We have had several German Shepherd rescues that brought so much joy to our lives. We adopted Remi and experienced first-hand the stereotypical German Shepherd aggression. Our lives continued to get smaller as we could not have her around friends, family, and dogs. We tried several dog training companies with no success. And then we found behavioral vets. Dr. Maffeo quickly realized Remi is not aggressive; she is highly anxious.  We worked on a treatment and medication that included dog training with Eric G. and slowly started to understand our canine friend. Everything started coming together when we began working with Eric.  Remi responded exceptionally well to the positive reinforcement training. I cannot say enough good things about Eric. Hands down the best dog trainer I have ever worked with. He is kind and patient with Remi and me. Eric turned dog walks from chaotic embarrassing, and downright painful into a joyful bonding experience. I am a huge dog lover and have rescued and fostered. Remi tested my patients, and I almost gave up on her. I am thankful to Eric every day for helping me find a path to help make Remi's world bigger and brighter. read more

Behavior Vets - Pet Training Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

I have used behavior vets services for both of our rescue dogs. The docs are experts in medication prescribing and found a good combination for both dogs. Eric G is the best trainer I have ever worked with. He is a masterclass in communication with both people and dogs. He helped both my dog and I in ways multiple other trainers were unable to. I highly recommend the team here, especially Eric for any dog behavior concerns. read more

Eric Gillaspy is simply the best, and his classes make training fun. My doodle is usually trying way to hard, to please me; while I am confusing her. Now, we enjoy each other and understand each other , most of the time. Eric G.'s, "all about town," class freshened-up our relationship and our people skills, after being indoors for months. read more

Behavior Vets - "Wait." - Pet Training Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

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We've been working with Drew Webster on training for a few months. He's been great in helping us understand what is going on with our pups. He listens and provides actionable things to work on. I love that he recommends training sessions be short and fun. Bonus: He works with us using Zoom! read more

Behavior Vets has, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the best behaviorists I've ever had the pleasure of working with. They are absolute experts and, more importantly, they adore dogs. I adopted Bennett 5 years ago and worked with your typical trainer for a minor issue he'd developed as a pup (barking when wanting to be fed). When he recently nipped a friend unexpectedly, I knew it was time to recruit the real experts, though. We started working with Drew (who we adored) and build a solid foundation, and then had to take a break while Bennett recovered from surgery. Once he was ready to go again, we picked up with Eric, who Drew recommended in his absence. Eric picked up the baton and had us back to Benny shape (i.e., happy, waggy, goofy, ridiculously friendly, and trustworthy) in no time! My pups are the best part of every day, so it meant the world to me to have these guys come in and treat me and my boys like partners. It meant so much that they each really took the time to understand me and Bennett, and were so reassuring with regard to my concerns and desire to be a better dog mom. I learned an incredible amount from them, and they were such a pleasure to work with. If you love your dog and could use help from the best, this is the place to call! THANK YOU, Drew and Eric: you've somehow allowed me to love and understand my dogs even more than I already did!! read more

We are super grateful to have worked with the team at Behavior Vets! Dr. Sidel helped us created an integrated treatment plan to support our mini dachshund Oscar in decreasing his reactivity around people and other dogs. When we first started with Behavior Vets, Oscar would react in the moment and for hours after seeing a trigger. It was so tough for him and for all of us. Once we had a plan in place, we focused on positive reinforcement and environmental changes that helped Oscar discover that the world (with all the people and dogs in it) is actually a lot of fun. With lots of practice and support, Oscar is now able to interact with people (new and familiar) and is continuing to make huge strides with his dog pals in ways that work best for him. We are so thankful for the support from Dr. Sidel and the team and wanted to share that progress and serious success is possible! read more

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I can't say enough great things about Eric Gillaspy! He has helped my anxious dog Tiger blossom into a dog who can go on walks, meet people and move around in the world without trying to run away, bark, become frantic! He really has changed my dog's life and ours for the better. With a few private training sessions as well as some Dog About Town sessions, Tiger has rapidly become a much more confident and therefore "easier" dog to manage. He gave me sound advice as well as demonstrated techniques. (I had to un-do a couple things that a past trainer had suggested too...) Do not hesitate to work with Eric if you are lucky enough to get the opportunity. read more

Good: They're excellent Vets and staff. Needs improvement: I really didn't want to say this but after several visits, I feel it needs to be said. I took my dogs in for shots and their annual wellness exam. The Vet and techs do a fantastic job of letting me know what needs to be done, why, and the cost. What I have a very hard time with is the fact they try to hard sell you on everything and then when I say no, the look on their faces is like they just lost the commission to save their own lives. I get that the dogs may need services, but please don't let me leave with the impression that your staff is paid purely on commission and I ruined their day because I cannot afford to drop upwards of $2,000 that day. You're okay for me to hear a hard sell on everything you feel these dogs need today but the second I try to explain to you that I not in a great position financially which happened to be true, you want to hear nothing of it. The only reason I'm coming back is because my wife bought the lifetime shots for the dogs. Otherwise I'd find a new Vet clinic where it's not all about how much you sell me prior to me walking out the door with my dogs. read more

Eric came to work with us and our Chocolate Lab, Wrigley, after a bite incident with the neighbors dog. We've either visited in their offices, or Eric comes to our house. Over the past 6 months we've seen a dramatic change in Wrigley's anxiety level, adherence to ques, reaction to triggers, and becoming a much better pet. He also loves Eric. We are not always as disciplined as we should be to stay consistent, and Eric always meets us where we are, picks up the training tools again and finds methods we can easily adopt. It's working! Wrigley's happy, we are happy. Thank you Eric! read more

We have been working with Eric for the last few months and it has made a world of difference with our dog. During the pandemic our dog became territorial of the house and overly protective of us on walks. Eric gave us strategies to overcome these problematic behaviors, allowed us to define goals and pacing, and was encouraging of a multifaceted approach that included medicine. Our dog's behavior has greatly improved and our bond with him is just as strong. Really appreciate the work Eric did with us to get to this point. read more

Eric and Drew are the best dog trainers we have ever used! We have been seeing Eric and Drew for the past 4 months and we are so impressed with how much progress our dog, Zoe, has made. We started seeing them for anxiety and dog / stranger aggression this past summer. We have seen a ton of progress and Zoe has even made her first real dog friends! Owning an anxious dog can be frustrating / isolating, but they have been tremendous advocates for us and Zoe. They have taught us so much about dog behavior and how to be better owners. They consistently go out of their way to help Zoe excel in difficult situations and have given us numerous tools to help Zoe navigate the outside world. I can't recommend this office or these trainers enough. I'm constantly impressed by their knowledge, understanding and application of dog behavior. Many thanks to this team for everything! read more

Behavior Vets - Pet Training Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

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We adopted a loving and smart Springer who has no aggression but is fearful, anxious, noisy and obsessive. Dr. Sidel has been working on medication changes that are making life less scary, and Eric Gillaspy has been doing in-home training with us. Eric is amazing, he helps us understand Zach's needs and triggers, and provides fun games and exercises that positively reinforce calm responses. We are even loose leash walking now with only a harness. We love that Eric listens to how we live and share with our Zach, and works toward our goals. He will identify if we are reinforcing bad behavior but always shows us how to help Zach correctly. Thanks, Eric and Dr. Sidel, for helping Zach live his best life! read more

We have been working with Eric Gillaspy for the past 3 months over 3 different sessions (one in the clinic and two in our home). He is amazing. I cannot say enough about his kind and positive approach as well as his ability to read our dog, Mabel. I think he "gets her" (and me, too, if I'm honest!) and is able to give training tools/behavior modification strategies that have really helped Mabel's anxiety, which has in turn decreased her fear and reactive behavior. He has helped me to understand her better which has improved our bond and trust. For those of you who are struggling with a reactive dog, there is hope for improvement if you can learn what is driving the behavior - and Eric has been a tremendous help with this. Thank you Eric! read more

I love this place we have been seeing Eric the dog trainer in our home as well as enjoying a puppy class taught by Eric. We had a dog that was aggressive toward our new puppy but now they love each other. We are over the moon happy and the cost was so reasonable. I highly recommend this place for a puppy or an older dog because they can learn new tricks. read more

I cannot recommend this place enough. We worked with Dr. Sidel and Eric Gillaspy to help us bring our new puppy into our home and introduce him to our dog aggressive 9 yo MN mix breed dog. Instead of meeting us with judgment and lectures they welcomed us with cautious optimism, safety measures and realistic expectations. We are beyond thrilled to say that although we are still working on issues with our older dog, he and the puppy now get along great! This result may not be possible in all situations but we definitely attribute our success story to the knowledge, skill and compassion that Dr. Sidel and Eric brought to the table and we are so thankful! read more

We enrolled our 13 week old puppy to puppy class at Behavior Vets on the recommendation of my veterinarian and we're so glad we did. The class was very helpful and Eric taught us valuable tricks to use. We realized that we were doing some things that were reinforcing bad behavior without even realizing it. The puppy class was definitely worth it. We plan to continue on to more advanced classes in the future. We could tell that Eric really loves dogs and loves what he does. read more

My expectations were low at first because I assumed the training we'd get at Behavioral Vets of Colorado would be one step above the puppy training at the big box pet care centers. I could not have been more incorrect. When our dog was so scared at her annual vet visit, despite all the training I'd done on my own, and she tried to bite the veterinarian, I knew it was time to seek professional help. At our first appointment, Dr. Maffeo thoroughly reviewed the assessment I'd filled out ahead of time and addressed each of our concerns all while interacting with our dog in the clinic. I was relieved to see that the exam rooms are nothing like a typical vet exam room, so our dog was not triggered at all. Dr. Maffeo was very respectful of our apprehension to medicating our dog and walked us through options for treatment and recommended training with Eric Gillaspy. Eric is the BEST! He is our best cheerleader and such a great supporter with a wealth of knowledge. He's been so helpful for me to learn how to read our dog's stressors, body language, and emotional state. He gives me a step-by-step training guide with videos included to help us succeed. The training has been 100% customized to exactly what we need to work on. So, I really feel it's SO worth the time and money. Eric is very responsive with communication and has been fun to work with. I highly recommend seeing the amazing team at Behavioral Vets of Colorado! read more

Behavior Vets trainer Eric is one of the main reasons that I decided to keep my puppy. I have a Malinois/Shepherd mix which is not an easy breed combo by any means. After going through a couple trainers, most of who didn't understand the breed, I ended up feeling defeated because my puppy and I were not getting the help we needed and I left training sessions feeling so judged. After our first group session with Eric I knew I had found a phenomenal and well experienced trainer. He meets each owner and dog where they are at and recognizes that each dog has their own strengths and weakness. He focuses in on your dogs strengths and is there for all the questions and to offer creative ways to fix problems. His training method is so effective and backed in science. If you are someone like myself that likes to know the "why" behind why you are training something the way you are this is the place for you! Eric is so encouraging, helpful, and smart. He creates such a judgement free training zone! I cannot recommend Eric and training at Behavior Vets enough! read more

We've been working with Eric (trainer) and Dr. Simone Sidel (DVM, behavioral specialist) for a few months on our new (adopted in September 2020) dog. My wife and I are experienced dog owners and have even done quite a bit of non-competitive dog agility with our older dog but the new guy was simply not responding to our training. We've come to discover he has some significant anxiety and impulsivity issues. Eric and Dr. Sidel have been AMAZING in listening to our concerns and how we want him to fit into our family. He's much more comfortable and content and we are all enjoying each other so much more now using the techniques they've tought us. We have two young daughters (3 and 6) and he's a 70+ lb. rambunctious 1 year old. We feel SO much safer now with everyone being together. It's really improved the quality of all our lives. Thank you so much, Behavior Vets! read more

Dr Maffeo was such a great and reassuring professional for our dog Murphy and us, as his caring owners. Murphy has had some aggression (we thought) and significant anxiety issues. The fact that she was able to see Murphy in all of his glory (including his response to a fake dog) in a large room that didn't feel like a vet office, was so amazing. She was able to tell us that his response was fear and not aggression; that was very reassuring to us. We have then met with Eric, the trainer, several times (both at the facility and at our home) and have learned so many helpful things to help make Murphy a more trainable and wonderful dog to be out and about with. We would highly recommend their services and look forward to continuing our training and relationship with them. read more

My dog, Alba, and I, have been doing virtual training with Drew for the last couple of months. Drew is in Denver, and I am up in the mountains, where I speak with him from the comfort of my living room. We discuss options for helping Alba to cope with his various challenges that have arisen as a result of his anxiety: riding in the car, greeting other dogs, fear of a family member, jumping and biting etc. After each discussion, Drew sends me a set of lessons to work on with Alba, mostly in the form of little games Such as the relaxation game, find it! and Touch! He never asks me to do things that are not realistic for my lifestyle, and is very patient with my progress. It is very satisfying to gain a better understanding of my dog via Drew sharing his vast knowledge and experience . Our walks are way more fun with little games to play as we move along, and this enhances our relationship! I look forward to maintaining contact with Drew in the years ahead, so that whenever questions or problems come up with my dog, I can seek his help to sort them out! read more