Kasey Nash, Joyful Paws Review I'm writing this review for Kasey Nash, Joyful Paws, because she is a superb trainer and I'm very grateful that she trained our dog Daisy to become a service dog. Daisy is a mini labradoodle and was 2 1/2 when she began training with Kasey. Previously she had had two intermediate classes at the K-9 Connecticut Education Center. To summarize, in our first session Kasey explained in detail what would be involved, and stressed the importance of my involvement. Daisy had 20 lessons spread out over 6 months. Lessons took place in Kasey's very well equipped basement, Home Goods, Target, Petco, and Cabela Sports. Kasey sent detailed notes after each lesson on what and how to practice, and how to take commands to new levels. Daisy bonded with Kasey the first day, and became very excited at even the mention of "Kasey". After a 5 week evaluation period she received her "Service Puppy in Training Vest" (a proud day). Approximately five months later, Daisy did a fantastic job on her service dog test which lasted more than two hours. Daisy's primary task was location assistance and guidance. She learned to guide me through a department store such as Home Goods, stop at curbs outside, and more. To name just a few commands: Left, right, forward, outside, button, here, wait. Kasey's method was to explain a new command, demonstrate it with Daisy, then teach me to perform the task with Daisy. Lots of treats were used! Before the next lesson, Daisy and I practiced the new commands extensively, at least three times a week along with previous commands. To give you a few examples of Kasey's teaching, we spent an hour or so getting on and off the glass elevator at Cabela Sports. Daisy learned elevator etiquette and got over fear of accelerations and abrupt stops. The techniques I learned from Kasey allowed me to build on many commands during our practice between lessons. To name a few, elevator techniques were used to teach escalators. "Outside" was extended to "Back" and "Find the trail" while hiking. For fun, during one lesson, Kasey taught Daisy to push a "door open" assistance button. This took less than half an hour to my amazement. A year later Daisy still remembers this "button" command. Kasey organized a number of field trips with her other dogs in training: Mystic Aquarium and a Scavenger Hunt to name two. Kasey wrote an "Attestation Letter" about Daisy's training which was instrumental in getting service dog approval for Aer Lingus and later for EuroStar (train to UK). I highly recommend Kasey Nash to anyone considering Service Dog training. read more

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I have been training dogs for 40 years. And training my own service dogs for almost 20. I have worked with dozens of positive dog trainers. But Kasey is one of a kind! I immediately recognized she has skills way beyond mine and has so much knowledge of dog training and working service dogs. Far beyond most trainers. She helped my current service dog brush up on some skills and fix a couple issues we were having. She helped me create a near perfect service dog. I am so impressed with her that I asked her to produce and begin training my next service dog for me when my current girl retires. Joyful Paws is AMAZING! read more

Joyful Paws Service Dogs - Kestrel the black English Labrador service dog laying on a mat next to a table. - Pet Training Near Me - Windsor, Connecticut

I am a disabled Marine Corps Veteran and thanks to Kasey have an amazing service dog to go with me everywhere. Kasey at Joyful Paws is amazing. I worked with her for about a year to train my service dog Ollie. I took her Rally obedience classes and we worked together one on one. She is patient, kind and extremely knowledgeable. If it was possible I would give her 10 stars. She understands your dog as well as your relationship with your dog. She see's things that I never did and taught me a lot. We live far away now in Maui, but Kasey still meets with me via zoom and has helped me through many things with Ollie. I looked up other trainers in general as well as Serviced specific trainers and Kasey's prices were extremely reasonable. I always felt like she was spending extra time with us and I would have happily paid her twice at much because she is worth it. read more

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Kasey and Joyful Paws have been outstanding in helping my wife and I self train a successor service dog. I am disabled and use a wheelchair daily to get around in. I previously obtained two program trained service dogs. I am still partnered with my second program trained service dog...who just turned 8 years old. Last January, after extensive research, my wife and I headed up to Northern California to obtain a beautiful 100% Labrador 8 week old puppy that we intended to train as a successor service dog after my current one decides to retire. We knew quite a bit about training puppies as we had recently been two time volunteer puppy raisers for the program where I had received my service dog. We also have had many pet doggies over the years. Still, we felt we needed a professional for our puppy training, and, most certainly, we needed lots of help in training the higher level service dog tasks. This is where Kasey and Joyful paws came into the picture...both for the puppy training and for the higher more complex needs in training a service dog. For a full year now, we have been working pretty much weekly in getting our pup up to standards so she will be fully qualified (by all definitions) and task trained to help me as a highly skilled and fully task trained service dog. Our pup has progressed beyond our wildest expectations. This is partly due to obtaining the right dog, more so it is because of the outstanding help, information, knowledge and fully competent training provided by Kasey! Kasey and Joyful Paws have been right up there as the main reason I believe that our pup will eventually move from the "service dog in training" mode to that of getting vested up in a full on "service dog vest". She will be helping me each day in that capacity. This has all been made possible because of Kasey. I think anyone in need of training help for their dog could not find anyone better than Kasey and Joyfull Paws. *****FIVE STARS OR REALLY MORE***** Thanks Kasey!!! read more

I wish I could leave 10 stars. Kasey is by far the most kind and compassionate trainer I have ever worked with. I found her on accident and the fact she specialized as a service dog trainer was an amazing find for us. A friend recommended this group and I took my pup to a class she was teaching. She immediately made me feel comfortable and took a lot of extra time chatting with me and helping me with my pup. I met other clients of hers and all they could do was sing her praises. Kasey has always been professional to work with as well as a lot of fun. She has always listened, never rushed us thru anything and I always felt like I was getting way more than I paid for as many time she hung around to make sure I had all of my questions answered way after our scheduled time. I am a disabled veteran and deal with a few different kinds of disabilities, Kasey adapted to what I needed as well as what Ollie needed to learn for each of our training sessions. When I told her I wanted to learn more about dog behavior, she was SO awesome and recommended tons of great resources and was always up to chat with me about it. We moved away and every other trainer I have spoken to charges 2-3 times what Kasey charges. She is exceptionally priced as she works with disabled folks who are most likely on fixed incomes like myself. I still meet with her over Zoom to chat about progress and issues and she always makes time for us. If it wasn't an all day flight to see her, I would still train with her as much as possible. I am jealous of the people that get to work with Kasey as she is an amazing human being and an excellent service dog trainer. I know Ollie, my pup, misses her as he became a complete mush ball everytime we met with her, and he is VERY selective about people he likes. He LUVS her. I just can't say enough about how amazing Kasey is. I would happily talk to any person considering her as a service dog trainer and vouch for her 100%. read more

Kasey is the most competent and compassionate service dog trainer I've ever met. First and foremost besides the training Kasey treats me like a competent and capable human despite my disability. Next she listens to my dogs body language, stress signals, and other subtle cues and listens to his needs. Also she is skilled in handling the public during our sessions. Kasey has multiple times gone over session for free graciously giving her time without charging me extra. She is extremely generous with her time, to a fault. She never rushes me and is always 5-10 minutes early for session. Kasey adapts my dogs training to my disability trying multiple methods to see what's best for us as a team. She puts my dogs comfort first. Kasey uses the most up to date and humane methods when training my dog. She doesn't use pain fear or intimidation to train my dog. She is kind, fair, and loving toward my dog. I drive 5 hours round trip to train with Kasey and I would not have it any other way. She is worth it! read more

Results and Integrity Are Not Guaranteed by Joyful Paws Joyful Paws charges $125.00 for one private lesson and $600.00 for a prepaid package of 6 private lessons. In good faith I prepaid $600.00 for the package of 6 private lessons. After 6 weeks and 5 private lessons with Joyful Paws I still could not take my newly adopted dog for a comfortable walk without him pulling me and barking. Not wanting to waste any more time, I contacted Joyful Paws to cancel my last private lesson and request a refund. Joyful Paws responded with no, leaving me out $600.00 with no results. I have since started private training with another local trainer and after two private lessons my dog walks calmly and quietly by my side. Results and Integrity are Not Guaranteed by Joyful Paws. read more

Kasey at Joyful Paws has been an integral part of owner training my prospect service dog. I have a good understanding of basic obedience and task training but when I got my 2nd dog, I was physically struggling to not only train her, but understand her. Through Kasey's extensive knowledge and experience, she taught my family and I exactly what my dog needed. Her teaching us and thoroughly explaining a plan specific for my dog, made a world of difference. Kasey is extremely patient, professional and in my opinion, most importantly, passionate. She understands the language of dogs so well and is able to translate that to owners so we can provide what they need in order to be happy and thrive in training. I'm so grateful for Kasey and all that she has taught me and my dog!! read more

Beware! Casey charges $129 per visit or $600 for six visits. She came for the first time last week and I was struck by the fact that I had told beware! Casey charges $129 per visit or $600 for six visits. She came for the first time last week and I was struck by the fact that I had told her it had an acciden when the joystick of my wheelchair collapsed and I was pulled out of the chair so I'm now wearing a brace on my red hand which is the hand I drive the chair with. We were going down with the dog and I live in a multi Plex apartment complex and we're going through the fire door with the dog Had a pooping accident I had a bag with the cleaning stuff treats water bowl everything I carry out for training what struck me was with a brace on my hand I was having a hard time navigating the chair the door in the bag in the cleanup in case he just stood there she didn't even offer to telescope take the bag so that I could do the other thing so I told her to go downstairs and I would meet her there to save time. we made an appointment for this week at 10:30. I also have an appointment with my groomer and physical therapy so winter 30 came around and she didn't but she wasn't here I called at 10:35 and apparently I was calling and she was calling me at the same time. I asked her to use the intercom last week so I could this the only way I could buzz her in when I finally got her on the phone I said you're late can you add the time next week and she said no I'm not giving you any extra time and I don't wanna work with you and she accuse me of yelling at her I am a trained MSW counselor social worker and teacher I do not yell it's not in my personality or my training. She is hypersensitive it was just a miss perception on her part and I told her I didn't like being accused of something I wasn't doing I spoke to her in a very normal voice. $129 per session for a disabled person on a fix income.It is a lot of money, however I was willing to go with the six sessions and sacrifice whatever I had to to make sure my dogReceived the training. I say I was highly disappointing is an understatement she didn't seem to be particularly sensitive to the needs of a disabled Person as evidenced byThe fact that she just stood there as I was trying to clean up the mess , a igave tge chair ,the door,etc and she didn't even offer to hold the bag I had the water and the bowl and the other stuff in,si I could clean up the mess.So I told her to go down to head downstairs and I would meet her there. She doesn't particularly seem to be sensitive to the needs of the disabled, misperceives, and gets defensive and overreacts to misperceptions. read more

I met Kasey in 2016 when I was looking to train my dog Bonnie as my Service Dog. Although Bonnie was always the oldest in all of our group training sessions. Typically Service Dogs are trained as puppies it didn't stop Kasey from training Bonnie and myself from the very beginning with completing our three CGC (Canine Good Citizenship) platforms. Kasey is very patient with teaching me the basic fundamentals to the in depth training that went into training for Service Dog. Kasey took us out in public to earn our Public Access with showing us how to interact with people, other dogs, different transportation situations and to navigate through stores etc. We also dabbled in some Rally and also Bonnie completed all of her AKC Trick Dog before completing our Service Dog Training. As Bonnie and I go through our days we use every aspect of our training that Kasey brought to our training sessions from private to group classes. I know if I ever have any questions or if a situation came up I could get in touch with Kasey and she would either help me over the phone or we could meet. My education with my Service Dog has been the most exciting and life changing experience I have ever had with Kasey. Bonnie and I continue to grow each and every day because of the training I have received from Kasey. I also have a 1 1/2 Lab that with the training I received with my basic training that I have passed down to our new family dog. Bonnie and I trained with Kasey for two and a half years. Thank you Kasey for changing my life as I couldn't have asked for the absolute best Service Dog that serves me everyday and for that I am truly grateful. read more

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I love Kasey. She has helped me become a more effective trainer. My dog has become more obedient. He loves Rally training and can't wait for class day. read more

My husband has been working with Kasey for over a year now, With our dog Cali. We are self training with Kaseys expert direction. We are very pleased with the professionalism and level of training we are receiving, Our dog reflects this in her behavior, and abilities. We have recommend her to friends, and it was also a good experience. Anyone looking for this service , we would 100% recommend Joyful Paws. read more

Kasey got back to me almost immediately and was so eager to help me out with my journey of getting my own service dog! She has given me so many great resources for pups, and has given me such amazing tips on training and what to expect when my pup is coming home. She is so good with training, she really likes to get to the dogs level of understanding and really emphasizes on not overworking the dog and not stressing him/her out. She has incredible patience, and also gets straight to the point when working with her dogs. I really recommend Kasey for any dog training needs for all shapes and sizes! read more

Where do I even start? Before I say anything further, I just want to put it out there that if you are searching for an outstanding service dog trainer, not to mention truly wonderful person, then stop right here. The search is over! Kasey (Joyful Paws) is without a doubt the best of the best. I cannot say enough wonderful things about our experience with her and with Joyful Paws. I first met with Kasey before I even had a puppy to train. Just upon meeting her, I knew that I had found the right person. Kasey was warm, caring, knowledgeable and straightforward. I struggle with seizures and need a service dog to alert and respond when I seize. Kasey advised my mom and me what to specifically look for during the process of finding an appropriate service dog breeder that would fit my needs. And ever since we found a puppy that fit what we were looking for, Kasey has been there for me the entire time, through thick and thin. I'll be honest -- the process of training one's own service dog is no easy feat. But we are already a full year into it now, and it has truly been a life-changing experience. And I'm telling you, there is no way we would be where we are now without Kasey. No way. Kasey has helped me with training my puppy to open the door, turn on the light, go get help, press buttons (and eventually a 911 button), provide deep pressure therapy, bark to alert to a seizure, and much, much more. And that's not even including the public access aspect! We have learned to heel appropriately, ignore other dogs, keep focused on me when being cooed at by passersby, and so much more. And when the training became too intense and anxiety-producing for both my dog and me, Kasey wisely advised us to take a break from the intensive training and just work on strengthening our bond together. Throughout our training together, Kasey has always given feedback and advice based on our specific situation...never a canned response. Kasey has always been so honest and genuine, which is something that truly sets her apart. She is clearly so passionate about what she does, and that passion shines through every time we have a session together. On top of the amazing individual and class training I've received from Kasey and Joyful Paws, Kasey also offered several service dog training seminars, each of which was full of extraordinarily useful, interesting and valuable information. I was so thankful to have had the opportunity to attend and learn from several of Kasey's seminars. Overall, I really just can't say enough about Kasey and Joyful Paws. Kasey is absolutely a rare treasure in the world of service dog training. I honestly do not know where I would be without her. Thank you so very much, Kasey. You have truly changed my family's life. We so appreciate you! read more

I found Kasey through a friend's recommendation and was impressed with her background training service dogs. I was just looking for regular training for my golden retriever puppy, who was 8-weeks-old at the time and was so impressed with Kasey's skills with a dog. Most things she taught him, he picked up in a matter of minutes. I was shocked. He didn't listen one bit to us. Kasey is the perfect mix of sweet and firm. My rambunctious puppy loved her but also listened and learned. He knew she meant business but also that, if he did what he was told, he'd get treats and love from her. Because of Kasey's help and guidance (she had to train my husband and I too) our pup has never chewed on furniture, respects our cats, doesn't go up the stairs or into the living room without permission, and was fully potty trained by 16 weeks. He's now six months old and just a model dog. Kasey raises and trains service dogs and invited our 'regular' pooch to take her 7-week certification class for extra training and he came away with so many valuable skills. I highly recommend Joyful Paws. Life is so much easier with a well trained dog. read more