Working with Beth changed everything for us with our daughter's small dog Tito. Before we found…read moreher, having people come into our home was stressful and honestly a little scary. Tito was so reactive that we had to warn anyone who came over, and we were constantly on edge. Beth stepped in and gave us not just hope, but actual tools that worked. She helped us understand Tito in a way we never had before, and the difference in him -- and in our home -- has been incredible. One thing I really want to emphasize is that almost all of the work we did with Beth happened in our own home and in our daily routines, not at her house. The time we spent at her place was very minimal, and was always very calm and controlled. The real transformation came from Beth teaching us how to communicate with Tito, how to read him, and how to guide him so he could feel safe. She always says dog training is 90% people training, and that was absolutely true for us. She taught us how to be better for him, and that's what made the biggest difference. Now Tito is a completely different dog -- relaxed, friendly, and able to enjoy our home without all the chaos and fear he used to feel. Friends and family can come over again. We can breathe again. And that's because of Beth. She didn't just train our dog; she changed the way we live with him, and we're so grateful for everything she's done for our family.

Beth is an outstanding trainer. She worked with my adopted 5-year-old, 80-pound Great Pyrenees mix…read morewho was extremely reactive to other dogs. Even simple walks had become stressful and exhausting. Beth made remarkable progress with him in a short amount of time. She gave me clear, practical tools and helped bring his reactions under control. Now I can walk my dog calmly and actually enjoy being outside with him instead of feeling anxious. I can't recommend her highly enough.

I waited months & paid over $200 for a "consultation". The consultation was weird. She "arrived"…read morefor our online meeting late & never apologized. There was a mentee in the meeting but her camera was off and she never spoke. Sara didn't express much interest or enthusiasm in my dog or in me. It was all rote. The suggestions she gave were not innovative or tailored to my dog & me. They were what anyone could get off the internet for FREE. I was really looking forward to getting help but ended up feeling like I was just a bank account she'd get access to while she just gave basic advice. Maybe she's a good fit for some.

Sara is amazing! I had searched and searched for a good trainer in the East Bay who used a modern,…read morepositive approach to dog training, as opposed to outdated "alpha" models, aversives, etc. I was feeling stressed from not finding anyone I liked until I came across Sara. We rescued Robin, a pit bull mix, from a traumatic situation. Robin adjusted well, but continued to be fear reactive / bark at strangers. Sara talked us through the best way to handle this at Robin's own pace. Her advice was both practical and respectful toward Robin. She was able to explain what was happening with Robin's reactions, and how best to handle it in a way that was clear and easy to understand. We previously had been trying to tempt Robin towards strangers with treats. Sara used the metaphor of your boss giving you your paycheck while holding a gun on you, to show how that wasn't actually building a positive association. I feel way more prepared and able to guide Robin towards being less shy around strangers after our session with Sara.

Sheryl Carver helped me become my dogs' best friend. I worked with Sheryl to address my boy's…read moreanxiety, his leash pulling, and my female puppy's dog reactivity. Initially, we met at my home to work with my dogs, and then, after Sheryl moved out of state, we were able to work by phone when new issues came up. Sheryl is extraordinarily compassionate and empathic towards both people and dogs, and she taught me to observe my dogs' behavior and be supportive rather than frustrated. My dogs are relaxed and there is more tail-wagging in our home, and when doing conformation and performance events, they are more confident, enthusiastic---and easier to train! Sheryl is also a fantastic instructor in the Tellington TTouch Training, and with her guidance, I started using this method to deepen my bond with my dogs. I have worked with many different dog trainers, and Sheryl is the best!

Sheryl is our favorite dog trainer - I found her through the Association of Pet Dog Trainers…read morewebsite (heard that they were good). Our dog, Flash, is a rescue mutt who had been abandoned, and Sheryl's approach worked great for him. She used positive reinforcement, and was always gentle. Flash responded really well to her, and everyone else who we know who has hired her has been pleased with the results. Sheryl came to our home for private lessons, and was fabulous. (She travels around the Peninsula to various clients during the week.) I like that Sheryl has a lot of patience and found a way to make our dog think learning can be fun. Our dog had a lot of anxiety, and she helped him relax and enjoy learning. She also does some bodywork on pets, if clients want that along with the training: Jin Shin Jyutsu (like acupressure) Tellington TTouch (like Feldenkrais for animals) We treated Flash to some of her bodywork, and he went from hyper and anxious to super, ultra-calm and mellow. Sheryl's definitely one of his favorite humans. We were afraid we'd have to find our previously wild dog a new home after having a baby, but we've learned a lot from her and we're a happy family! We credit Sheryl (and some key lay-out changes suggested by baby-proofer Larry Mitchell) with enabling us to keep our dog after having our baby. That was HUGE! We did some clicker training (not initially, but later on), and our most useful command (with or without the clicker) is "In your crate." Sheryl adjusted to what our needs were, so we learned what was a priority for us when we needed it. Thanks to Sheryl, Flash also knows (among others) on your bed, shake, wait, sit, stay, down, touch, and where's daddy?.

I meant to write this review for Deena a long time ago, and am finally getting around to it! Deena…read morenot only trained my dog, Teddy, but also boarded him for two months while I was dealing with a difficult living situation. You will never meet a person who loves dogs more than Deena. You will also never meet a person who can communicate as well with dogs as Deena! I'm so glad that Teddy and I found her. Her prices are so reasonable, you wouldn't even believe it. A true dog lover and, and so knowledgeable about training, etc. Can't wait until we can do more training sessions with her!!! Thanks for all your help.

I'm crazy about Deena Jesmok. I swear she is a dog psychic. She can get the most ill behaved dog to…read moredo anything. However, what makes her so valuable as a dog trainer is not that she can teach your dog, but that she really is good at teaching you to teach your dog. Who wants a dog that only behaves when at dog school? My Shar Pei, Toby, was a wild, ill behaved ruffian when I got him at 9 months old. Where he came from he had no rules or boundaries, and he often punished his family when they disobeyed him. For example, if his mother left the house to run an errand, and she didn't take him with her; he would wait until she was home and relaxing and then he would stand in front of her, look her in the eye, and urinate. He also destroyed all of her shoes. True story: when I adopted him we hung out and bonded for about a month. He went everywhere with me all the time, and then I switched from real estate sales to a management position and had a regular 9 - 5 schedule. Well, Toby was so pissed off that when I came home the first day he took a dump right in the center of my pillow, at the head of my bed, all over my brand new Z-Gallery bed spread! Needless to say, he was enrolled in daycare and behavior classes. No more staying home alone for him. Well, after being kicked out of two day cares I was at wits end but determined to turn him into a perfect little gentleman. Deena Jesmok saved us. She told me that all Shar Peis are little bastards and they need lots of training to make them tame and domesticated. Finally, after two and half years of one on one training sessions, my dog earned his AKC Good Citizen certificate and everywhere I go people say he is an little angel. Thank you, Deena!

Nicole is such a great dog walker, I can't recommend her enough! She is super friendly, flexible…read moreand amazing with our little Cavalier, Bear. When we moved to San Francisco, we yelped "dog walker" and just went with the first company that popped up. What we didn't realize was that the walking group had TWELEVE dogs in it, so our poor baby was spending at least 2 hours a day in the back of a car as they shuttled around picking all the dogs up and only 1 hour out getting exercise. What a miserable experience for all of them! We switched to Golden Gate Pooch Patrol because Nicole caps her groups at 6 dogs and only picks up in a small geographic region of the city. Now our baby spends minimal time being commuting and gets lots of exercise! They go to Crissy Field, Ocean Beach and Fort Funston for hours and our Bear is always exhausted when she comes home. Nicole always takes photos of the dogs during the day and posts them on her Facebook page and she texts me directly if she has a super cute picture or video of our pooch to share. We love getting them, especially when Nicole is dog sitting and we're missing our baby! As busy people, we really appreciate the additional concierge services that GGPP offers. Once a month Nicole takes Bear to get groomed and I come home to a fresh pup! She also brushes her teeth for us 2x a week and when we are traveling and need an International Health Certificate, Nicole goes to Bear's vet and picks it up for us. Really, everything we ask she is thrilled to take care of for us! And I constantly hound her (pun intended) for advice on training, traveling and grooming and she is so knowledgable and always takes the time to give me a thorough answer. I can't recommend Nicole and Golden Gate Pooch Patrol enough. She's become a part of our family and we will never move out of her pick up area! Love her!

Nicole of Golden Gate pooch Patrol is wonderful! As a fellow dog walker and animal care…read moreprofessional, I am pretty picky about who I recommend. Not only do I deeply care about how animals are treated, I also do not want to be associated with a bad or even mediocre dog walker. I would trust her with my own pets. Nicole and I used to work together when we were both starting out as dog walkers. I was instantly impressed with the level of care she gave (and still gives) to each dog, treating them and their families as individuals. She has a genuine love for all animals and treats them all as her own. Her level of compassion is truly amazing as is her professionalism, flexibility with her clients and her desire to stay up-to-date with canine care techniques. She is a true joy to work with for those with two or four legs (or three...she loves tri-pods)!

Heidi was our dog walker for 3 years while we lived in the city, during which time she walked both…read moreour senior pup as well as our puppy. We also hired her many times for overnight boarding of our pups. She was amazing with both of our dogs, and I can't recommend her enough. We had worked with a few walkers prior to Heidi, and found Heidi when one of our walkers suggested our senior couldn't keep up with her group anymore and suggested Heidi who had a smaller dog group. We are so grateful we found Heidi, as we have found her to be the consummate professional, who you can have full trust in with your beloved pets. She is the best dog walker we ever worked with, and is great with both senior pups and puppies. We recently moved out of the city, and one of the saddest parts about it for us was losing Heidi in our lives. Highly recommend!

If only Yelp allowed more than 5 stars! Heidy is the absolute best. She walked our dog for more…read morethan three years and she should be canonized for it. Let's just say our dog Ally had some "personality quirks" which means she was kind of a jerk. A lovable wonderful jerk of a dog. Heidy was literally the only dog walker that was willing to walk Ally. Dog walkers in this city will sometimes blackball a dog as "difficult" and this happened to Ally with our first dog walker. No one wanted to work with her until we met Heidy, Ally was a rescue and her history was unknown before we got her. Apparently whatever happened to her before she came to us imprinted some bad behaviors that were challenging. Heidy worked with us, helped us find the right trainers and was a source of excellent advice and wisdom. There are a lot of dog walkers in this city and Heidy is exceptional. You would be lucky to have her walk or board your dog.

I cannot thank Becca enough! I recently adopted a ~2 year old rescue husky who had spent almost all…read moreof his life behind bars. He unsurprisingly turned out to have some socialization and dominance issues that made taking him to the dog park or walking in popular dog areas impossible. Becca met us at our house where he put on his full show of crazy energy racing around the house, jumping, and (eek!) leg humping. Becca showed me how to calm him down without petting him and accidentally rewarding him for his bad behavior, as I had been before. Once we were outside she brought all different kinds of dogs out of her van for us to practice walking past calmly without flipping out and pulling to go see them. He got to meet these new strange dogs on leash and Becca reminded me to have a slack leash so he could relax and wouldn't feel confined. Then we went to an area with lots of dogs who were off leash and he was able to be calm and meet them on leash without being a jerk and bowling them over! Hooray! After just one meeting with Becca he was already a brand new dog that I felt confident walking near other dogs. At our second meeting we reinforced meeting new dogs on leash and then we went to the dog park(!) where he got to work on his recall and how to interact with new dogs off leash. All he needed were two sessions and we're now able to walk around other dogs and go to the dog park and be social! And he even comes back when I call him! I was able to get the behavior I hoped for but didn't expect for many years after only a couple days. My friends are flabbergasted, haha.

We have rescued quite a lot of dogs over the years. Sometimes they are scared, sometimes…read moreneglected, and sometimes from abusive situations. I don't know what we would do without Becca. She rescues and fosters lots of dogs herself, so she has loads of experience. She understands dog behavior and emotions. She trains with compassion.

We did a lot of research before selecting a dog trainer. We showed a good friend of mine who…read moreteaches classes to other dog trainers the various options in SF, and he said Karyn by far had completed the most effective courses compared to everyone else. Some credentials are a dime a dozen, but Karyn has taken the additional courses that help her to be effective. She helped us address issues, but more importantly, we learned how to communicate with our dog in a way he could understand (and he is SO PROUD of himself when he understands what behavior you're asking for and does his part). I only wish that we had started working with Karyn sooner - and I say that whether your dog is having issues or not. If you are on the fence about spending money on training, don't hold off or try to just watch a ton of videos. The dog trainer does what videos can't, which is to observe YOU and coach YOU on what you are doing wrong and how to do it correctly. It's an investment that is more than worth it, and you'll learn things you can apply to your future dogs as well.

Karyn was fantastic! She helped us train both our anxious golden doodle, Monty, and our reactive…read morerescue dog, Colin. We were able to develop best practices for our leash reactive dogs so now they focus on us instead of getting amped up by other dogs, even when the other dog is barking and lunging. Karyn teaches you the tools so you can work with your dogs to help them overcome any anxious situation with training. Just today we were able to practice desensitization for our golden doodle while walking at Funston and suddenly there was shooting at the gun range. Normally our dog would shut down, shaking and trying to go back to the car. But this time I clicked and treated each time he heard the noise and Monty recovered so much faster than he ever did before. He was even able to fetch and play like normal once we walked past the gun range! My husband and I felt like we learned so much from Karyn and were very supported the entire time working with her. I highly recommend Karyn for any level of dog training you need from basic training to dogs who are reactive, anxious or adverse. She's the best!