Kelly is AMAZING. My 5 year old cockapoo, Maisie, got very territorial and protective of me after…read moreCOVID. We had spent so much time together during that time I guess she became hyper vigilant with me. She would become aggressive with any dog that came within in 10 feet of me. Barking and pulling and standing very tall. It never happened when others walked her without me. I tried for two years to change her behavior, including two different trainers, with no real changes. 10 weeks ago Maisie and I went back to Kelly (she had trained Maisie before Covid and she had moved her facility to further away). Within 5 minutes she had it figured out and we started a very simple, but effective program. Within 2 weeks there was a major difference. Maisie was more relaxed, calmer and much less territorial. She travels back and forth to CA from NH every year and I need her to be calm in the airport and not look at other dogs. 6 weeks after we started with Kelly we had to fly back to CA. Maisie was amazing. She was perfect. At 10 weeks out, she saw a dog long before I did. She sat and looked right at me without any instruction from me. THANK YOU KELLY!!!!!!! Can't wait to get back to NH this spring and tune up her service dog training and do some agility! Thank you again!!

Oh my goodness! Kelly is amazing. Absolutely the best around. She's done wonders with my pup's…read morebehavior issues and all with positive reinforcement. Birdie

I can't thank Kerry from off leash training in NH enough! Sandy is a 6 month old fox red lab and…read moreall I can say is that she is a new puppy and I couldn't be happier. I was nervous to drop her off for the 2 week board and train, but I can honestly say that it was worth every penny and I am still in shock at how much she learned. When I dropped her off she would pull on the leash and could not be left unattended for any amount of time because she would get into everything! Now she walks by my side (even off leash), sits and stays until released, does "place" on a raised area (stays until released) and no longer jumps at anything and everything that walks near her! She learned 7 commands (sit, down, come, release, heel, place and off). I am so happy :-). I will be recommending Kerry and off leash training to everyone I know who gets a dog. Best decision we made for our girl

Off Leash K9 Training was amazing to work with from start to finish! When first speaking with…read moreHarley, she listened to our concerns, was informative, and knew exactly what our 6 month old puppy Kane needed. Kane is a 72 pound black Lab with lots of energy (yes only 6 months old). He is a very big boy and hard to handle at times. He spent one week with Kerry and is a completely changed puppy. He listens, walks great, and follows all his commands. Kerry took the time to explain everything she did with Kane and even let us practice. I highly, highly recommend this company and Kerry! We will definitely bring our future dogs back and our current dogs for boarding with Kerry! Thank you again!!

Sue was recommended to me by a cousin who was working at a dog boarding facility in Hampton, NH and…read moreI am sure happy that she did. Sue works out of Club Canine in Portsmouth, NH along with K9 Kaos in Dover, NH in addition to at your own home personal training and pet sitting/training. Chewie was an abused dog on death row in Arkansas and I had taken him to a group trining class at Club Canine in Portsmouth run by Sue. Chewie was the only small dog in the room but she made sure to give each dog and owner personalized attention and he graduated the class with flying colors; after a while he looked forward to going to these weekly classes and stopped trying to cower away from the door or pull me away from the building. After graduation my husband and I hired Sue for at home personalized training with Chewie to get him used to being near and interacting with other dogs. Of course Chewie will always be a work in progress and I curse the individuals who hurt him but he has made giant strides for such a little guy, thanks to the help of Sue. A few years later we found another rescue that we had fallen in love with, she was found in a hoarding/ breeding home in TN and was rescued after Animal Control found out she was pregnant. One of her puppies did not make it and after working with her very loving fosters she started becoming healthy and was ready for adoption. Velma, being so young, came with a whole new set of issues and we called upon Sue again for at home training which she always followed up with emails. Velma has problems with potty training plus she and Chewie were not getting along by any means and Sue helped us immensely. After several months of working with the dogs, taking Sue's advice, they are now best friends and I have a hard time remembering those first few months. My husband and I ended up buying our first home recently and hired Sue yet again for at home personalized training as the dogs become acclimated to their new space, environment and neighborhood surrounded by families with their own dogs. Sue practiced walking around the neighborhood with us and the dogs by pointing out body language and how to react in the situations that came up. She was also kind enough to bring her new pup, Nacho, into the back yard to observe the dogs behaviors with one another. I highly recommend Sue's personal training AND group classes as each have added so much to our lives with our rescue pups. This career choice was definitely a calling! We all love Sue so much, dogs included, we found out she does overnight care and she will be looking after Velma and Chewie when we go on a mini vacation later on this year! This is coming from a person who doesn't trust a soul with her dogs and would usually just take them on vacation with us.... Sue is the most trustworthy person I know and I trust her fully with my fur babies.

Compassion and empathy based training for your beloved Dog! Behavior modification with great…read moreinsight into how our four-legged friends think and react to different stimulus. Highly recommend

From the owner: My dog training is based on building a bond between you and your dog with mutual respect and…read morecommunication.

I just attended a three day seminar called Dogs to Donkeys - and it was excellent. The instructors…read moreand special speakers delivered the evidence-based content exactly as billed in advance in a clear, understandable way. Furthermore, they were friendly, humorous, and professional and the facility was perfect for the need and in a lovely part of the country. I'll watch for future events at Training Matters and I encourage you to do the same.

Great training facility, very clear directions, flexible hours; if you've ever had trouble cutting…read moreyour dog's nails, you need to see her work with her own dog. Highly recommended.

The staff is so friendly and have their act together. We…read morewould recommend this establishment to our friends and family... plus they r pet friendly.

My 5 month Labradoodle Oscar is a really proud graduate! Oscar is a very high energy, assertive…read moredog. By the time training started we were desperate for help with our bundle of "joy!" The second week I actually asked Paula if she thought something was wrong with him? She recommended some great books to assist me and really listened attentively to my concerns. He is still high energy but I now have the tools to be the boss in the best of ways. I highly recommend this program. You get so much more attention than a group class. Paula is a kind, patient lady and a pleasure to work with.

Sending our 6 month Bernadoodle puppy, Dolci, to First Choice Canine was the best decision we ever…read moremade. Dolci has always been a very smart puppy, and we taught her basic commands on our own. But we always struggled with some important things - loose/off leash walking, stay commands, and consistent recall. Despite how much we loved her, Dolci was adding significant stress into our lives. Walking her became a chore, as we struggled to prevent her for lunging at birds and eating anything and everything that was on the sidewalk. We also had a scary incident where she escaped from a fenced-in park off leash and ignored her recall. At some point, we realized that this was an unsustainable situation, and admitted that we didn't have the time or expertise needed to train Dolci on our own. Since taking Dolci to her first consultation at First Choice, we have been blown away by their professionalism, knowledge, and care. Ashy was Dolci's main trainer and was always excellent. She would always provide us detailed explanations of training concepts, kept us up to date about Dolci's progress (with Ashleigh's help!), and we always felt like she loved Dolci as much as we did. Deciding to pull the trigger on sending Dolci away for the off-leash training program was not easy. I worried that the Dolci we got back 4 weeks later would not be the same dog I knew and loved. But ultimately I had in faith the people we met and was heartened by other reviews I had read online. Since getting Dolci back, we have been blown away with what Ashy and First Choice were able to accomplish. Dolci has mastered sit/down/ bed (all with implied stays), recall, and off-leash heel/walking. But the changes went far beyond the commands - Dolci was more confident, and was able to focus in a way she never had before. She responds to our more subtle cues, which has increased our trust in her 10x. Walking her, which used to be stressful, is now a joy. Taking her to off-leash parks is now a normal part of our routine. At the end of the day, our lives have improved dramatically as a result of the training. And Dolci, who I once feared would have her personality "trained out of her", is happier and more herself than ever before. We would highly recommend First Choice to anyone looking for training for their dogs.

Truly one of the best facilities and trainers we've met. KB and staff treat the dogs as their own…read moreand train each dog according to their personality. Piper is our 3.5 yr old lab mix rescue and she has always been anxious, sensitive, cautious and yet so sweet and happy since we got her. Once we got our new puppy, Whiskey, we saw he was taking on some of her traits. When Whiskey was 5.5 months old we decided we definitely needed help. We met with KB for a consult and knew immediately he was the one for the dogs, especially Piper. We boarded them for training for 5 weeks and what a difference!!!! KB and Ashleigh were fantastic with providing weekly updates, pictures and were always there should we have questions. Once the 5 weeks were over, we spent two sessions one on one with KB so he could train us as well and continue the progress. We also take the dogs to group classes when we can. Piper's confidence has skyrocketed, she can settle down in any situation and responds perfectly. She will always have an introverted personality, but seeing her progress and relax has been amazing. Whiskey is perfect with commands off leash and on, has manners, and is a typical happy goofy retriever puppy. We trust KB and his staff without question and have also boarded the dogs with them when we needed "babysitters". Highly recommend First Choice Canine!

We recently asked Karen to help us work with our dog Franklin. Frankie had a few behaviors we were…read moreworried about and we couldn't understand what was driving him. Karen figured it out very quickly and got us all on track with some simple, positive training that has been fun and highly effective. She is very gentle but firm and her direction is simple to follow. Karen shares a lot of information with her clients to help build lasting understanding and sound practices. She has also recommended a variety of management tools that have made our lives simpler and kept Frank safer.

My husband and I could not say nicer things about Karen! She was incredibly helpful and very…read moreknowledgeable. Due to Covid, we couldn't do physical lessons and instead used Zoom. I was worried it might be harder to learn but it didn't make any difference - it worked incredibly well!! Whisper really enjoyed his training so much and Karen was patient and friendly and shared all kinds of helpful tips to keep our little boy on the right track to success! If you need a dog trainer, she's the perfect choice!

Have a 4.5 mos old GSD puppy that loooves his daycare time playing with all the other dogs. Just a…read morehalf day tires him out for the next 24-48 hours. Staff is friendly and provides an update of his antics everyday I come to pick him up. Also we are seeing huge improvements in his behavior with the weekly training classes too!

The owner/trainer of this facility is not a good person. Don't take your dogs here…read more We tried to take our 5 mo old puppy to a class here. He is a big puppy, around 43 lbs when we brought him. We had our puppy for a month at this point and know that he always barks at new dogs until he gets to smell them. He has never shown any sign of aggression (growl, snarl, showing his teeth, etc.) and is actually very submissive when playing with other dogs. When our pup saw the other dogs for the class, he barked at each of them to say hello and couldn't wait to play. When we met the trainer, our puppy barked to say hello (again, this is normal behavior for him, just a vocal dog). We were turned away at the door because our pup was too big, too "dominant", and too "aggressive". Without even working with our dog, he immediately said we need to get bitter apple spray and a pronged collar for him. To top it off, he said "your dog has a chemical imbalance in his brain". Incredible rude and uncalled for given that we just met him and he doesn't know us or our dog. I tried contacting the facility after this to get my deposit back and they have not responded to any of my calls or emails. This place is just not run by kind or honest people. There are better training facilities. We are now working with a trainer who took the time to meet our dog and understand him. She loves our puppy and commonly "jokes" about how he's so smart and sweet she wants to take him home. He's a wonderful, very trainable, very sweet boy. If you are looking for positive reinforcement training, this is not the place to go. If you have a big dog, this is not the place to go. If you value the trainer caring about your dog, this is not the place to go. Just don't go here.