In the every changing and expanding world of companion animal behavior and modification, Crystal Blaker and her husband Michael are truly AMAZING! What they have created and the service they provide with Ruff House training has proven invaluable to Tucson and all those who love their pets as family. I have practiced veterinary medicine in 4 different states over the past 12 years and without a doubt, Crystal is one of the most professional, educated, and compassionate trainers I have ever had the pleasure to work with and learn from. Crystal worked personally with my own adult dogs at my house and in Ruff House training classes. Her understanding of behavior and attention to detail regarding each pets individual needs is beyond impressive allowing for a thorough yet simple approach to even the most complicated behavioral issues. She is brilliant in her focus and approach, able to incorporate all aspects of training and most importantly, never forgetting that those who need the most training are often the owners themselves.....even the veterinarians Crystal, Michael and Ruff House Training are special. Their compassion, dedication, understanding, patience and resolve are evident in all they do for myself, my clients, my patients and all animal lovers who know, "they are not just pets, but family". Tucson is fortunate to have such an asset and service. I will continue to rely on Crystal's expertise and recommend her to all those in need. There are those who choose to be, then there are those who are MEANT TO BE. Crystal Blaker, her husband Michael and Ruff House Training are truly "MEANT TO BE". And for that, myself, and all whom have had the fortune to work with Crystal and Ruff House training...we are truly grateful. I cannot recommend Crystal and Ruff House Training enough. Thank you Crystal....for all you do to improve the bond between us and our extended furry family. Scott O. Miller, DVM read more

Our experience in working with Crystal and our dog Angelo has been nothing but positive. I love that they have a full range of services, from Puppy and Basic Obedience classes, Advanced Obedience, the AKC Canine Good Citizen course, private lessons, and a fun course like Tricks Class. This allows you to stay with one trainer who really gets to know you and your dog, and I found this helped enhance training. Crystal is very professional and fun to work with. It is evident in all sessions that she truly cares. She is extremely goal-directed and focuses on how she can improve obedience skills as well as your overall relationship with your pet. In both private and group lessons, she seems to have individualized "treatment plans" in mind to focus on your personal needs. She quickly adjusts her plan based on you and your dog's response, and always has a new idea to try when needed. She assigns personalized "homework" and encourages practice in order to obtain the best outcome. I found Crystal to be very supportive and reassuring when I was feeling frustrated. Her customer service is excellent and she quickly responds to any questions or concerns. When we started with Crystal, our 100# dog Angelo was dragging us down the street on walks, reacting to other dogs, and often indifferent to our training attempts. Through our work with her, we learned multiple simple methods that made a huge difference in his behavior, and also how to better motivate him to work with us. He is now a Canine Good Citizen and a Certified Therapy Dog. I highly recommend Ruff House for your dog-training needs. read more

Our desire when seeking training for our puppy Belle, a miniature Australian shepherd who by nature comes with massive amounts of energy, was to end up with a dog that was looked at and thought of by those she meets as a well behaved canine citizen. Through the training Ruff House and Crystal Blaker have provided Belle is nothing short of that now. When you attend training classes you will find its not about teaching your dog something new but more about teaching you, the trainer, something new. Ruff House is training the trainer...without the instruction of Crystal our Belle would be a wreck with a plethora of different commands and styles we would have chosen to employ looking for the right result. With Crystals direction we were able to concentrate on a solid single method for instructing our dog, and if for some reason the initial best approach method did not work Crystal had alternative methods to produce the desired results. Ruff House throughout the process has been exceptional at communication, following up and beyond the in class direction provides follow up materials for further instruction at home. We have used Ruff House for group training classes and private lessons, and both have provided impressive results that Belle is eager to show off to those who are willing to watch. Throughout the training process Ruff House has been exceptional at communication, following up and answering questions. We have recommended Ruff House and Crystal Blaker to multiple friends and family who want a well behaved canine citizen, and if you desire the same for your dog we suggest the same for you! read more

Our family highly recommends Crystal and Ruff House! We started working with them in Summer of 2018 when our 3-month-old mini golden doodle took the puppy obedience class. Ruby learned all the basic commands/manners, but more importantly, WE learned how to work with Ruby! Crystal gives a lot of insight into how dogs think and how to modify their behavior using positive techniques. You learn not only what to do, but WHY. Ruby had a great first year in our home due to a good start in the Ruff House puppy obedience class. She has been a great family dog for our toddlers. When we had to go on a family vacation at the start of Summer of 2019, we needed a place for Ruby to stay. I contacted Crystal and was happy to find out that Ruff House has a Board n' Train program! Ruby just completed 3 weeks of the program and she came back to us with all of her obedience skills and manners even more refined. My 3-year-old is even able to take Ruby on a loose leash walk now! As part of Board n' Train, you have debriefs during the program, access to training help, and more classes to participate in throughout the year. Such a great program to have a loving, dog-friendly family take care of your dog, but also provide training, resources and refinement towards goals you set for the dog. We look forward to more classes through Ruff House with Ruby. I couldn't recommend them enough! read more

There are no words to describe the thanks and gratitide we feel toward Crystal and the training she gave Niko. Niko is our 3rd dog, an 8 month old GSD and he joined us 6 months ago. We also have an 8 year old Border Collie rescue that we have had for 6 years and a 4 yr old GSD Both shepherds are from the same breeder. Niko was unlike any other. A wonderful dog, but with massive drive and full of energy. Even though we exercised him daily, we still had difficulty with training and settling him down. He was head strong and keeping his attention, especially on leash walking was very difficult. Niko was with Crystal for two weeks and the change in him is remarkable. He has learned loose leash walking, although still progressing. He can settle on his own and waits patiently, but still excitedly to go in and out. He has become so enjoyable and we will continue to work with him daily and follow Crystals notes. Her pateince and attitude towards dogs is remarkable. She constantly gives positive reinforcement and you can tell without a shadow of a doubt the dogs love her. I can't believe we were fortunate enough to find this gem. We are so so grateful and we can't wait to come back for more obedience classes. We so highly recommend Crystal, she is bar non amazing. read more

I've been training my Cane Corso with Crystal since he was four months old, starting with the park class and moving to the advanced class at the end of which he received his CGC and CGCA titles at eight months old. I educated myself by taking dog training courses and seminars (Leerburg and Michael Ellis for those of you familiar with them) before even getting my dog because I knew it would be a challenge and I was originally looking for mostly socialization and exposure for my puppy. I had never trained a dog to anything beyond basic manners before, and I have to say Crystal's experience is worth tenfold what I learned in "books and tests" training courses. It's one thing to learn, quite another to do and Crystal is a master in her field. She helped me overcome any problems I was having, from reward timing to techniques for keeping my dog calm when my neighbor's "friendly" off-leash dogs come charging over. I will continue to train with Crystal and I would definitely recommend Crystal to everybody I know with a dog because it's so important for every dog owner to get at least basic training for their furry friend and Crystal makes it easy and painless. read more

Crystal has been a dog trainer for several years. She teaches a positive training class based on the most up to date research on positive techniques toward desired behavior. She considers you and your dog a team, thus teaching us both. After each class Crystal emails tips for working on what we learned in class, gives us homework and lets us know what to expect in the next class. At the beginning of each class she addresses questions and issues we may have had during the week. Crystal helps the dog and person teams toward success. My dog and I completed the Basic Obedience class with above the outcome I had hoped for. He was able to do everything taught during the six week course at graduation. He looked very handsome in his red graduation cap. We have a diploma too. He loves working on what he can do and it shows. We will be taking Good Canine Citizen class soon and looking forward to it. I have walked dogs at the Humane Society of Souther Arizona for 6 years. I use some of the techniques Crystal teaches to help our dogs walk loose leash so that they can be more readily adopted. I highly recommend Ruff House for you and your dogs. read more

Ruff House - Crystal. You are simply awesome. We just completed our 6 week therapy dog session and it has been life changing for Dobby and me. You exposed us to children, people in hats, with canes, with walkers, with wheelchairs, with full motorcycle gear, with skateboards, and on and on and on. Dobby's confidence increased measurably and just today he wasn't concerned about a bearded, hatted tall man coming into our area while practicing. Yes, he was watchful, but I reassured him through our name-it exercises you taught us - and voila....we are good! You seriously changed our dynamic for the next steps of therapy dog. We will be successful and have you to thank. This class should be taken by everyone with a dog, even if they don't want to do therapy work. The confidence and teamwork is awesome. And well Crystal Blaker - your creativity, sense of humor, gentle manner, willingness to explain in real-life terms, listening skills - you are WONDERFUL! And we love Teddy and Lauren to - your helpermates.!! Everyone - enroll now in the Therapy Class - you wont regret it!!! Thanks Crystal! read more

I own a wonderful Sheltie who just has a difficult time being calm which resulted in some bad behaviors. She would lunge and bark at dogs at various sounds and frankly was a pain to live with. Crystal was my last hope of turning her into a dog who we could live with and enjoy. Three week board and train was the path we thought would help her the most. She came home today and she has improved SO MUCH! I can't thank Crystal enough for giving her and me the building blocks to help her to continue to improve! On top of doing an amazing job with her, Crystal also kept me 100% informed while she had my precious baby. I got photos, videos and text messages throughout the process. She explained everything she was doing, provided documentation of what occurred during her stay and had me put the techniques to work under her supervision to ensure I understood. I would give her more than 5 stars if I could! Now it is up to me to maintain and continue her progress but I know Crystal is only a text or call away if I need help! THANK YOU! read more

What a great experience Ruff House Dog Training has been for our family! Trainer Crystal Blaker designs the class sessions to be completely hands-on, training us owners as well as our dogs, and combining learning with play and socialization. Our Jack Russell Terrier, Chip, LOVES going to "puppy class", and knowing where we are immediately when we get out of the car, he gets SO totally excited! The classes are kept small and personable, which makes it easy for Crystal to give individualized attention and instruction to all of us. Each week Crystal is prepared with a challenging and fun hour for us then emails a recap of class instruction and our focus / goals for the week. When we go home from class Chip is both happy and exhausted! We are completely thrilled with the progress Chip has made as well as the fun we have had along the way! It's time to start looking into the next level of training with Ruff House! read more

Crystal has worked with our dog, RIco, an 8yr. old male. He was adopted from the Human Society in January. We soon realized this old dog needed to learn new tricks. We hired Crystal for 4 sessions. Crystal is amazing. She has given us four great, unique sessions. Her technique with our dog was using verbal and hand commands along with praise and treats. She follows up each session with written instructions of what was reviewed at the session. She emphasizes the need to keep training daily. She gives easy instructions you can follow. We found this helpful because she gives so much information it allows you to concentrate on the session not worrying about taking notes. She was always on time, professional and great with our dog. We are still working with Rico on our own now but feel we have great tools we learned from Crystal. We highly recommend her! Thank you Crystal :) read more

I have had nothing but great experiences with RuffHouse and Crystal! Both the private and group training have been incredibly beneficial and have helped me to build a stronger relationship with my dog. I have also learned how to better communicate what I want with him which has led to more desirable behaviors. The thing I have been the most impressed with and highly recommend is the snake and toad avoidance training! My dog is fairly anxious and I was unsure if the training would stick with him, but recently we've happened upon not one, but two, rattlesnakes while in the yard and on walks. He immediately backed away and started barking before I had even seen or heard the snakes which were at least 5 ft away from us if not more. I am so incredibly thankful that what could have been bad situations were avoided because of good training. Thank you Ruff House!! read more

Often you come across professionals who do a good job. Occasionally you come across one that does a great job. Rarely are you lucky enough to find someone who is so exceptional that you just have to let the rest of the world know. I was lucky enough to find that professional in Crystal Blaker of Ruff House Dog Training and Behavior Modification. I was given Crystal's name when I asked my veterinarian for a recommendation for a puppy trainer. I took her advice and with Crystal's amazing help I now have a dog that is a joy to own. Crystal has such a natural and positive way with dogs that our whole family has enjoyed participating in the training! She follows every session with notes so that we can review and reinforce. If you are looking for a truly gifted, talented, cost-effective trainer, I would encourage you to go with Crystal. She is one in a million! read more

Our dane/mastiff puppy just graduated puppy class with Crystal. We can't say enough wonderful things about Crystal and Ruff House. Not only did Crystal work with the dogs and owners on basic commands and behaviors, but she has a wealth of knowledge about anything and everything dog related! She was extremely patient in answering all questions about the dogs and giving solutions. We have attended other training classes in the past, with other dogs, and the instructors always just stuck to the basics and were never willing to help with specific issues. Crystal was the complete opposite! Another wonderful part of class was the weekly introductions to new items/sounds which is very important for puppies. Again, we can't say enough about how wonderful Crystal and Ruff House are and can't wait to take more of her courses! read more

While walking my dogs this weekend I was reminded of the tremendous improvements in their behavior after having gone through Ruff House's Board and Train program. Bottom line: Their basic obedience is superb indoors and markedly improved outside. We could never have ingrained these good behaviors in our dogs (both of whom are rescues) without Ruff House and I am eternally grateful to our vet for the recommendation. When we visited halfway through the training it was evident our pups were in a loving household and being trained with positive methods. That made it much easier to be away from them, knowing they were in good hands. My wife and I would recommend Ruff House to anyone looking for competent, caring and professional training. Could not be happier with Ruff House! Lou read more

We had a fabulous experience working with Crystal Blaker. Our 7-year old Great Pyrenees mix was exhibiting leash aggression towards other dogs and also needed work on her general obedience. Crystal was extremely knowledgeable, with a demonstrated aptitude for teaching. Her methods were highly effective, and by the end of our sessions, we were walking our dog without her so much as glancing at dogs she had previously lunged at. Because Crystal had so many great tips, I also appreciated the fact that she emailed me a summary of what we covered after each session. Now I can refer back to Crystal's notes if there is an issue that needs revisiting, or if I just want to practice. I highly recommend Ruff House for your dog training needs. read more

I started working with Crystal because I needed help knowing how to train my undersocialized Catahoula Hound Puppy. She personalized each session based on the progress my dog and I had made. She goes over reasons for behaviors and ways to positively train against them. She was always patient and was always accessible for questions. Crystal was also very flexible with scheduling times and places for our sessions. My relationship, and my friends and families relationship, with my puppy has absolutely improved. Every one is quick to comment on the progress we have made together. I would recommend her to anyone who needs a professional and friendly trainer to help them make their relationship with their dog the best it can be. read more

We just finished an 8-week puppy obedience class with Ruff House. I loved the small class size, which allowed for much personal instruction and support. Crystal is very knowledgeable and her methods are very effective. She is a wonderful teacher, who is not only patient with the dogs, but their owners, as well. :) She made me, "an older dog mom", very comfortable in class. I have just begun private sessions in my home, and I am looking forward to continuing Willow's training. Willow is also signed up for Ruff House's Board and Train program in January, while I am traveling. I can not recommend Ruff House enough! I am so thrilled that I found Crystal and Ruff House! read more

Veterinarian recommended! I recently used Crystal for a group puppy class, and last week, my new puppy stayed with her for a board and train. Hugo needed a little assistance with his impulse control and housebreaking, as well as continuation of his basic obedience skills. I was able to leave him with Crystal in her clean, safe, well-thought-out space without worry. She even sent me photos and videos of his progress while I was gone. When I picked him up, he was happy to see me but not anxious to leave! He LOVED his time at Ruff House! I feel confident recommending Ruff House to anyone. I am already planning his next "vacation" there. read more