Grateful for Amazing Clients!

I’m actually headed over to see Skippy this afternoon! It’s always great to catch up with clients and watch the dogs continue to grow and develop. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review Julie!

“We fostered Skippy from our local shelter as a young pup. Having him from so young we thought he’d grow up like our other dogs - pleasant and easy going. We were so wrong as he reacted to everything. We couldn’t take him in the car as he’d drool and vomit. We couldn’t walk him as he’d bark, leap and lunge at people and go crazy with dogs. We couldn’t leave him in our fenced in yard or he’d bark constantly. Having workmen or visitors in the house was a nightmare as he would be so aggressive.

When we were at our wits end and considering taking him back to the shelter we were recommended Susan’s Animal Minds Behavior and Training.

What Susan has achieved is mind blowing. She has transformed Skippy into a “good boy”! He can now spend some alone time outside without disturbing the neighborhood. Walking is now a pleasure. He still needs a long time to warm up to new people in the house but he lies quietly in his crate when workmen are here.

Susan is available to us for questions and support and classes which had been invaluable.

Susan is very pleasant to work with and our experience exceeded expectations.”

Review from Dakota's Family

“Susan is nothing short of a miracle worker when it comes to training dogs! We recently adopted Dakota, a one-year-old Malinois mix who had been a stray. From the moment he entered our home, it was clear he had no training or manners. He was high-strung and completely out of control – constantly yelping, unable to stay still, jumping on furniture and people, crashing into things, and harassing our other dog. To top it off, he destroyed everything in his path.”

“We were overwhelmed and at our wits’ end when we reached out to Susan for help. She responded promptly and scheduled a time to meet Dakota. From the very first session, Susan immediately recognized the issues we were facing and took control of the situation. Her expertise was evident right away.

After eight weeks of dedicated training, along with several follow-up sessions, Dakota returned home as a completely different dog. He now has manners, follows commands, and is calm and manageable – the transformation has been night and day! We were honestly worried he might be untrainable, but Susan worked wonders.

Susan is not only incredibly knowledgeable but also a joy to work with. She’s friendly, flexible, and a fantastic communicator. We especially appreciated the photos and videos she sent to keep us updated on Dakota’s progress. It’s clear she genuinely cares about the dogs she trains.

If you’re in need of a dog trainer – especially for high-energy breeds like a Malinois – we can’t recommend Susan highly enough. She truly changed our lives and gave Dakota the skills he needed to thrive.”

Thank you so much to Rubi & Art for entrusting me with your guy. It was truly a pleasure getting to work with him and your family!

Group Class Schedule

It’s that time of year!

We are excited to announce our upcoming group training sessions tailored to previous clients who wish to continue their training journey in environments with various distractions. These sessions will provide an opportunity for you and your dogs to practice in well-controlled, directed spaces, ensuring steady progress and reinforcing learned behaviors.

Session 1:

- Date: Saturday, April 27th

- Time: 10:30 AM

- Location: Nimbus Hiking Trail

- Meeting Point: (Directions will be provided via group email)


Session 2

- Date: Saturday, May 11th

- Time: 10:30 AM

- Location: PetFood Express (Loehmann's Plaza)


Session 3:

- Date: Saturday, May 25th

- Time: 10:30 AM

- Location: Rusch Park (Citrus Heights)


Session 4:

- Date: Saturday, June 8th

- Time: 10:30 AM

- Location: William B Pond Park (River trail/adventures)


Session 5:

- Date: Saturday, June 22nd

- Time: 10:30 AM

- Location: To Be Determined (TBD)


Please RSVP for each session by sending an email to ambehaviortraining@gmail.com. This will help us ensure that we can adequately prepare for the number of participants and provide the best experience for everyone involved.

Updating Reviews

Over the next few weeks we will be updating here weekly with some of our client reviews, that way they can be found in one place and folks don’t have to jump from platform to platform.

First up this week is Claire & Callie…

“I interviewed multiple board and train owners and as soon as I met Susan- there was no looking back. Her direct but smiling manner meant she was all business and most concerned about providing the best possible and most successful training course for me and my dog. I did not want to be the stay-at-home Mom but wanted to be a part of Callie's training. During the last few weeks with Susan, I would go and train with the two of them at local public venues. Which was delightful, I could see Callie's progress and I got to be the proud Mom showing her off. Callie spent a little over 6 weeks with Susan- I was the helicopter Mom- Susan put up with my frequent texting to check-in on Callie- she always responded with a great story and sometimes a picture of their day out and about. She described the relationship between her and Callie as thou it was her best friend-with responses like, "well she did not want to go the river today so we went to visit her friends in the neighborhood." She got and understood Callie immediately- your classic high strung, super bright, field retriever, who needed guardrails. I have a busy career and knew I could not provide Callie what she needed - super solid obedience. To this point we had successfully completed 3 obedience classes a canine good citizen class and she had multiple blue ribbons at dock-diving. I knew that she and I would both be allot happier and enjoy each other allot more our walks, hikes and adventures if they did not involve a battle of the minds. Callie's time with Susan did just that- she came home respectful, a sense of patience, a need to learn, calmer and a joy to hang out with in public, at home and on adventures. Just as Susan described, we are weaning off the e-colllar and now Callie just looks up at me for the next command- she matured. Many, many times I am stopped by people who ask me where we trained- one gentleman was so impressed with Callie on leash- he asked if I could train his children!! (Not so sure they would like the e-collar:):). I used to ask Susan when will Callie come home and she would tell me .."when I am confident I can deliver back to you the best product possible ". We are now in agility, the AKC trainer cannot believe how well she sits, stays, downs and comes on hand commands only- Susan taught her focus and she loves to learn. This was the best investment , I highly recommend Susan and Animal Minds-phenomenal! Thank you Susan!”

Group Classes Starting in July

In this 5 week course, Terra will work with you and your dog on basic obedience and help give you the tools you need for you and your pooch to hit the town for fun. There will even be an opportunity to practice how to have a peaceful meal in public with your dog by your side in a calm state before the final class which will be dinner at Beach Hut Deli located next door.

We will be covering the following skills: 

~ Sit
~ Down
~ Loose leash walking
~ Recall
~ Intro placement training
~ How to build self-control in your dog.
~ A discussion about what to feed your dog.
~ A review of dog training tools and helping you select what’s best for you and your dog. 
~ Troubleshooting behavior problems at home
~ How to reinforce commands on leash when distracted
~ Learning how to teach a trick
~ Q&A at the end of each session

Sign up today!
Cost: $300 for the 5 week course
Contact: (916) 538-0422 or email AMBehaviortraining@gmail.com

NOTICE: This course is for current clients. If you are not already a client, contact us to set up an in-home consult to get you ready for class

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We love getting reviews!! Keep them coming!

Susan has been wonderful with our Border Collie, Baxter!  We rescued him from Nor Cal Border Collie Rescue several months ago; he came to the rescue with almost nothing known about his previous training or background.  Over the course of the first month, it was obvious that there were some behaviors that needed corrected, especially in how he interacted with our other dogs at playtime. Leash manners and recall were also issues. We took him to a basic dog obedience class, but their reward (treat)-driven methodology is not a successful approach with a dog as motivated and clever as Baxter.  We were referred to Animal Minds by one of the foster parents at the Border Collie rescue, and what a lucky day that was for us all!

Susan truly understands Border Collies, and what drives them.  We have had 3 of our 4 sessions with her, and the progress Baxter has made is remarkable.  He's now a joy on leash walks, and a trusted hiking, fishing and camping buddy. We are now working on the complex behaviors that a border collie displays when other dogs are playing, and he thinks he needs to herd, nip and corrale them.  He is already showing progress, which is a relief to us all.

Susan is kind, sensitive and respectful in handling Baxter, and even though the sessions with her are tough for him, he's always excited to see her.  It's like he knows she has his best interest in mind, and he can definitely sense that she is a dog lover.  

Baxter isn't the only one learning from the sessions. While he is learning to be an even better dog, we are also learning to be better and more consistent dog parents. There is no doubt in my mind that this is money very well-spent!!  I would highly recommend Animal Minds to anyone dealing with dog behavioral issues!

 

Cathy C.  (Posted on Yelp)

We love getting amazing reviews like this one!

 

 

Posted on Yelp:

We have two small terriers, ages 7 and 9, and we reached a breaking point after a litany of poor behaviors over time had piled up.  I didn't realize how many there were until I started making a list in preparation for meeting and selecting a trainer.  

The first trainer we met with did not seem at all interested in fostering our connection with the dogs while also teaching proper behavior.  Her answer to everything was bitter apple spray.  In fact she sprayed our dogs immediately upon entering our home the first time, without our approval.  Aside from whether we were ok with this method or not, what was more frustrating was that just a week prior one of them had an abscessed tooth extracted! That can't have felt good to him. We wanted to teach our dogs to be better behaved but we also want to respect that they are dogs and we have to learn how to communicate with them properly and let them, at the end of the day, be dogs.  Not just little robots that are too afraid to do anything. We couldn't wait for her to leave and knew, without hesitation, that she would not be helping us train our dogs.

About an hour after the interview with the first trainer, Susan arrived.  Within minutes I breathed a sigh of relief and my fiance and I immediately agreed upon her leaving that she was the one for us. You could tell with the way she interacted with the dogs, and how she talked with us about the dogs, that she was very interested in respecting that they are dogs and helping us figure out how to connect with them on their level to obtain the behaviors we needed for a more peaceful home and the ability to go out with them in public without worrying about their behavior.

We trained with her for about 6 months.  We started first at once a week and then every couple weeks and then even longer stretches.  We had some deeply embedded issues and VERY quirky pups.  The usual prescription didn't always work.  What is great about Susan is she has the foundation training tricks down that pretty much every trainer knows, but she is also good at recognizing when something standard isn't working for your pup.  Tucker, especially, was a tough nut.  He didn't always respond to the first or even second thing we tried, but she would study him and try different things and figure out something that would work.  

I am happy to say that now my little jumping bean has learned to control his energy and sit when I come home instead of jumping all over me.  He has stopped immediately lunging toward the door of our neighbors across the hall because their dog starts barking the second we come out.  He has learned to go into his kennel, which he was previously deathly afraid of, on his own and cuddle up.  His reaction on leash continuously improves.  I used to not even be able to re-direct his attention with a treat.  Now I can re-direct his attention and in some cases I don't even need to.  Over time, I know he will be able to walk past other dogs without reacting. And my other little pup, the super shy guy, is learning to explore the world with some techniques she taught us.  He now gets excited to go out and explore instead of being afraid of everything in sight. I can't recommend Susan highly enough.  As I continue to be consistent with the core training techniques we used, I continue to see improvement in areas I wasn't even expecting.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/animal-minds-behavior-and-training-sacramento-2?hrid=01ZgblnxqpKoWsLA7n--8g&utm_campaign=bizsite_review_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

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Vote for us on KCRA A-List

It's that time of year again, where you get to vote for your favorite business on the A-List.

We'll be offering training credits for past clients who take the time to vote and potential credit for future clients who take the time, within the next month, to do so. Be sure to screen shot your page after you have completed your vote as proof!

Please share, share, share!

http://sacramento.cityvoter.com/animal-minds-behav…/…/694812

 

Find us on the A-List Animal Minds Behavior & Training Animal Minds Behavior & Training
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Cooper the Catahoula

Cooper the #catahoula putting his big boy pants on yesterday. This isn't a video where we show how "fast" we can fix behavioral issues or to tout e-collar magic. This is about the hard work this dog, his owners and us here at AMBT have put in. More than most would like to ever admit, many dogs are not a quick fix. Anyone who knows CLD's knows their prey drive and reactivity can be very intense. We've all been working very diligently for YEARS to get this far with this kid. From proofing his off leash/ e-collar work so he can exist around other animals and have some freedom, to working on leash reactivity, mild anxiety behaviors and continually managing his near constant will to "take on" any threat - these dogs are not for the faint of heart. Some might say, "Well shouldn't it all be fixed then if you've been training so long?" Not every dog will ever fit the mold of what you want them to be. As smart, quick, and adaptable as this dog is - you always have to be one step ahead. Know the difference between behavioral issues and genetic traits is key. For those who say "it's all in how you raise them" - this guy is the poster child for decades of breeding for a purpose.. to take on anything that challenges them. 100% guarantee if a dog with his temperament walked into a shelter he'd be deemed dangerous, untrainable and likely euthanized. Thank god for responsible owners. So proud of this guy and all his hard work. There was absolutely zero use of the collar (paging or stim) in this video. All behaviors are offered or verbal command only. While the muzzle may look intimidating it's purely for back up on his first day training outing. Safety first. #animalminds #catahoulaleoparddog

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Animal Minds Behavior & Training Christmas Specials

Christmas Puppy Special - $50 (1 session/2 phone consults)

Any puppy under 4 months qualifies for one in-home private session and 2 phone consults.

The private session includes:

  • Potty Training
  • Crate Training
  • How to stop puppy biting
  • How to stop puppy chewing
  • Beginning Sit/Down Commands
  • Beginning Self-Control/Boundary work

 

Basic Obedience Christmas Special - $125 (2 sessions/1 phone consult)

This in-home private package is for any dog that is needing to work on basic obedience. It will cover any age dog that you have and will also include 1 phone consult. It will not cover any dog aggression or other behavior modification.

These 2 sessions will cover:

  • Crate Training
  • Sit, Down and Stay
  • Loose Leash Walking
  • Teaching Self-Control/Boundaries
  • How to start working around distractions

 

*The follow up phone sessions assist in problem solving and pin pointing trouble areas.

*Packages must be purchase by December, 31 2016.