Had an amazing experience with Mark! The progress my dog has made with him is amazing and in short period of time! I use to struggle to take him on walks or go to an outdoor restaurant without him barking, whining, and getting overwhelmed. Now he sits under me and watches calmly. I also feel like my dog trust me so much more because Mark taught me the importance of advocating for him and how to. He has an extensive knowledge on dogs and does an amazing job of teaching you about your dog and their behavior. Would 1000% recommend! read more

I hesitated to write this for nearly a year because I believe Cheryl is passionate about what she does, however, her training was not a good fit for us, and we did not see results, despite spending $1700. For what it's worth, she's respectful, prompt, and brought her own dog to a few sessions to help my puppy with anxiety. She also has a good game for place training, and when I switched away from her methods this was the only thing we kept doing. This review will be long, but this is the main takeaway. I'd caution anyone from considering this "balanced training". It is not. The primary goal is conditioning a prong collar correction to a verbal "No!". It is purely punitive, not balanced. It's no different (& arguably worse) than the traditional 'crank & yank' style described in her book, just dressed up nicer. I'd advise future customers to use *EXTREME* caution if considering using an e-collar with Raise the Bar. An e-collar is NOT a punishment tool that you can slap on and hammer a dog with. For any behavior. Increasing punishment without clarifying the alternative desired behavior creates conflict. It's bad for the owner-dog relationship. Despite this, when unclear prong collar corrections didn't work, escalating to the e-collar was suggested at every single session. When I had concerns about shut down dogs/frustration, or feeling uncomfortable with the w/the level of corrections, I was met with contempt and told that based on 30yr of experience, this is just how it's done. Years of experience don't equal best practice. 1. Prong collar- it needs to be properly fitted. A loose prong (recommended by Cheryl) delivers inconsistent corrections and takes away the physics of the collars design, so you're no longer protecting the trachea or distributing pressure evenly. She recommended increasing the gauge of prong when corrections weren't working. I tried to discuss that this would require more force to deliver a similar correction, but shut down and told a 2.25 is a "puppy collar". In reality it delivers a higher level correction or "bite" with less leash pop. Most dogs should not be using a 4mm prong, especially loose, bc it's virtually ineffective. 2. Balanced training uses all quadrants of operant conditioning. Raise the Bar is almost entirely punishment based. Praise is not positive reinforcement. You can't be balanced and anti-treat/reward. When you hire a private trainer, you're paying for someone to train you, not your dog, and when asked 'why' she does things, she's not able to articulate it well. 3. Leash pressure- she couldnt get 1 of my dogs on the placeboard and gave up when he put the brakes on and reared back on the leash. She couldn't see that he just didn't understand leash pressure (which I've now taught him). He needed to be encouraged to go on in a way he understood. Next visit when he was on it she asked how, & I told her I was able to get him on in minutes with treats and free shaping, she was disappointed I had used food despite her method being ineffective. 4. **E-COLLAR**- please do NOT let Cheryl put an e-collar on your dog. I am SO glad I was enrolled in an e-collar course before she started suggesting it. She lacks fundamental knowledge of modern day e-collar use, likely bc it relies on foundations she doesn't use (ie a positive marker word & reward, low-level stim overlayed on well known commands via neg reinforcement, working under threshold). For crate anxiety she suggested putting an e-collar on my fearful puppy, & stimming at high levels until quiet, also suggested dropping a heavy textbook on the crate. Frankly this is abhorrent training. My dogs are now all e-collar trained and it's rarely ever necessary to use at aversive levels , esp not paired with "No" to induce handler fear and certainly not on a fearful/reactive dog. I could go on, because I don't think this is individualized training, but will digress. This training is conflict & punishment based & we did not reach any goals with her methods. I am pro-balanced, but this is compulsion. I'd suggest she expand her knowledge because her current methods have the potential to do serious harm. My relationship with my dogs was never worse than when we trained with Raise the Bar. The best thing about this experience, was that it lit a fire in me to learn to train dogs myself. They're now off leash heeling, hiking, no more reactivity, even went on a trip with us. Our results speak for themselves. I'll leave it there. read more

Mark was phenomenal, and his work with our rescue dog Myles changed our lives. After trying multiple trainers without success, we were beginning to lose hope in finding someone who could help us handle his aggression/reactivity around new people. We had resigned ourselves to keeping Myles separate from new people for the rest of his life due to his aggression. From the first session (at our house - which was important), it was evident that Mark has a deep understanding of canine behavior and a genuine passion for his work. He took the time to get to know Myles (and us), understanding his triggers and tailoring the training sessions to address his specific needs. It was clear that Mark doesn't follow a 'one size fits all' approach - we tried many different tactics until we found something that worked well for Myles. Beyond the training sessions, Mark went the extra mile by providing us with resources and support. He was always available to answer our questions and offer guidance outside of training sessions, making us feel supported every step of the way. Over the holidays, we were able to successfully introduce Myles to friends and family, including several that he has tried to bite in the past. Nothing but wagging tails now. To say we're happy with the results would be an understatement - there was no part of me that EVER thought we would get Myles to that point - I thought his reactivity was just something we would better manage over time. Don't give up if you think your dog is beyond training - just call Mark! read more

Cheryl completely turned around our german shepherd Nash. She was having violent outbursts with resource guarding, making us wonder if we could keep her with future children. With Cheryl's in-home training, we are now able to confidentially touch her bowl while she's eating. Nash also gained great obedience training along the way. 100% would recommend. read more

Cheryl has worked with us before, and when we adopted my mother in law's dog after her passing, Cheryl helped us integrate him into our household with our other dog. She knows dogs, and she knows people who are just as much in need of training as the dogs when it comes to dog behavior. read more

Cheryl was a huge help with our two dogs. We have a Great Pyrenees and a golden retriever. Both boys were stubborn and have very little training. Our Great Pyrenees started resource guarding and with her help we have almost completely fixed the issue! When he does steal something we are able to get it from him with no growling or snapping. We were so close to having to rehome or put him down so we are SO thankful for her help. I couldn't recommend her enough!! read more

I would recommend Cheryl to anyone without hesitation. We hired her right around the time our dog turned 1. He was still going to the bathroom inside the house, a very erratic walker on--leash, picked up tons of wood chips/trash and even dog poop off the ground, jumped up at the table while we were eating dinner, and all around was running the show in our home. He was also really afraid of other people and had a serious barking problem. We had minimal success with previous training techniques, because he is smart enough to perform really well when treats were involved, but didn't want to listen in the absence of treats. Cheryl worked with him for 4-5 months and has turned him into a much better behaved version of himself. Things we love about Cheryl: - She is wonderful to work with, always arrives on time on early and is very professional - She comes to you and works in your home (and around your home) so that she can see issues occur in their environment - She has great rapport with dogs - She teaches you and your dog at the same time so that you better understand each other - She understands that dogs are not all the same and will edit/tailor the training to how your dog responds. We have now "graduated" and our dog is still doing great, but Cheryl offers a lifetime guarantee so that if unwanted behavior returns, we just call her and she will be back. We honestly cannot thank her enough! read more

My dog is 10 years old and I am a bad pet owner, because he has never had any basic obedience training. Other than being potty trained, we never bothered because he is pretty chill and we had a fenced in yard. He is not a jumper, so we thought we were fine without training him. We suddenly moved into an apartment in a building without a yard requiring lots of on leash walking. Turns out, he didn't walk on a leash and I felt like my arm was going to be pulled off at the shoulder because he would LUNGE and nearly drag me down the walk when he'd see another dog. I had no idea how to change his behavior. Raise the Bar responded to my late night, slightly tearful email within a day and arranged an in-home visit. It took about a month because I had to cancel and reschedule and Raise the Bar seems pretty busy. Mark is an excellent trainer of both my dog and me. After the first appointment in my home, we were able to walk along the sidewalk. You can teach an old dog new tricks! My dog now knows several different commands. But being able to take him for a walk without worrying about damaging my arm/shoulder, having him yank and get loose, or attack another dog has been the most marked result of training. I would recommend Raise the Bar and Mark to anyone needing dog training. read more

I can not recommend Cheryl enough! Her training has completely changed our lives and the lives of our 2 dogs. We had a wide array of issues including but not limited to: separation anxiety, aggression, potty training, jumping on guests, and much more. We thought there was no hope when our dogs were getting in to really bad fights with one another. Cheryl has been able to address all of our concerns and more! She comes to our house so that our dogs can learn in their own environment. We have seen a tremendous improvement in both of our dogs in just a few weeks. Well worth the investment in time and money! read more

My sweet dog had turned aggressive and I was at the end of my rope trying to figure out what was going on and how to correct the issue. I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything I could to help her and make her feel calmer. Cheryl spent a lot of time with Emma and myself listening, watching us and training us on how to change our routines and how we interact with each other. Emma is a special girl with a crazy personality and Cheryl was very helpful in helping us tremendously to make Emma more comfortable and to help me change the way I handle the difficult moods. I appreciate everything she has done to help us both! Thank you! read more

Being in the dog boarding and daycare field, I have worked with a lot of dog trainers. Cheryl and RTB are the best of the breed. She demonstrates well that she knows dogs and how to best address basic training as well as complex behavior and aggression related issues. I appreciate her patience and willingness to ho the extra mile. I would take my dogs to her first to help start them on the right paw. read more

Cheryl from Raise the Bar is a life saver! Being in an area surrounded by neighbor dogs, our two dachshunds were always outside, incessantly barking and jumping on the fence. I even dreaded taking them on walks, embarrassed by how they would aggressively bark at every dog and person we would pass. Enter Cheryl, who helped coach the dogs (and me!) on how to listen, stay alert and relaxed, so that we can enjoy our outdoor time. Halfway through the training, we adopted a third dog, and Cheryl helped train him with our two little guys, and help integrate him into our family. Now we have three dogs who know how to listen and get along SO well together! Thanks Cheryl! Marty, Oscar and Woody miss you already ;-) read more

We have been working with Cheryl at Raise the Bar Dog Training for the last couple of months as our two boxers have had issues adjusting to a new home in a new neighborhood and the arrival of our infant son. Our male boxer in particular was overly stressed and acting out aggressively towards our son and we thought we would have to find a new home for our beloved boxer. Then we met Cheryl and her training has changed our lives! There was no way to walk either of our dogs and take our son out in his stroller, but just a couple of weeks of training with Cheryl and our walks truly became family walks again! Our dogs have responded so well and so positively to her training that we have peace back in our home. Our male has been doing great with our son - no more aggression, growling or barking. Cheryl has been great to work with because she also understands how busy life is when both parents work and they have young children. She is very accommodating and flexible on training times/days and she is available for calls with questions. Working with Cheryl has been such a great experience for us and our dogs that we would highly recommend her to anyone in need of help! read more