When I first got French Toast in December of 2019, I was intent on having her trained like a well…read morekibbled machine... a puppy that works for nobody but me hey hey hey.
I read books on dog training, watched countless youtube videos, and spoke with a number of friends who were dog owners to soak in any tips or tricks that could lend my pup to be the most obedient servant... F.Toast bum bum bum bum.
Well... "I looked back on where I failed, and in every place I checked, the only common thread has been my [certain inept]"
Now, I was able to train toast on a handful of things: Sit, down, paw, stay ohhhhhhhh ohhhh (even before Biebs made it popular), and a handful of other commands. But there were still big problems. When anyone... literally anyone comes over my home, Toast wants to greet them, cuddle with them, jump on them, slide into the room, put her paws around them... lol. One thing she does not do is run away ;)
I don't know why this review has turned into 100 hidden song references... but I'm just gonna go with it.
So, after 2 years of owning Toast I decided to call in professional help. But that isn't the whole story.
The whole story is after about 1.5 years of owning toast I reached out to Tomas online and he was like, great, let's set up a phone call! And then I waffled and waffled and forgot to call him. Then I was embarrassed about so much time had passed... and then the time just got longer that I didn't schedule that phone call. And then maybe 4 months after I originally had reached out... I wrote him an apology email and he was like.. "It's ok! Let's chat!" Me: Smiling face with sweat emoji on temple.
So I schedule one training session with him, and I have to be honest. I think that this should be called a consultation. We were chatting more about the goals, Toasts behaviors, etc then really getting into the nitty gritty hands on training.
Which is FINE! I mean... we 100% needed that session to really start to map out how we were going to work together. But... I will say we probably did equal to or more diagnosis then hands on training. So I was a TINY bit apprehensive to schedule more training sessions. BUT I took a leap of faith, and it couldn't have paid off more handsomely.
After that first session/consultation, we've done nothing but hands on training during the entirety of our sessions. I scheduled 3 more sessions with Tomas after that initial consultation/training and each one has been jam packed with learnings, eye opening experiences, and most importantly growth in my dog
Now if you've researched dog training before, you'll likely know that you're really training yourself as well as the dog if not more. And one of the MOST important things is repetition of the trainings. Also... basically training your dog is a complex pattern of bribing your dog with a near endless amount of small rewards. So, get ready with a lot of small treats just FYI.
Tomas has been a joy to work with. He's very even keeled, he models the training and then puts you in the hot seat (which is 100 percent completely necessary in training)... I mean... for anything to work you're gonna have to continue to train after Tomas leaves. Tomas lays the foundation... and you start building the home. Hopefully a home one day where my puppy will immediately go to her bed and stay there when guests come in. We're getting better and better, but it will take a little time... and some tenderness. One day "We'll walk upon the water, we'll rise above the mess"
He is receptive, easy to work with, punctual, returns messages and phone calls promptly. He has been an absolute pleasure to work with. He has a sense of humor. I mean... definitely high recommendations for working with him. The guy knows what he's doing and it's quite obvious.
And btw when I said Tomas lays the foundation... basically he's one of those new fancy 3D Printer concrete robots that builds a house in like 16 hours lol. Arn't those SO cool btw?
I love watching those videos.
Anyways, definitely giving my full endorsement. I found Tomas on Yelp here when I was looking for dog trainers, and I will add my voice to the small handful of very positive reviews already on his page. Looking forward to continuing to work with him. We have our 5th session next week.
Definitely one of the best investments in myself and my puppy I've made in sometime.