Find a Dog Trainer in Hillcrest Heights

We adopted our pup, Bradley, from Rural Dog Rescue. Before we got him, he was fostered by one of the good folks at Dog-Ma and he loves going back to see his friends. He's always greeted happily by the staff, spends the day either running in the yard with his dog friends or relaxing inside with his people friends. He always comes home happy and tired (in a good way!).Dog-Ma is apparently the only District doggy daycare with an outdoor area where our dog can enjoy nice weather while we're at work.

I can't recommend Ruff and Ready enough. George was incredibly helpful with the 60+ lbs teen American bulldog my fiancé and I fostered. George had been working with our foster dog before we got him, and we were amazed at how well trained the dog was. George helped us understand the training and have the skills to reinforce it so our foster dog could be his best self and find a forever home. Our dog who'd passed away was a senior, small deaf terrier mix, so having a big American bulldog in his teens was something very new to us, and George was absolutely fantastic in teaching us how to continue working with the dog. George spent more than 1.5 hours the day we first received our foster dog going over all the basics until we were confident we had the fundamentals down. We also had several super helpful training sessions at our home so we could practice how to correctly enforce the training in various scenarios and locations. George answered each of my long, rambly, nervous emails with patience, kindness, encouragement and a deep understanding of my questions.George has an incredible ability to not just train dogs well, but train *us* as their human caretakers,  which I realized through this process is just as essential. George was really great at teaching me in a way that was consistent, motivating, and easy to understand. I was nervous because looking after and training a large powerful dog can be pretty intimidating when you have no previous experience, but George equipped me with the tools and knowledge necessary to do so and was always very responsive to email and phone calls when I had any questions or concerns.It can be an adjustment to follow a training "regimen" when you never have before, (e.g., using a prong collar) and it's easy to think the discipline is not what dogs want or need. That said, George taught me how critical it is for some dogs (e.g. a large bully breed), and how that's what our foster dog needed to be safe and be his best self and get the home he deserved. Trust me, the foster dog utterly LOVED George, who always knew how to balance correcting negative behavior, positive reinforcement, and play time.The time and dedication George has put into this dog in need of a home is admirable and says a lot about George's love of dogs and generous heart. We are forever grateful for all the training and encouragement we received, and for all George has done and continues to do for foster dogs. We will absolutely go to Ruff And Ready again when we get another dog, and I highly recommend you do the same, no matter what type of dog you have, even if it's just for a consultation session - it will change your life, and your dog's life, for the better.