Richard has been amazing with my 3 year old chihuahua/terrier rescue. He has done a great job training my dog (and me!) to decrease his aggression and barking/pulling/lunging while walking. I would highly reccomend him as a trainer. read more

My shepherd mix , Bumby, has been working with Rich for seven months and her behavior has improved drastically! Rich takes the time to work with not only my dog, but also makes sure that I (AND my boyfriend) understand her training, progress, and plans for the future. We don't move to the next step until we all understand and succeed, so the training really sinks in and is effective. I adopted Bumby knowing that it would be a lot of work, but not realizing her aggressive behavior until afterward. I reached out to Rich after a year and a half of struggling with walks and basic training, and he has really been a life-saver! Rich is really more than just a dog-walker - he's a professional dog trainer who takes the time to understand where your dog is and build a plan specifically for her. Bumby's behavior has improved on many levels: her eye-contact has improved and she knows to focus on me; she comes when I call and understands commands; she is more affectionate and trusting; and her aggression is under control. I can see that she is an intelligent creature who is stimulated by the training and loves to show off what she knows! My own behavior has improved too: I know what "signs" indicate how Bumby is going to react to certain situations; I can constantly correct behavior and reward so that the training stays fun and interesting for me and the dog; I am more comfortable with Bumby being around or near other dogs - and hope to have her interacting with them one-on-one soon; I know how to expose Bumby to new situations to desensitize her and help her enjoy new environments. I've learned so much about how to read and interact with my dog's behavior - and we are much closer for it, too! Rich has improved our lives in so many ways - from the basic (helping me adjust Bumby's food portions and feeding schedules so that she is the right weight and build for her breed) to the more complex (monitoring and adjusting her exercise regime so that she stays interested and motivated). He's helped make training fun and convenient for me. He's reliable and I never have to worry if I need to stay at work late because I know that Bumby's spent some quality time with Rich during the afternoon. I'm not sure what we would do without his daily visits! I've learned so much from Rich and see the time and effort he puts into working with Bumby - he really cares about her and she look s forward to her time with him. I would recommend Rich and Kaygo Dog Training to anyone who wants to understand their dog's behavior and deepen their canine connection. read more

Kaygo Dog Training - Rich training with Bumby and Kharma. Amazing! - Pet Training Near Me

My dog Edmund was about as anxious as you can get. A former street dog, he would cringe at buses, kids, people, basketballs, and any other loud noise you can imagine. His public freakouts were the stuff of legend in our household (oh you know, just DRAGGING MY DOG DOWN THE SIDEWALK, isn't this how you do it?), and he would regularly refuse to leave the apartment in the afternoon. After 4 months of poop on our living room carpet, I followed the advice of Alex C (hi neighbor!) and gave Rich a call. Within a week after our first session, Edmund was already more attentive on walks. He stopped having freakouts. We could go for a 45 minute walk through SOMA at rush hour without incident. And best of all HE IS A HAPPY NORMAL DOG. When we adopted Edmund, the rescue's behaviorist warned us that he would never improve and would probably get worse with any big life changes. Now we know that he can be just as joyful, attentive, and well-behaved as any other dog we see. People now regularly stop me on the street to comment on how well-behaved Edmund is. Richard's techniques are mindful and realistic, they're very much based on cognitive behavioral theory -- I would know, I'm an Actual Scientist -- and most importantly, they work. We still have a little ways to go, but now that we have the tools that we need, the work is on us. read more

Our dog, Brody, has been with Richard ever since we moved to the Bay Area from the Midwest. I was looking for someone who could walk him during the weekdays and also do training. Brody developed some on-leash aggression after our move and I wanted someone to help us get it under control. A tenant in the building we lived in was using Richard to help train their really aggressive dog. In a matter of weeks I saw that dog drastically improve so contacted Richard to work with Brody. It's been two and a half years and we still depend on Richard. Brody's training needs have lessened due to the work Richard does with him and he still comes every day to walk him. Richard has seen us through our initial move to SF, a subsequent move to JLS, and the birth of our first child. He is super dependable and has been there for our training needs every step of the way. Brody is so much calmer and more predictable and he loves his time with Richard. Richard had taught us a lot, too, about how to be in sync with our dog and anticipate his behavior. We've all learned a lot and we highly recommend Richard and Kaygo Dog Training! read more

Richard has been a life-saver to me and my dog, Ruby, a very energetic red heeler mix. I adopted her, knowing it would be a lot of work, but not seeing her aggressive behavior til about a month after I got her. Only knowing very basic training, I hired Richard to help me. Now, ten months later, I feel confident that I can handle Ruby. My neighbors compliment Ruby on her improvement! She can play with other dogs now, but I can also predict what kind of dogs she'll be most successful with and which to avoid. More and more often she is having positive interactions with other dogs. More than that, I feel accomplished as a dog-owner, since Richard takes the time to also train the owners in reading dog behavior and getting "in tune" with their dogs. I feel like I can have other rescue dogs after Ruby, with confidence that I will be able to use my knowledge from this experience. That, in and of itself, is priceless to me. read more

Woohoo is right! Rich is equivalent to a dog whisperer. He knows dogs, he loves dogs, he'll exercise, socialize and even train dogs. Most importantly, my dog loves him back. His price as a dog-walker is very reasonable too. We're so lucky to have found him and only hope that he remains a part of our lives as long as my dog is alive. Keep up the phenomenal work Rich! read more

Rich is a nice guy and a responsible dog walker, but in my opinion not so much a "trainer" (he actually isn't certified). We had Rich working with our dog an hour a day for 1.5 months before we decided to switch trainers. I cannot say that our dog (Kody) hasn't made any progress - he has to some extent, but I truly feel like Rich wasn't the right guy for him. Working with Rich is easy in terms of scheduling as he is very flexible but when it came to training it was very frustrating at times because he frequently changes his program and also provides contradicting information. Let me list some: 1) When we first met Rich he told us many of the problems we are having with Kody stems from him getting all the "resources" he needs. In order to get Kody to respect us more we needed to make him feel a little hungry all the time so no more eating as much food as he wants. In fact, no more regular feeding. Instead, kibbles are now used as treats for training. So according to him, Kody needs to always be a little hungry - okay got it. But then later on he tells me that he gives kibbles to Kody during training to the point where Kody doesn't want anymore food. Contradicting isn't it? Here is what I end up noticing - whenever Kody is hungry it was very easy to catch his attention with food, but as he is getting full he starts doing whatever he wants. Because the training program doesn't establish boundaries. 2) Kody has bone aggression and during the first session of him working with Kody on it he asked me to put my hand in Kody's mouth when he is guarding his bone and assured me that with my hand in his mouth he won't bite and will slowly give the bone. Nope - I got bitten and showed blood. He also changed his opinion on how to work with Kody on bone aggression a few times so we were getting different homework's all the time. Needless to say 1.5 months in we still couldn't take a bone away from Kody without first giving him a command to leave it, and he tells me that for the rest of my life I cannot trust that Kody will not have bone aggression. 3) He told me to play "hand wrestle" with Kody (one of his many different programs to treat his bone aggression) by flipping Kody on his stomach and putting my hand in his mouth and say leave it. When he stops chewing on my hand I let go. A week later he picked up Kody from the groomers and told me that the groomers said Kody is really mouthy... and then he said to stop playing hand wrestle with him. Really? Ever since Kody was a puppy I worked REALLY hard to get him not to be mouthy as his breed (Labradoodle) is very mouthy. And he comes up with a program to undo everything that I did. 4) Told me to always stay calm when training Kody, but I have witnessed him lose patience with Kody. 5) Told me I shouldn't say "no" to Kody but says it a lot himself. 6) Within 1 training session told me to get Kody's attention by putting a treat in front of his mouth, say look, and bringing it up to my eyes. And then later when I did it again to get Kody's attention said that I shouldn't have brought the treat up to my eyes, and proceeded to make a comment about us doing wrong training with Kody is the reason why his progress has plateaued. This is just one example. I have a REALLY good memory and I do a bunch of things that he told me to do at some point which he would later tell me is wrong. Extremely frustrating. Here are the last few things that I really didn't appreciate that pushed me over the wanting to switch "trainer" edge: 1) He frequently accuses us of not working with Kody on our own, and keeps saying that his program doesn't work unless we participate too. I work every day but always makes at least 30 minutes to do the "homework" when I get home. I do everything he tells me to. It's super frustrating to be constantly accused of being part of the problem. 2) In our last training session he brought his dog along. I witnessed his dog break sit-stays within minutes multiple times and I also witnessed him having to go over and push his butt down into a sit a few times because his dog ignored his command from far away. Okay... it is not what I expected from a professional dog trainer's dog. This is when I realized that a lot of what he posts on Facebook is very deceiving. He has a picture of me walking Kody with Kody nicely trotting by my side, but you know... that was a snapshot... Kody wasn't walking nice 50% of the time that day but that's not represented. Same thing with his dog Karma - after seeing all the things he posts on Facebook about Karma I thought she's super well trained, but when I met her in real life I realized that it is not the case. All-in-all, I would only recommend Rich for dog walking and not dog training. After switching trainers Kody now trots nicely behind me on walks and looks up with me because he is looking for guidance. He now recognizes me as a pack leader and a lot of aspects in our lives improved greatly. And it's only been less than 2 weeks! read more

Richard walks our papillion/chihuahua mix, Ginger, and other dogs in our building. He is knowledgeable and dependable and professional, and he is teaching me how to train her. I've owned dogs most of my life and am surprised about how much I am learning. Ginger has good manners and is agile, so we are working on heeling, sitting, and twirling on hind legs. Yes, she is quite the acrobat and Richard is willing to teach her more tricks. I need a smart and gentle trainer since Ginger is only 6.5 pounds. I wholeheartedly recommend him for Jack London Square/Oakland dog walking. read more

Richard is a real professional. My 7 month old Shepherd's increasing aggression was getting to be such a problem that I couldn't take him to the park. He was attacked at the dog park and ever since viewed other dogs as threats. He could not even get into doggy day care because of his aggressive tendencies. He would bark at skateboarders, bikers, or anything loud and out of the ordinary. Richard suggested exhausting skateboarding rides to tire him out and then eventual reintroduction to the dog park. After about a month there is a dramatic change. My dog can go to the park and no longer barks at other dogs and the aggression is controlled. He made it fun to take my dog out again and he is even complimented about his behavior at the park. I think Richard has a real gift for shaping K9 behavior, especially difficult personalities or socialization problems. I would recommend him to anyone. One thing I would suggest, which was Richard's advice from the beginning, is that the earlier you get started the better. read more

Shiba's are notoriously timid and careful dogs and Keado was on the extreme side of that spectrum. He was very skittish even where he spent the first year of his life in quiet suburbia. When I moved him up to SF in May, he was having none of it. When he saw his leash, he would hide under the couch; on walks, Keado would desperately claw his way back to the apartment, even if it meant chocking himself every step of the way. Keado darted away form bikes, garages, paper blowing in the wind, strangers and even for rent signs, lamp posts and strong winds. At home, Keado happily obeyed ever command. He is very well trained. However, outside in SF Keado wouldn't heed to single command, even with his highest reward treats. I thought it would be impossible to keep him in the city. That's when I gave Rich from Kaygodo Dog Training a call. 15 min of training a day, every wkday, for 2 months and now Keado can walk properly on a leash, heel, sit, stay, look, let's go, leave it on command. He's a completely different dog. As with any trainer, it still takes a lot of hard work from the owner. I worked with Keado multiple times a day every day. This wouldn't have happened without Rich from Kaygodo however. Give him a try. If he could do what he did for such an extreme case like Keado, he could train any dog. read more

I don't often write reviews on yelp, but Rich is worth the time. He has been working with my rescued pit mix from day one. She has shown dramatic improvement due to his work. I also have a very trying schedule, and Rich has been amazing to work with throughout the past year. I would definitely recommend Rich to anyone. read more

Rich is fantastic. He worked with my Pirata and I for a couple of months. She was new to a city environment and aggressive in ways that made it not fun to walk her in our neighborhood. Rich spent time observing both her behavior and mine before starting to work with us. It didn't take a ton of sessions to see real progress. She is clearly more comfortable and confidant, as am I. I like that Rich uses treats to get the behavior started but doesn't use them as an endless crutch. I still am using treats but for primarily high stress moments for her (skateboarders are at the top of her list). Otherwise, I keep her engaged with vocal commands and physical rewards and she does great. Rich expects a lot from the owners. This is something that I am comfortable with so I have had no issues but recognize that some people think the dog trainer does the work and the dog owner just reaps the benefits. That isnt how Rich works. I recognize that my behavior influences hers and I think Rich has given me a lot of great tools to use. Last point, I really appreciated that Rich was willing to "share" his dog during our sessions as this helped Pirata tremendously. She was nervous around other dogs and just didn't have the best skills. Having another dog participate from time to time has helped her better understand the behavior I want from her. read more

I had several private lessons with Richard with my dog Leopold. He has gotten so much better. Leopold used to lunge at people and now I keep him on a shorter leash when we walk. He still play bites, and humps but he knows when I say "No." He still likes to hide underneath the couch, but he comes out when I coax him out with a ball or treat. Richard takes his time with your dog. He makes sure that your dog understands new commands that you are teaching him before he goes on to teach him something new. Leopold really liked him. read more