Jess is AMAZING! We were looking to board our 4 year old Labrador for 15 days during our trip…read moreoverseas and we are so glad we decided on Jess. From the initial contact, Jess was courteous and accommodating. We made the trip to her place for the initial evaluation and immediately it was apparent that she has a lot of experience and she loves what she does. Her farm is beautiful and we were at ease knowing our pup will roam around freely during her stay there. Jess is diligent about sending updates and photos. It was clear from the photos that our fur baby was having a blast with Jess. Jess even offers pick up and drop off from the Bay Area and this was very convenient for us. She was very accommodating to plan around our flight schedules. Overall, we couldn't be happier with boarding our dog with Jess.

Jess is a gem! She truly cares about the doggies under her care and she is willing to go above and…read morebeyond to support your pup's needs. Our dog really lacked confidence and Jess was willing to work with us to help acclimate our dog to the boarding environment. Highly recommend her!

We were so lucky to stumble on Marin Bulldogs through our friend who is a Bulldog lover like us…read more She posted siblings still available so we drove straight there from a soccer game. We went for a boy for our already 6 yr old Bully to have a brother and Cali stole our hearts! She is perfect in every way. Michelle and her husband put so much effort, care and love to into their bulldogs and their precious mama. She let us visit as many time until we decided (which did not take long) there is no lack of care or thought that goes into raising these puppies and respecting their mamas recovery. We hope she continues to enjoy breeding the pups as she would be our sole breeder moving forward!

We picked up our beautiful english bulldog in September 2023. We really did our research on the…read morebreeder and were blessed to find Michelle at Marin Bulldog. She truly loves what she does and takes care of these pups better than any other breeder I've met. She shares all her knowledge to answer any of our questions and is such a great support even after taking our pup home. Our bulldog, Biggie, has brought so much joy to our lives! He is such a goofy, funny, loving, sweet guy. Thank you, Marin Bulldog!

I just helped a friend adopt a dog from Family Dog Rescue, and had an excellent experience…read more Everyone I communicated with was professional and helpful. (Thank you Nicole.) Very happy with the dog! They provided documentation concerning the dog (vaccines, etc.) by email, which was good. Highly recommended.

I volunteer often down at Family Dog Rescue, along with fostering dogs for them. I love that the…read morepups are not kept in kennels all day, and instead get to be out in play yards with other dogs. It's the best situation for them, while they wait for their forever homes! The dogs are well cared for, and the team there really cares about seeing these pups get the happy life they all deserve! I'd highly recommend volunteering there, and even better, adopting a rescue pup from there!

Karin is outstanding! I got my pup, Goose, back in August 2022 and couldn't wait for him to be…read morevaccinated to join her program. As soon as he was able we dropped him off for his free training consult, that's right, I said FREE. Who does that? Well, Karin does. I cannot express how much Goose has learned while attending day training with Karin, not to mention the fact that she has been amazing at helping me and my partner navigate through some rough patches in his normal behavioral development from puppy to adolescent. I love that I get updates throughout the day with pictures and the activities/training that are being done and to see Goose enjoying his time with dog friends too! Every time we go to drop off Goose is beside himself with excitement to see Karin, which is a clear indicator to me that he too approves and enjoys his time spent there. The long and short of it is, I would recommend Karin, and do, to anyone who is looking for an amazing dog trainer who has compassion, patience, and an amazing understanding of dog behavior!!

This place is amazing! Karin is so knowledgeable and will help with answering all your question…read more Her whole team is amazing with my Louie. He loves going to daycare there and it is the ONLY place I trust him with. You want your doggie loved on and learning check out Karin at Good to the Bone!!!

I specifically chose this trainer because his website said he specializes in aggressive dogs. I…read morerescued an aggressive pit bull from a shelter (not knowing about the aggression issue). This trainer wasn't even able to handle our dog because she disliked him so much. We bought the package of lessons and used 2 of them. When it was clear that our dog was getting worse and not better, I asked if we could cancel and get a refund for the remaining classes. Our refund we received was for a fraction of what we were owed. We ended up hiring sonoma county canine, and our dog is improving so rapidly. And our dog LOVES the trainers there. I guess every dog is different and needs a different kind of trainer. So, maybe don't purchase an entire training package with this trainer since you don't know if it will work out.

John Vinton is an expert dog trainer. I highly recommend him…read more He worked with us and our Scottish terrier to overcome a serious issue with crazy, outrageous behavior and barking at other dogs. We surmised that our puppy became fear-aggressive in part due to an accidental death of our older Scottie. Perhaps she had to step up and be the "protector" when she really wasn't ready for it. Anyway, John has a very well thought out and executed training program that includes multiple visits to our home and walks with our dog in our neighborhood so he could see exactly what was happening. John's methods are kind and gentle to both dog and owner and I rate them highly effective. A lot of what we learned had to do with making sure our dog has an appropriate place in the human world she lives in. Some of the training tips are surprisingly easy to implement. However, if you embark on a serious training regimen with your dog, do expect to spend time each day on the project and it will be more than worth it. A lot of what we did was basic obedience assisted in great part by John's knowledge and guidance. We also spent a lot of time walking our dog in areas where she would meet other dogs. It was extremely difficult at first as she would be crazy, out of control around other dogs. The big breakthrough came after a number of weeks of slow improvement (the outrageous behavior was moderating). John had our dog on leash and suddenly came up on another dog. John intuitively could see that the other dog was friendly so he had our dog approach (all on leash), and the two dogs had a wonderful time sniffing around. Even though our Scottie can still bark and act anxious when another dog approaches, if we permit her to get close, the encounters have always turned out positive. Thanks to John's coaching and gentle persuasion we have learned to trust that our dog really wants to get to know other dogs and she enjoys the interaction. I believe she is on the road to calm behavior around other dogs thanks to John Vinton.

Lynn and Jim Fleck get an A+ for the attention and care which they provide to their Mamas and Papas…read moreas well as their pups. They are good to them and good to the adopters, like us.

I am surprised that I haven't already written a review for Wine Country Goldendoodles. Our…read morewonderful dog Sadie is almost five and continues to give us so much pleasure. She is loving, smart, somewhat obedient (our fault) and just about the best dog we've ever had. Lynn and Jim use science to breed healthy, predictable F-1 puppies but it's the love that makes the difference. Their warmth and love for the puppies starts their lives so positively that I have never heard of one of their puppies growing up to be anything but and extraordinary dog.

John is fantastic. I really like his style and his methods have changed our world. This guy knows…read moredogs. This is not your average dog/puppy training joint. I am sure he can handle any issue with ease but his ability to deal with behavioral issues is truly astounding. He used to be a policeman and trains police dogs. Anyways you get the feeling when you talk to him that you are dealing with a master. I have been riding and training horses for over 20 years so I have experienced many different animal handling techniques and training personalities. I trained my own dog and I have been getting compliments on her behavior for over a decade (john even complimented me :). That being said, to me, John is more than impressive. My BF's dog, Hoku, is a 4 year old mostly Pit who used to think that she was supreme ruler universe and it was declared a state of party all the time. Now don't get me wrong, it is wonderful to have bouncing wiggly dynamic ball of joy but when she doesn't listen for beans that sucks. I mean why should the supreme ruler of the universe have to come when she is called? Or not jump on guests any ol' time she feels like it? Therein lies the issues. John took a great approach; we all sat down and talked for a while about the dogs in general, the household, habits and points of contention. He identified many things that we were doing that allowed Ms. Thang to get away with massive social faux pas. She had habits with my BF and I kept trying to train her like my Aussie mix. Note to self: herding dogs and bully breeds are totally different with separate instincts that drive their actions. As Walter would say "I did not know that." (big lebowski) After discussing the issues and such, we went out to his training area with the dogs. He put Hoku on a gentle leader. It is basically a halter for dogs; gives you control of their head and where the head goes the body follows. We both did a lot of practice work under his supervision. He critiqued our handling abilities and gave us lots of good tips. My favorite was the first time I started to walk Hoku, she laid down on her back like a lump. He told me to go ahead and keep walking. A few seconds of being drug across the ground was all she needed; she popped up and started walking with me like a normal dog. Victory is mine! Over 8 months later, we have continued to use John's techniques and everyone has remarked on how well behaved Hoku is nowadays. Anytime she starts to slip back into her old habits we go right back to the basics and exercises John taught us. I have spent more money than I care to disclose on trainers in my life and experience tells me John is worth every penny.

When our ancient cattledog passed away, we went in our grief down to Oakland Animal Services and…read morepicked out the mushiest, strongest, most stubborn Bullmastiff you have ever seen to be the new "girlfriend" for our older male Boxer. Our big lug Molly is a honeybear, but in no time, she turned out to be aggressive towards dogs and anything on wheels--not easy when you are trying to walk a 110 pound dog in an urban area. We really felt out of our element, and found John on the advice of a family friend who has work in a well-respected vet clinic and trained dogs for years. John was and continues to be fantastic for Molly the Mastiff and for us. He helped us identify the behaviors that can be modified, versus behaviors that would be "deal-breakers" (which we were concerned about, although we'd never take a dog back to the shelter--we were fearful for our other dog). John gave is some very practical advice for managing our beast in our home--feeding routines etc to keep our other dog safe, and taught us how to walk her so she would heel, and be manageable even when excited. We continue our training with John and will be taking Molly back next week so we can work on "come," trying to get her to come off leash, with the aid of the radio collar. John really understands dog psychology--he asks good questions and can determine why a dog acts a certain way--really helpful in correcting the behavior. I was also impressed with his knowledge and ability to train really big dogs and dogs that show aggression. He knew a lot about Mastiffs and I can tell he doesn't shy away from the biggest, toughest cases. I'm really sad because I am seeing a lot of Bullmastiffs in the Oakland Shelter these days and I am worried they are going to become the next "Pitbull" fad--people breeding dogs they can't care for or manage because they look tough. I'm sooo relieved we found John so we can work through our issues with Molly and give her a loving forever home.

Odessa is one of the real dog saints in our county (we are so lucky to have a group of these). She…read moreworks with most of the other local shelters/rescues in the area to save small dogs of all ages and conditions....as she has space available. I have known Odessa for years and have so much respect for her incredible personal commitment to dog rescue. Most of the dogs 'roam' freely in her house, learning to get along with other dogs and with people. Puppies (and moms) stay in the puppy palace (a charmingly converted and furnished garage space). Rescuing and adopting dogs is very hard and very expensive work, since many dogs who were neglected or abused require a lot of love, medical care, and training. Please take any 'negative' reviews with a big grain of salt. All of us who have to deal with the public understand how unreasonable and uncharitable some people can be. This is a truly extraordinary woman who makes great sacrifices to rescue and place dogs in the best possible homes. It's an uphill battle with so many people allowing their dogs to breed and dumping them on rescue. And with some adopters/lookers who can be disrespectful of the process around placing dogs. Very few of us could do this work day in and day out with no reward other than seeing dogs go to the right guardians. Thank you to everyone who supports and adopts from rescue, saves lives, and appreciates those doing the really hard work. And please consider fostering a little dog if you can. It's a rewarding experience being part of the pipeline to forever homes.

Odessa Gunn and her commitment to animals is nonpareil (no equal or unrivaled in simpler terms)…read more Every animal that is cared for by Little Trooper Ranch is family, not a rescue or anything less. Little Trooper Ranch is an inviting, safe and loving place for all creatures. 5 stars for Odessa and LTR! https://www.littletrooperranch.org/how-you-can-help