Find a Dog Trainer in Manhattan

Mutt School is excellent; I heartily recommend them!!! I feel that there's a fundamental flaw in a lot of trainers in that they do understand how to get dogs to do certain things (sit, stay, etc) but they don't necessarily understand the theory behind what motivates an animal. Animal behaviorists & ethologists look for the why behind certain behaviors; it's difficult to address behavior problems of a dog if there's no understanding of the motivation or the emotions behind their behaviors. This is where Mutt School trainers differ from the others - they focus on getting the dog to decide to behave by themselves & look to the longterm instead of focusing on training methods that work in the short-term but don't address the problems when a human isn't there to tell the dog what to do (ie, you get a dog that you have to micromanage for the rest of his/her life). That being said, I have taken 4 dogs to Mutt School since February 2018 (today is 7/13/18) & all have made enormous strides: 1) "Shadow" is a 2-1/2 year old Australian Shepherd that was poorly socialized & pretty much a semi-feral dog. She didn't let humans pet her & it took me 5 days to get a collar on her to get her to Mutt School in the first place! She ran away or nipped whenever anyone tried to grab her or put a leash or collar on her, not to mention anything else. She did board & train for a month, & by the end of the month, she was playing nicely with other dogs, accepting a harness or collar & leash, going in the kennel, & soliciting affection from humans. 2) "Bella" is an 11 year old Aussie that had a history of reactivity/aggression towards humans and other dogs. She has been doing part-time day training at Mutt School & has been doing private lessons with trainer extraordinaire Julie Croasdale since March. Whenever someone would come to the house, Bella would vocalize & lunge, attacking objects near the window (shredded the curtains). After several private sessions inside the house with a muzzle on, Julie counter-conditioned her fear aggression & has become her best friend. Bella has met several people at both Mutt School day training & at home, & has been able to become comfortable with them & even solicited petting. She is like a different dog now; she went from turning into "Cujo" around people to being happy & less stressed. Bella is still reactive with other dogs but the reactivity is considerably less than a few months ago. 3) "Poika" is a 9 year old Aussie & a service dog that loves people but is very afraid of children. He also became extremely reactive to other dogs after being attacked at the dog park some years previous. Because of his nervousness around children (he would shake whenever he heard a child's voice & tried desperately to hide behind his owner), he would tangle himself up in his owner's walker. He has been doing day training at Mutt School for several weeks & has learned to walk politely with both a walker & a wheelchair. His dog reactivity is still a work in progress, but he reacts from a much shorter distance now & with much less intensity (it became so bad that he once tried to attack an 8 week old puppy). Soon we will begin private lessons with Poika to counter-condition him to children from a distance by going to parks & public places. 4) "Pax" is a 3 year old shepherd mix that spent the first 2 years of his life tied up outside on a chain. He was extremely fearful of men, but was good with people until he had a negative experience & became more & more reactive towards people until he bit a man on the arm, as well as nipping 2 women. He also became extremely other-dog reactive after another dog attacked him. We started private lessons with Julie Croasdale (she's a genius!!); thus far, we have had 2 lessons. The first lesson, Pax was very fearful but was on a leash & a muzzle & was able to calm down after some distance. By the second lesson, he accepted Julie as a friend & solicited petting & belly rubs. A huge shout out to the staff at Mutt School, especially to Julie, Mary & Dawn!!!