I chose Jeff over other Trainers because of his loving nature towards Ginger, who was a member of our family! With over 30 years of experience in this Force Free training, he knows what he's doing. He knows how to communicate winning the dogs heart, while TEACHING both Pooch and Parent, how to achieve successful results without pain. Jeff debunks a lot of so-called "standard techniques" in favor of gentle, effective tools. We are still teaching. & learning things! Give him a call -he is responsive, timely and generous, WITHOUT the exhaustively huge "Egos" so many other SELF glorified Trainers personify.Cheers. read more

Force-Free Dog Training - Ginger Santa Cruz - Pet Training Near Me

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It's been exactly three years since our training session with Milo and it's been smooth sailing ever since. Any hiccups or bumps in the road, Jeff has been more than generous with texting / calling. I really recommend Jeff to anyone seriously looking to train their dog. Milo is so sweet and easy to walk now. I love life with him! read more

Force-Free Dog Training - Pet Training Near Me

I inquired to a lot of places. I read Force-Free's every single review and went with my gut-feeling. It's 100% worth it. Let me share a little background: We adopted our adult mini poodle (5-7 years old ) 10 months ago. He's crate trained but NOT potty trained. We tried potty-training several times by watching educational videos online and it was just confusing and contradicting. As a result, we gave up and he wears diaper since he is an indoor dog. He started snapping and actually bit my husband as he was removing the diaper. Bisko doesn't like it when we take off his diaper. On top of this, he barks like crazy when there's a visitor. He can go on and on for hours. The aggressive barking and snapping was addressed and corrected right after the first session! We are now currently doing potty training the right way. As the name of training entails, no force ( no shock collars, prong collars, etc. were used ) It's a lot easier now as there are definitive instructions provided on how to continue training. Addressing the negative reviews on Yelp: As I mentioned, I read every single review before deciding to contact Jeff: 1. For the initial contact, a phone call inquiry is really required as he has several questions about your dog. This cannot be done via text as there will be a lot of back and forth. 2. The other negative review is quite irrelevant. The training was successful for years and the incident happened 3 years after. There are a lot of factors that can happen in between those times. CONCLUSION: It's our first time trying training with a dog behaviorist and seen huge & significant improvement right away. This business is recommended! Hope we can continue further leash training later on. read more

Force-Free Dog Training - My husband, Vince, training Bisko during our walk. Thanks for the harness/vest recommendation, Jeff! - Pet Training Near Me

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Jeff is remarkable, consistently, reinforcing his commands with quiet confidence. Our dog learned new skills almost immediately, no longer fearful of all other dogs. Very professional and able to be communicated with easily. And continues communicating, answering questions, after the training is over. read more

Jeff is an amazing trainer! He has a great disposition and very calming manner, which our 4 month old puppy adapted to relatively fast. We adopted our dog from a rescue about 6 weeks ago, and he's a mixed breed - part Maltipoo and possibly a Dachshund mix. He seems to have some anxiety, and Jeff gave us some great tips on how to help him adapt to new people & situations. After our first session and the suggested things we've implemented at home, we have already seen improvement in his behavior. We're looking forward to future sessions with Jeff and would highly recommend him! read more

My husband and I bought an unsocialized 8 month dachshund about a year ago. His issues were primarily: pulling himself when he walked on leash to the point he would hurt my arm when walking, reactivity with dogs and people so much so, that he would continuously bark for up to 3 hours solid when a new guest was home. Lastly he would try and bolt out of the front door to a busy street. There were other behavioral issues but these were our main concerns. It is without exaggeration when I say that Jeff's force free dog draining saved my dog from living a life of fear and anxiety, to being a relaxed dog. It is not without your own consistent reinforcement of the training that leads to positive results. My husband and I are now able to have guests over, go on peaceful walks with our dog, and even have family vacations with busy Main Streets and crowds with other dogs present. I am forever grateful to Jeff's services and we will utilize him again when we get our second puppy. Thank you Jeff! read more

Force-Free Dog Training - Sitting/resting at a restaurant while we are able to eat. We never thought this would be possible. - Pet Training Near Me

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I have used Jeff before with my other dogs and had fantastic results. So I knew who to call. I recently adopted a 10year old dog after the owner passed away. Jeff was wonderful teaching my Chico how to get along with his brother Dakota. He also solved Chicos aggressive behavior when anyone got near me he use to growl, now he is a well behaved dog. Thank you Jeff and Force-Free Dog Training. read more

Force-Free Dog Training - Chico behaves nicely now! Thanks Jeff! - Pet Training Near Me

I initially hired a trainer who was unprofessional, expensive and did little to nothing to help my dog with her fear of people and other dogs. She is a 2 yr old female Bassett Fauve de Bretayne. It was a terrible experience and a waste of money. I found Jeff Holmes. He was able to help my dog in the first session. He knows what he is doing and was so helpful to me as an owner. I would highly recommend Jeff. He is the best. read more

*** I CANNOT RECOMMED JEFF HOLMES, FORCE FREE DOG TRAINING. PLEASE READ WHY!!!!! We hired Jeff Holmes several times. We had aggression issues when we just had 2 dogs. Then, when we added 2 pups to the family. We paid him more than $5,000. In fact, we still have one more session on his books that we haven't used. His agreement with his clients is that he will always be available to us via text or phone for advice when a situation arises. Over this past 10 months, I have texted him 4 times for advice. He did not respond. The first 3 questions were benign, so I just tried to figure things out myself. However, my text to Jeff on July 15, 2024, was urgent and scary!! Three of our 4 dogs were in a horrific fight and one of my dogs was severely injured. He had to have emergency surgery. In fact, had to have a second surgery one week later. I texted, I called and I emailed Jeff with no response. I finally found a way to message him on Yelp asking, begging him for help. I finally received a message from him saying "Sorry, I'm booked for this time". I don't know why Jeff Holmes is being this way towards us and our dogs. We've paid him a lot of money. We felt comfortable referring him in the past but not anymore. Because he has turned his back on us, because he has turned into something other than a compassionate dog trainer we are faced with re-homing one of our dogs because we cannot afford to start training with a new trainer/behaviorist. Jeff Holmes already knows all 4 of my dogs. A new trainer would have to spend hours just to get to know their personalities and the dynamics of the pack. The dismissiveness that he has shown us is appalling and unprofessional. Just know that if you hire Jeff Holmes, you probably won't get what you paid for. You definitely won't get the lifetime support he promises. He sure doesn't mind using pictures of my Australian shepherds on this Yelp page. Please think twice before hiring him!!! He may leave a rebuttal comment below. However, that won't excuse him from taking our money and going against his word that he would always be there to help. read more

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I regret the tidy sum that the 2 hour session cost me. Jeff seemed to have a wrote prescription despite specific individual dog issues. He uses beanbags as a distractor, but noise for interruption has previously induced lifelong fear response in one of our dogs. He will try and sell you a citronella collar that emits a puff of essential oil to call dogs attention. How does that help when a dog has another dog's neck in their jaws? No good answers. read more

Jeff is exactly the person I was looking for to help my new fur baby learn how to behave properly and FAST. I had recently taken my little girl to petsmart for a foo-foo private lesson and everything the trainer had told me to do only made the behavior worse and caused more stress for us both. I had reached out to countless people for training advice and got so much information that turned out to be totally useless and baseless. I've read hundreds of articles and watched SO MANY YouTube videos, trying to find a way to work with my new little companion. Still, we weren't getting very far. She needed something so much more than what I could do for her on my own and the hard days were quickly turning into weeks. My adorable little girl was turning into a bratty land shark and my limbs were slowly being eaten away. Without exaggeration, I feared for my future self. So, I called force free dog training. She's still small, which is the best time to jump on glaring behavioral issues. Professional help is an investment that will last for her lifetime, you truly CAN NOT put a price on peace of mind. I don't just want to have a dog, I want to peacefully coexist with my intelligent and loyal beast for as long as possible. Jeff doesn't mess around and he won't bs you out of your dollars to sell you snake oil. He clearly knows what he's doing, he made it a fun day for my girl and is deeply knowledgeable and personable. In two very short hours, I can literally say that my baby has transformed. I'm ecstatic. I learned so much and after immediately implementing our lessons, I have to say that tonight has been THE MOST pleasant evening I've spent with my puppy so far. We were both calm and relaxed and got to enjoy time together outside in our environment. I wish I had found force free training with my previous kids, I'll recommend this business to anyone and everyone that will listen, proper training saves lives. I can only imagine how much more we will learn in the future with Jeff. This business is a real gem read more

Force-Free Dog Training - Pet Training Near Me

Jeff and his approach to dog training is a blessing to us and our latest dog companion. Casey is the fifth dog we've brought into our family over 35 years. We were sure we could handle training ourselves, but this big guy turned out nothing like our others. We struggled, tried everything, and finally called Jeff and Force-Free Dog Training. His approach was respectful, kind but firm, and effective. It was as though he could talk to the dog, figure out what his squeaks and yips meant. He taught us a lot about helping our puppy feel like a valued part of our family. We signed up for 4-5 sessions, once a week, and looked forward to all of them. Our puppy isn't perfect (what puppy is) yet, but we now have the tools for helping him adjust to this new life and his new pack. Thank you, Jeff, for making that happen. read more

Force-Free Dog Training - Pet Training Near Me

Everything I read about Force-Free Dog Training was spot on. Jeff is amazing and is not only good at what he does but also loves what he does and it shows. He's in it to win it and we have just begun to work with him and have a very difficult case which is aggression and darting into the street that he is teaching us how to modify. So happy that it was not hopeless and found Jeff. Chows are notorious for not working with e-collar training so needed to find a gentle alternative. This is my recommendation if you're looking for help. read more

We highly recommend Jeff and Force-Free Dog Training! He is very informative, patient and funny. We have a few dogs of different ages/breeds and Jeff was very helpful in helping us recognize how to properly handle situations while respecting each dog's own unique personality and boundaries. We were very nervous about having new Husky pups with our senior dogs (one being a 10 year chihuahua with spine disease) but even after one training session we are feeling confident in keeping our senior dogs happy while raising our Husky pups to be well behaved. We're looking forward to more training sessions soon and highly suggest Jeff! read more

Force-Free Dog Training - 8 week old Husky puppy & 10 year old chihuahua poodle - Pet Training Near Me

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Jeff was amazing due to some unforeseen circumstances we didn't continue the training but he is not joking when he says he can make a huge change in dogs behavior in one session! read more

Force-Free Dog Training - Pet Training Near Me

I, too, highly recommend Jeff and force-Free Dog Training! He is a trained animal behaviorist and he knows and understand dogs. We adopted two mixed breed siblings that are 2.5 years old. My knees and hips were suffering from being dragged down the street from chasing after squirrels and cats in the neighborhood. Jeff taught my boys how to behave in his firm yet gentle loving manner and taught me how to be a better pet parent. They respond to simple commands now but can certainly use more work. Walking is definitely an easier, pain-free and enjoyable after the first session with Jeff. We paid for 4 sessions and looking forward to more sessions in the near future. Well worth the investment! read more

I have a 6 month Goldendoodle and was really struggling trying to train her on walks and not jumping on people. I was basically non existent to her whenever the leash went on and she would pull so much even though it was choking her which I felt terrible about. After searching for a trainer for a couple weeks I found Jeff and am very happy I did. One 2 hour private training session and he has completely corrected all the issues I was having with her on walks/leash and around other people/dogs. I am so glad I didn't move forward with some of the other training companies I looked into (which were all extremely expensive). I will be recommending Force-Free Dog Training to any friends/family or anyone we see on a walk that are jealous of how good my Charlie is and is looking for a trainer. Thanks Jeff. read more

We had a new edition to our family, a German shepherd puppy, Bodhi. We had a big pressing concern, Bodhi would love to play too rough with our little chihuahua mix Audrey. It was causing stress to keep them apart in the house while still house training Bodhi. Jeff was able to see us in a very timely manner and had great energy and advice in helping us be able to tone done Bodhi's demeanor. Even after one session there was a big difference in Bodhi's behavior and being able to curb issues. I recommend Jeff, and I appreciate everything he did to help us read more

Force-Free Dog Training - Pet Training Near Me