BlueDog

Mar 2023

My partner and I worked with Tori for about a year to train our husky puppy, Obsidian. Her 1-on-1, in-home training was AMAZING. Not only did Tori help us with fundamentals with ease and consistancy, she helped us solve so many issues including food agression, navigating temperament, greetings, and personality tactics. She had an enormous amount of patience with both us and Obsidian. Additionally, she was always willing to talk through any dog information with us. Tori is truly the sweetest, most caring, dog expert. Her knowledge runs deep and she cares not only deeply for the dogs, but also the experience of the owners and how they feel. I can’t recommend this charismatic and professional trainer more!

Mar 2021

We have been taking classes at BlueDog for a couple years now. When we adopted our dog, Logan, he was ~1.5. He had a great foundation but was still young, VERY dog distracted, and had lots more to learn and experience. We also had a specific interest in the possibility of one day getting him therapy certified - if/when he was ever ready for it. I learned about BlueDog years prior when I saw one of the owners, Kim, give a brief training demo at a charitable animal expo event. I was immediately impressed with her approach, dog handling, and teaching. I made a mental note and that was it. Fast forward several years → when we adopted our dog we started searching for opportunities to further his training. BlueDog immediately came to mind and was one among several schools we considered. What appealed to us about BlueDog’s model for our needs was the opportunity to attend as many classes as we liked for one, reasonable, monthly fee. They are unique in this way. What we needed most was regular, controlled practice around other dogs which their model afforded us several times a week. Just what the doctor ordered. We started in their “Elementary” school and progressed up through “College”. We found the curriculum well structured and staff always friendly and knowledgeable. They all genuinely seem to enjoy their work. The training is also all positive reinforcement based, so aligned well with what we were already doing. I think it’s important to note the limitations inherent in group classes. You can only accomplish so much in a 45min session alongside 4 to 5 other uniquely wired pups. This challenge is not unique to BlueDog; it’s the same for all schools offering classes in this format. In this sense, we always thought of BlueDog’s group classes as one component of a broader range of activities aimed at raising a (reasonably) well behaved, happy/healthy, balanced dog. The real yield from these type of classes is what you make of them when you’re not there. They serve as a good primer to learn fundamentals and are a great, safe way to socialize your dog around other dogs. They’ve proven an invaluable supplement for us. They’re also fun. During the couple years we’ve been clients, in addition to group classes, we have taken the occasional private lesson, participated in group/town walks, and leveraged their member FB group for impromptu questions/troubleshooting and to connect with other students for outings and playdates. All facilitated by BlueDog. We completed their full baseline curriculum, passed our Canine Good Citizen and Advanced Canine Good Citizen tests, and got our Alliance of Therapy Dogs (ATD) certification. They bent over backwards to help make our ATD certification happen - allowing us to shadow visits at an elder care facility where they volunteer, completing piles of paperwork, and administering our final assessment. While I don’t know the owners Kim and Chris personally, the more I interact with them, the more I’m impressed with the depth of their passion for all things dog (they have 5 of their own!), their insatiable appetite to advance their own expert knowledge, their thoughtfulness in evolving and expanding offerings, and how much they care about the success of their clients. They’re just good, dedicated people and the longevity of their business's success is well deserved. Now if only they could help me teach my dog how to fold laundry.

Mar 2021

I have been meaning to write a review for quite some time now, and when I realized today was small business appreciation day, I thought this was a perfect time to leave one! Simply put, BlueDog is amazing! We have taken multiple classes with the BlueDog team over the past several years for our 2 Goldendoodles. One of the best features was their membership pricing. It allowed us to go whenever we had an opening in our schedule. Tuesday and Thursday one week, Saturday and Sunday the next. Or even 5 days in a week if we could squeeze it in! We began attending BlueDog when our dogs were just puppies and we were completely clueless on how to train them. Through a really fun "school style" lay-out, we were amazed at our dog's progression (and our progression, too!). The positive reinforcement training that we received from all of BlueDog's amazing staff helped prepare our dogs for passing the CGC test. Our training didn't end there, though! BlueDog offered other programs that we signed our dogs up for, such as a Therapy program and a CGC Advanced preparation class (which we passed!). We are now taking new advanced classes that involve nose work and rally activities, that both us and our pups thoroughly enjoy. Why BlueDog? The staff is amazing, the training is in a fun rewarding manner that our dogs love, and the hard work really does pay off. We constantly receive comments from strangers about how well trained our dogs are when we are out in public. It makes us feel so proud! When they ask how they can get their dogs to behave like ours in public, we always tell them about BlueDog and say we were just like them before :-) Thank you, BlueDog! We would never have come so far without what we learned from you!