great job. Considering I'm the one who failed to keep up with her "homework", Bailey still knows her commands! Melissa taught Bailey so well that when I became a "foster failure" and ended up adopting a sister (Riley) for Bailey, she taught Riley basic commands just by watching her big sister, Bailey! read more

Melissa is a wonderful trainer and I highly recommend her services. I worked with Melissa briefly to help with my dogs extreme fearfulness and anxiety, not your average puppy shyness. I went to multiple obedience trainings with other trainers that were all fine, but did not address my dogs behavior needs. She was the first trainer I spoke to that I felt truly understood my dogs behavior struggles and was genuinely interested in helping my dog. I loved her positive reinforcement approach and her philosophy that we were not trying to "fix" my dogs behavior, but rather set him up for success to learn to be comfortable in his environment. She gave me great advice and helpful tips I still use today. I continue to follow her social media where she regularly shares helpful tips. read more

We have worked with Melissa for almost two years, getting our super-energetic Lab, Cooper, to focus. Initially we worked on his over-reactions toward other dogs, but that soon progressed to lots of advanced commands and games. Melissa is a master at training dogs in a calm, humane, effective manner. Rather than play tug-of-war with our 80-pound galoot whenever we took him out in public, we now can walk with him by our side, constantly "checking in" with us, doing everything(!) we wish him to do. We have also done several Zoom sessions with her, and they are very effective. She's the best--with dogs and owners! read more

We signed our dog up for 4 private training sessions with Melissa, and it's made a huge difference. Our dog is very reactive towards other dogs but is much better now. Melissa gave us a foundation for training our dog, took us to a dog park in a controlled environment to help our dog get used to others (on leash and outside the fence), and she even brought her own dog so we could train ours to be more calm and less reactive. I'd highly recommend her! read more

Melissa is a wonderful dog trainer! She has been helping me with me newly rescued 2 year old dog and has helped with everything from teaching him paw (he doesn't love having his paws touched) to helping him relax calmly when my partner and I need to work. I am constantly asking her questions and she always has great ideas that I can practice with my dog. She has also taught me a lot about my dog's needs which has been great for him and also in keeping him calm since all his needs are satisfied! I will also add that I live in MA so all of this has been done virtually through Dogly! We have zoom calls and talk through email where I send Melissa videos of my dog's behaviors. I definitely recommend!! read more

Melissa was recommended to us by a neighbor after we adopted a very reactive middle-aged dog. She came to our home and worked with us and our dog one-on-one. Mary Jo loved Melissa right away and she was able to help us understand our dog's behavior. Melissa is very knowledgeable and imparts that information very clearly. She is also a delightful person. Mary Jo is doing much better and we know she could improve even further if only her people were more consistent! read more

My dog, Bogie, is a Terrier mix rescue who had pretty bad anxiety and it got to a point where I didn't know how to help the little guy. He would shake, dry heave, tear up the carpet-- it was hard to watch. Because of Melissa, I was able to better understand Bogie's behavior and actually work with him to ease his anxiety and improve his behavior. I'm so grateful for her knowledge and patience. Melissa understands dogs with this crazy sixth sense I've never seen in real life before. I highly recommend A Canine Affinity. read more

We have known Melissa for about 5 months, in classes and training of our Pyrenees/GSD pup, who is now 6 months old. Having an independent, stubborn breed of dog, especially a large breed required more than our experience allowed. Melissa has a wonderful way of interacting with dogs, understanding behavior issues, teaching with positive responses and not the negative disciplinary methods of some other trainers. She did a great job educating our dog and us, we look forward to more training with her in the future, and wouldn't hesitate to enlist her help with individual sessions if needed. She has our trust completely. read more

Melissa was fantastic. We have a mini Aussie who is very anxious and guards high valued items. Melissa was very thorough and patient when working with us and our dog. She is positive and realistic as we worked towards our goals. Melissa is dependable, flexible and a very warm person to be around. Our dog absolutely loved her and responded very well to her training style. Do not hesitate if you are thinking about working with Melissa! We are beyond happy - and we are so thankful to have worked with her! read more

We recently adopted a very young puppy and were referred to Melissa. As a new dog owner, we were pretty clueless and Melissa very patiently taught us the tips and tricks on how to raise a well mannered puppy. She is always wonderfully positive and our puppy loves her. Our 10 months old puppy is now very well behaved and very comfortable around new people and dogs. I can tell that Melissa really cares about our puppy. She keeps in touch to make sure that our puppy is still progressing well. We are very pleased and grateful that we found Melissa. read more

I can't say enough good things about Melissa. We met her while going through the second set of puppy classes at Humane Society Silicon Valley with our newly adopted pup. She was amazing, and gave us such a good foundation. When we realized a couple months later that our puppy had some pretty bad separation anxiety issues, we reached out to Melissa, and I'm so glad we did. She was so caring and compassionate - she gently explained that it wasn't our fault that our puppy had these issues, and we didn't cause or contribute to them. She laid out a really clear plan to help him get over these issues. We worked with her for two months, and during that time, she helped us so much in understanding what we were doing, why we were doing it, and how to continue to work with our puppy on these issues on our own. She's stayed in touch and checked on him and has made it clear that she's here for us if we need her, which is so relieving. Highly recommend her as a trainer or class instructor!! read more

Thank you Melissa for teaching us to understand our new puppy. On your classes she learned basic commands and we learned how her brain works. We all got great base to function smoothly together and it makes us happy. read more

Melissa came to my home to help me with my 2 year old terrior mix who suddenly developed aggression towards my other dog and my children! She has such a calming demeanor, both to humans and dogs. Melissa took into consideration our home (the physical space), as well as our schedules, the family dynamic, & the temperament of the 2 dogs in designing a training solution for us. She has been available to me for help via email, phone, text, as well as leaving written directions for us. Highly recommend! read more

My dog Ben is both a rescue and a hunting breed.Recently he has developed a special aggression toward me and my partner. Melissa really took the time to assess the situation to better help us understand his little episodes. Hands down, she really knows her stuff. She was able to pinpoint all the factors that could be agitating our little 20lb mix breed. She thoughtfully asked all the right questions and we went on a thorough investigative journey into his history, daily routine and personality patterns. More importantly, OUR patterns,us,the owners. We realized that we had been making some common yet massive mistakes in our day-to-day doggie parenting. Melissa also created a great game plan on tips, tricks and fun games we can do daily to keep our baby sane. I think after meeting Melissa, I knew that this was her calling. The care and prowess she possesses along with her knowledge and love of dogs is remarkable. So far it has been a couple of days since our training and already Ben is showing signs of mood improvement! And since she asked us to be super diligent and persistent, I think we may be able to kick Ben's irritable mood swings to the curb and enjoy having our doggie again in no time. Plus, we also feel confident that we can be better, more responsible dog owners. She was amazing. Thank you so much A Canine Affinity for a great training session. read more