NorthShore Canine Academy

Sophie has been a tremendous asset in helping our family with our first puppy! She arrived promptly and prepared for all our training sessions, ready to train him but also adjusting when we asked for help with specific topics. Would recommend with 100% confidence! More...

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Rylie is our 4th Golden Retriever, and we've used trainers with all of them. This was our first time working with Sophie, and while our previous trainers were great, Sophie was exceptional--gives new meaning to the term "dog whisperer", and we would unhesitatingly recommend her.

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Sophie was absolutely amazing both before we got our puppy and once she arrived. We had a pre-puppy meeting where she went through so much useful info and even gave us a full list of items to buy and articles to read before our puppy came home. And once our puppy was here, Sophie did a great job of teaching her (and us) all of the fundamental skills (house training, sit, stay, leave it, whistle training etc.) in just a few sessions. She explains her methodology very well so we've been able to continue training our dog even after our sessions with her. I highly recommend Sophie to new dog owners as well as anyone looking to change behaviors with their existing dog. She truly has a special talent, she's just the best! More...

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Sophie was a huge help to us with our new puppy. She gave us clear tasks to work on without overwhelming us. She explained what to do, demonstrated, and then let us try. She was very efficient and fit a lot into an hour, and we were impressed how quickly our puppy learned to follow her directions. She was also super responsive when we followed up with questions - calling back immediately to talk through it. We highly recommend her. More...

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Sophie was able to quickly accurately assess our puppy’s issues. Her suggestions yielded improvements after just one session!

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Sophie helped me become confident in my dog's needs and behavior! If you live in north suburbs, don't waste your time searching for a dog trainer, and just book with Sophie!

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Sophie is incredibly knowledgeable about how to handle dogs that are easily triggered. It was so helpful having her in the house with us and practicing management tactics to handle our dogs triggers. She gets dogs instinctively and our family is so grateful that we found her! More...

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Sophie was amazing helping us with our very anxious & skittish 2yo puppy. All the tricks and lessons she gave us were great to help our puppy calm down and behave much better around guests and on the leash outside. Highly recommend her! ❤️

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Puppy training. My daughter and family got an 8-week old puppy and we knew it was important to start training right away. Sophie has been great . She is very focused on the dog and reinforcing good behavior while understanding typical puppy misbehavior and redirecting it and/or correcting it gently. Good to have her on the ‘puppy team’. More...

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Sophie was absolutely amazing with our cavapoo Bruno! She was flexible with the times we needed her for training, and was so patient with Bruno. At 5 months old I did not expect him to learn or retain the amount of training he did. He continues to do amazing and after just 4 one hour sessions is doing great with his commands. Sophie also offers tips for puppies, how to keep them busy, out of trouble, keep them from boredom, etc. She was a blessing for us to have as first time puppy owners and I would highly recommend her to anyone! More...

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Sophie is an exceptional dog trainer! We just had our first session and I already feel so much more confident in my ability to help Tofu with his reactivity. Sophie is so knowledgeable and explained all the different ways I could help Tofu with his reactivity. We had another trainer before that was very fear forward and Sophie was so patient and understanding of Tofu’s needs. If you are looking for a trainer that truly cares about your pet and creates a force/fear- free environment, Sophie is the one! More...

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Sophie did a great job quickly accessing my dog's issue and helping me figure out ways to alleviate the problem. Stella is doing a much better job walking on her leash and paying attention when called. I really liked all the quick resources she sent me so I didn't have to read through tons of information. The training games she recommended has become a nice way to bond with my dog and not another task on my to do list. More...

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I reached out to Sophie for some help with SA with a recently acquired 5 year old poodle who has had lots of changes and flips out if I leave (which I can't since I live in a condo and he howls, not barks! ). It is a slow process but I received lots of reference materials and am working through the process. My poodle was transfixed the moment Sophie walked in, and Is think she could have had him doing backflips in the near future; her training style is awesome! SA is not really trainable, but I did get good insight of how to move forward and incorporate training and am working on that project now. Definitely a Dog Whisperer! More...

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I have been helping people with their dogs in pet retail for over thirty years. I have worked with many dog trainers, each one has their own technique and training philosophy. Of all the professional trainers over the years, Northshore Canine Academy has impressed me the most. I always get the best feedback from customers. No other trainers have come close with rave compliments than Sophie Amphlett. Her all positive training shows through her love of all dogs and understanding their pet parents. She realizes each client and their dog is uniquely different with the consideration of home dynamics. More...

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Sophie was fantastic with our cavapoo puppy. We really didn’t know what we were doing and Sophie helped with house training, sit, stay, leave it and other fundamental training that made having a puppy manageable. She is knowledgeable, patient, gentle and kind. She uses only positive reinforcement which aligns with how we want to treat a member of our family. I highly recommend Sophie. More...

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Right from the start.... Sophie was fantastic in every way. Great communication, friendly service, extremely knowledgeable. Sophie helped with our dog's situation immediately. We have more work to do with our dog and will be reaching out to Sophie for her continued help. More...

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Sophie is so sweet and very knowledgeable! Our puppy has already shown vast improvements after only one session. Highly recommended!

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Sophie was so gentle and kind with my little 5 pound poodle. I was really impressed by her approach. I’m really looking forward to applying all the tips and tricks she shared to make him more comfortable around strangers and around my 6 month old baby.

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It’s five minutes of the first training lesson. I can tell she loves dogs and is very committed to making the relationship between the dog and the human compassionate and loving one. She taught us so many things that we didn’t know about how to deal with toddler age puppies. So glad we met her, I would recommend her to anyone at home with their dog. More...

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Sophie was wonderful! In a short amount of time she was able to teach us how to change our dog’s behavior with just a clicker and food. Our dog loved her right away, and so did we. She was very kind and easy to work with. Thanks, Sophie! More...

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Great for in home training. Teaches you a ton of great things to get and keep your dog in proper order. Gives great advice and answers my text messages whenever I have a concern with my 15 week old puppy.

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We used Sophie for our new rescue for a session and we loved how she had a list of things to buy on Amazon and also gave us a training manual. It was super helpful and right away we saw results from what she taught us in an hour. She truly cares about animals and really gave us some good advice! I would highly recommend her even if it is for just one session! We will definitely call her again if we need anything! More...

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Sophie was so amazing to work with and I am so grateful to have found her! She made training my dog very approachable and fun for both of us. Sophie is super accessible and fast to reach, and easy to book with. I love her philosophy of positive enforcement and noticed immediate leaps in improvements after the first training alone! Having her meet me at my apartment for the training was great because she pointed things out that I might not have otherwise realized. I highly recommend Sophie! More...

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Sophie is an outstanding dog trainer! Her expertise and caring approach have made a significant difference in our dog's behavior. Highly recommend her services!

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Sophie came to our house to work with our new, very energetic puppy. She worked wonders after just two visits, giving us not only strategies and skills to work with the dog, but helping us understand much more about dog psychology so that we can approach training and handle behavior challenges better in the future. She is a very skilled dog trainer, and, most importantly, loves dogs so approaches everything she does with a focus on enjoyment and positivity for the dog. More...

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We were debating whether to put our new puppy in classes but decided to spend a bit more money for some targeted coaching - and we’re so glad we did! Sophie was not only able to coach (or correct) behaviors we were seeking to address with our puppy, but even helped us with our adult dog - and managing their dynamic - too. It’s evident by the way the dogs responded to her, and how much their behavior improved after just a few sessions, that Sophie is a master at what she does! More...

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Sophie is really caring and professional in her approach w puppies and older dogs, a true master at the art of dog training. But even more important is training us humans to understand dog behavior and the importance of consistency in a household. Sophie was able to connect w everyone in our family from the 10 yr old up to the 78 yr old grandparents, all have a hand in training a puppy and she did a fabulous job at teaching all of us - the puppy's good behavior is a reflection of the training she gave him and us! More...

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Thank you Sophie! In just two sessions with Sophie she was able to get my new dog to follow all her commands (and mine) fear free treat based no discipline which I was very happy with. I feel confident with my new adolescent dog that he will become a well trained dog now that we know how to train together. Sophie even turned training into games with our dog which he loved! More...

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Sophie is wonderful! We brought her in to help our 10-week old puppy learn basic commands and our 10-year old doodle adjust to his new roommate. As soon as she walked through the door, Sophie immediately got right to training both of our pups. Would highly recommend Sophie for all your dog training needs. More...

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Sophie has an incredible talent training dogs as well as their humans! She is patient and passionate. She has a bag full of tools to help train your dog, and they really work! We have a 9 month old Golden Retriever who should have been named Dennis the Menace!! Within a couple of weeks following Sophie’s advice our Golden is a pleasure. More...

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Our puppy learned fast with Sophie’s help. Everything was positive. No negative talk. Training involved a lot of treats to get the desired behavior.

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Sophie was great with my 11 month old mini Bernadoodle. My sweet puppy loves people and animals too much!! She gets so excited when she sees someone she can hardly contain herself. She also started running out the door. Sophie showed me how to address these behaviors and we are doing so much better. Her training technique is positive and Kaia simply loved working with Sophie. (Glenview) More...

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I recently had the pleasure of working with Sophie, and I couldn't be happier with the experience! Sophie came over to meet my dog and me, and her expertise immediately shone through. Not only did she offer practical advice, but she also took the time to understand my dog's behavior and tailor her suggestions accordingly. I would recommend Sophie and NorthShore Canine Academy. More...

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I highly recommend NorthShore Canine Academy. Our dog was pulling on the leash and was terrible on walks. Sophie was a natural with her and so knowledgeable about dog training. She taught us how to train her to walk nicely on the leash and to obey us. We saw results quickly. She is a great dog trainer. More...

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We've just begun working with Sophie at NCA. We were impressed by everything, for example: the variety of toys she brought to share upon meeting our dog Arlo, the wide range of suggestions and resources she shared and her thoughtful and insightful questions. And that was just the first 20 minutes. We had been discouraged and not sure how to best manage anxiety related destructive behavior and needed some guidance on that and some regular obedience issues. Already she's been incredibly helpful and we are happily working on our games, training and homework w/Arlo! Well worth it, we'll be seeing her again. More...

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Sophie is incredible! We recently adopted a 5 month old rescue berner. She is a sweet pup, but since we got her a little older, we had our work cut out for us :) after only a couple sessions with Sophie, we have a much better behaved pup and an arsenal of tools and expert knowledge to keep us and our pup on track :) cannot recommend Sophie highly enough. She is kind, professional, smart, flexible and fun, and imparts all those qualities on the pups. Thank you Sophie!! More...

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When we acquired Rosie, our 1 ½ year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel earlier this year, we quickly understood that from a training standpoint, we were actually getting an untrained puppy. Due to her circumstances earlier in life, she had missed out on virtually all usual puppy training. As we had previously had two Cavaliers, we assumed we could handle the task without professional training assistance but soon realized that this might not be the case. Enter Sophie at Northshore Canine Academy (aka our savior!). In the month that Sophie has been working with Rosie and us, we are so pleased with the progress which we all have made. Sophie and Rosie hit it off immediately. While this is not unusual with this loving and eager- to-please breed, Sophie does possess a special touch. Her patient and always positive approach produced immediate results. Perhaps just as important is her ability to train Rosie’s “parents” . Sophie has introduced us to effective training techniques, and we are doing a better job with Rosie’s training. An added bonus of working with Sophie is that she is a delightful individual. Susan and Steve Balsamo, Glencoe More...

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Sophie is a wonderful dog trainer! She gave us some helpful recommendations on how to positively reinforce good behavior. We enjoyed working with her.

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We have really enjoyed working with Sophie. We got our new puppy when she was 11 weeks old. Sophie worked with us over a couple of sessions to teach us the value of reward based training. She is very patient and our puppy immediately took to her. She also worked with our children to help them positively interact with our puppy. We have really enjoyed meeting Sophie and will be sure to go back to her whenever we have dog training needs. More...

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Sophie was really knowledgeable and patient. She is great with puppies and helped me out so much - from getting set up to training techniques that are focused on positive reinforcement. She was also super flexible with her schedule and just great to work with. Highly recommend! More...

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Sophie is awesome and worth every penny! She is professional, focused, patient, and enjoyable to work with. We have a puppy and an older dog, and they both immediately responded to her and love her. It is amazing how quickly our puppy learns from her. And so does the senior dog. Sophie listened to our concerns and figured out solutions that have worked well. I highly recommend Sophie! More...

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Here's what you get with Sophie .. excellent communication , professionalism, highly skilled trainer with a commitment to your satisfaction.

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Sophie was great with our anxious and reactive rescue pup. She made a lot of recommendations for training techniques, toys, and brain games to help him calm down. I feel a lot more prepared to help him acclimate to his new environment. More...

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Sophie is amazing. She worked magic with our new puppy and really helped my whole family feel at ease as we adjusted to a new puppy in our house. As new dog owners we had no idea how to approach crate training, potty training or anything. She helped support not only my husband and I but also our 3 children and my nanny. Sophie is not only knowledgeable but fun to work with. I feel so lucky to have found her help during this transition!! More...

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Thanks to Sophie's help we feel like we are in a much better place with our new addition

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