Michelle has helped Pumpkin and I improve our scent journey. With scent cones awareness, knowing when to help dog into an area vs when to give her space and let her search the scent cones Most important know when you are finished searching. Michelle provides individual tips and exercises specific for you dogs needs. Recommend for anyone interested in learning scent. read more

Pawsitively Waggin' Academy - Finished - Pet Training Near Me

Michelle is a great trainer! She's very knowledgeable, very patient and always positive! She gives great feedback!! Which is something you don't always get from a lot of trainers ! I highly recommend!!! read more

I've worked with Michelle for some time now to train my Cane Corso and it's due to her, I have to give her a million thank yous for having such a well behaved dog. Everyone who meets my pup can't say enough how good of a dog she is. read more

Seriously awesome classes! I have taken online classes with both Michelle and Nisa (on trick training and canine enrichment!). I cannot recommend them enough. Me and my cattle dog Lucy had a great time working through the lessons. And these online classes were perfect during the stay-at-home period here in NYC. In their online classes Michelle and Nisa provide easy to understand reading material (I'd even call it entertaining!) and videos. And we got personalized feedback and suggestions every time we posted. My favorite thing we learned was having Lucy catch a frisbee and drop it into a box (put away her toys)! What I liked the most about the classes I took with PWA was the mix of scientific information and fun. Dog training is my hobby and I learned SO much I didn't know before. Michelle and Nisa know their stuff. Lucy and I will definitely be signing up for more classes and hopefully some in-person training later this year! :) read more

Pawsitively Waggin' Academy - Michelle helped me teach Lucy to drop her frisbees in a box! - Pet Training Near Me

Michelle has been helping us train our Samoyed, Winston, for a couple months on reactivity, aggressive behaviors, and leash walking. Before she came along, Winston was excessively pulling on the leash, barking at everything that moved, and unwilling to listen to any commands. After just a few classes, Winston can better control his behaviors and barks, as well as respond to commands! We just want an obedient dog, and that's exactly what Michelle has and is continuing to teach us and Winston how to get there. Michelle genuinely loves working with animals, and it reflects in our classes. We would sometimes go over our scheduled hour-long sessions, but she wouldn't mind because she wants to make sure we have all of our questions/concerns answered. I recommend Michelle to anyone in a heartbeat. Not only did I find a fantastic dog trainer, but I also gained a wonderful friend. read more

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When I met Michelle you could instantly tell that she loved dogs by the way she greeted mine. She listened to my concerns and then we started training. I must say after that day of training, my dog definitely listened and understood the commands that we worked on the previous day and In less than a week, with some practice my puppy was trained. I would definitely recommend anyone to contact Michelle if you want to train your dog and be successful in accomplishing any of your training goals. read more

Michelle is absolutely the best and only trainer you'll need in your life! If you're looking for someone to train your dog, don't hesitate and just call because you'll be making the best decision for your dog! She is very knowledgeable and truly believes that positive reinforcement is the best way to train a dog. She's absolutely right because with her training techniques and her guidance, I saw such an improvement with my dog, Charlie! One of the issues that we had to work on was minimizing Charlie's barking. After a session, she will provide you with an in-depth guide of what we went over and how to continue the training afterwards! She also checks up with you to make sure everything is going well. Any questions I have, I go straight to Michelle and she always has the answers but even if she doesn't, she goes out of her way to find it. The best part about being one of her clients is knowing that she genuinely cares about my dog and even though I currently don't have any sessions booked with her, I know I can always count on her if I have any problems or questions about Charlie! read more

Pawsitively Waggin' Academy - Pet Training Near Me

I never write reviews on Yelp but I have to in this case -- Michelle has been a miracle worker with my crazy nutjob dog Bailey, who we adopted a year ago. I came to Michelle/PWA for help on her leash pulling and reactivity, as well as just general ignoring commands -- and over the five sessions we had with her, Bailey has improved drastically. I definitely recommend going to Michelle; she really cares about your dog and works on a very personal level to help your problems! (And also graciously answered my billion questions) read more

Pawsitively Waggin' Academy - My dog bailey! - Pet Training Near Me

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First of all sorry for my english. But hope u all get my massage. We got german shepherd and look for awhile for treiner until some far friend recommended Michele. The first day she come I was amazed. She have some megical way with dogs. She very professional, coming on time, explaining evrything very good, telling me what to do and how to do. I choudnt ask for nothing erase. Me and my dog love her. She did great job. read more

Michelle is such an amazing trainer! I have learned so much from her and I can see our private lessons and consistent training paying off. Autumn had many puppy problems such as pulling on the leash, having an inconsistent schedule, barking at the garbage truck, and having no recall. In fact, she didn't even know her name! My family adopted Autumn for my birthday and before she came home, I watched more than 50 training videos on Youtube from many positive reinforcement trainers. Although they were very helpful in preparing me for my love bug, I needed a lot more help than they could provide. In addition, since we adopted Autumn during COVID-19, she lacked many social skills and I had no idea what to do when she was around new people. With Michelle, I always felt confident in a new situation because I knew that she could guide us through them. For example, Michelle was the first person to enter our house because of the pandemic. She talked us through the whole experience and demonstrated how new people should come into the house. Mind you, Autumn was barking for 20 minutes straight, and without Michelle, I would have gone into full on panic mode! She explained that we had to treat the root of the problem, fear. From that point on, we've followed her steps and we've been very successful at keeping Autumn calmer around new people entering the home. Additionally, I was very hesitant to go to the park because I did not know how Autumn would react in a new environment with many stimulants. On our 4th lesson, Michelle brought us to a park nearby our house per our request. There were so many people and dogs, as well as a farmers market. I honestly didn't know what to expect from Autumn. Michelle guided us along the pathway and taught us how to react when we saw a dog nearby. I was genuinely shocked to see how Autumn was reacting. She was so calm and she walked nicely despite having many people surround us (Michelle taught us loose leash walking in a prior session which has been a GAME CHANGER. I used to dread walking Autumn because she frequently pulled to the side and she walked in a zig-zag pattern). Michelle also taught us how to regain Autumn's attention when she was distracted. We recently took her back to the park and I was speechless! Autumn was not pulling me around, she was not trying to chase after every child she saw, she was able to listen to me when I spoke to her, and she simply had a lot of fun running around. It is important to remember that this was all done through positive reinforcement and no tools like prong collars or e-collars were ever used. Michelle also taught us new commands and how to expose Autumn to new and different sounds. She was also able to answer every question I had, both in person and through text message. My confidence in training Autumn has greatly improved and I'm so proud of her every single day. From our training with Michelle, Autumn has stopped pulling me around the neighborhood, she doesn't notice cars and garbage trucks going by our house, and I can reclaim her focus on walks. Lastly, Michelle has taught me how important training and enrichment are for a dog's mental and physical health. Overall, I would highly recommend Michelle as a trainer. Michelle is extremely knowledgeable and kind, and whenever I did not understand something, she was patient and explained the concept thoroughly. Autumn also loved her and was excited to see her at every session! read more

Pawsitively Waggin' Academy - Autumn was practicing leash walking in a new environment. - Pet Training Near Me

Michelle has been so wonderful to work with! Our older rescue dog had developed some aggression issues and Michelle was so patient with her and with us, and helped us get to know our pup in a new way. As first time dog owners we are still learning, and she taught us so much, I wish I could pick her brain for hours! She was happy to help us via text and video, we've had such a good experience with her! read more

Hands down, THEE best trainer I've met. I adopted my corgi, Barry, at 5.5 months. He had no training whatsoever, didn't get walked much by previous owner, rowdy and disastrous. He was a handful, Michelle has helped us tremendously. From leash walking, basics, distractions & heeling. A HUGE difference from then and now! Barry can walk off leash & is great with recall! I've recommended her to friends & strangers too & heard nothing but positive feedback! read more

Pawsitively Waggin' Academy - Pet Training Near Me

One session so far and Michelle covered over 7 commands! I knew she'd be great when she asked for a picture of little Jefferson a week before our scheduled visit. Her making clients fill out the intake form before her visit maximizes training time. Her follow up email helps to create a sustainable program for him when she is not here. She is an utmost professional and we cannot wait for our next sessions! It is clear she definitely LOVES what she does and this is her vocation, not just a job. read more

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So I heard about Michelle through a recommendation from someone who used her. At first I was hesitant because I thought I know how to train a dog but boy was I wrong. I ended up making my dog worse and first day she came for the personality assessment I saw a huge difference in how my pup was acting. I saw how important it was for him to work with her so I bought the 10 private sessions which was so amazing because not only was the pricing great but Michelle's work ethic was phenomenal. Her methods and passion for helping my dog made it easier for me to know she was the right person for the job. She also schedules play dates for him with other obedient and trained dogs so that he could learn from them and socialize! This is not interfered with our sessions it's totally separate which I was so appreciative of. She also sent me all of the things I would not only need for him but things that I've never even heard of that improve important things like separation anxiety. She is still working with him and so far we've have 3 sessions together and I see a HUGE difference in my puppy. He was wild, unresponsive, dominant and a big biter before and I can barely recognize him now! Thanks Michelle I can't wait to see what he will be like once we're officially done! read more

Pawsitively Waggin' Academy - Pet Training Near Me

We have been working with Michelle for the past 5 months with our crazy pup, Maisie, and it has been such an amazing experience. I started looking for a trainer last year to address some reactivity issues in our pup Maisie. As an owner, it was definitely overwhelming trying to find the perfect trainer to work with our pup. I worked with several trainers prior to Michelle and I was never really satisfied with their level of knowledge or their styles of training. After searching through several websites and reviews on yelp, I came across Pawsitively Waggin' Academy. It seemed like a no brainer to reach out to Michelle since everyone raved about her. I extremely value professionalism and first impressions, and off the bat Michelle excelled in both. When I first reached out to Michelle in regards to training, I did not hear back for a couple of days (which I felt was normal). When she did respond, not only was she extremely apologetic (which was unnecessary), but her reasoning for not responding was because she was tending to an extreme case of aggression in one of her current clients. I was so moved by her extreme level of dedication, I knew she was the right trainer for my pup. Over the past couple of months with working with Michelle, my pup Maisie has made significant progress. Michelle equipped Maisie and myself with the tools to improving her problem behaviors. I sent her constant questions regarding Maisie and she always responded with basically a novel of advice. Also, after every training session, Michelle provides a review of the skills you learned and what to continue as "homework". The document also provided links to videos and book references to enhance my skill set as an owner. Overall, I'm so grateful for the progress Maisie has made these past couple of months, as well as the increased education I received throughout the process. When it comes down to it, most of our dogs' issues stem from the "other end of the leash" and I realized that A LOT while working with Michelle. I continue to look forward to working with Michelle with Maisie and hope to work towards gaining a therapy dog certification for our happy go lucky pup. You would be crazy not to go with Pawsitively Waggin' Academy! read more

We've been working with Michelle for our 4.5 month old Australian Cattle Dog mix that we rescued a couple months ago. She has been amazing, has a deep understanding of dogs and their development. We were stressed about our puppy's constant need to bite anything she could reach, after one session with Michelle, not only had we seen improvement in her behavior, but we were also newly confident in our ability to raise her into a well-behaved, sweet pup with the skills we had learned from Michelle. She's as good with people as she is with dogs. read more

Michelle is a lifesaver! I am so grateful for her coming into our lives and helping Polo become one amazing puppy! Before even meeting her or signing up for training sessions, she answered every single one of our questions about our then 8 week old pup (questions to fill an entire book!) in a thorough and caring way; I could immediately tell that she loves what she does! She even followed up with us to ensure that Polo was adjusting well to his new environment, with benefit of all of her spot on suggestions. From our very first official, in person session, Polo was so taken with Michelle! He absolutely loved training with her and he made so much progress in just the first session. Fast forward to 8 weeks later, and he has just graduated with a Puppy Gold Star in all Foundation Skills! Throughout this entire journey Michelle has answered our never ending questions day and night, provided us with reading material pertinent to all things Polo, helped us find better toys, a better diet, a better schedule for Polo, and the list can go on and on! Michelle has built such an amazing relationship with our little family that we also had Polo do board and training for 4 days and 3 nights with her. Let's just say that Polo came back home a few hours ago and he is still waiting by the door for her return! During his stay, Michelle kept us abreast about Polo's progress and took so many videos so we could see firsthand how well he was acclimating and doing with her! It was a wonderful experience that we fully intend on having Polo relive sometime soon :) Even though Polo has completed his Foundation Skill training, we were so taken with Michelle and how much Polo loved learning new skills, that we signed him up for her puppy group classes, and we can't wait to start them! If you are looking for a dog trainer and forever friend for your puppy, Michelle is the total package. Thank you a million times, Michelle! read more

Michelle is absolutely amazing! We were overwhelmed with our pup, and she helped us enormously, and taught us the best approaches and the best tools to use, to work with our sweet (but very energetic) pup. She was patient, understanding, SO smart, and always helped us figure out different ways to approach any behavioral problem. Our dog is doing so much better, and we are continuing to work with him, with all of the positive reinforcement techniques that Michelle has taught us. We cannot say enough about her, she is so communicative and always had ideas for every one of our questions. We highly recommend her, she is wonderful!!! read more

Michelle is one of the best trainers I've worked with! She's patient, full of knowledge and just amazing with my pup!

We have a beagle / heeler pup so we're not exaggerating when we say she is SUPER high energy. We once had a dog sitter who was to stay with her for 24 hours and we had to cut it short because they couldn't handle her. Then we found Michelle and it's like our prayers were answered. We did two weeks of board and train and were SO impressed with not only the results, but how much love and care was given to our furbaby. There was constant communication, videos and pictures of her progress. When we got her back we were given an endless amount of tips and a schedule geared to work around our own work schedule. Even months after her board and train, Michelle still checks in and answers any questions we have. She even remembered our pup's birthday! Can't wait for more training sessions! We wouldn't trust our baby with anyone else! Thank you so much!!! read more