Michelle Jackson Dog Training

Michelle came to our rescue! Our dog suffered a ruptured disc in her lower back and became paralyzed within days. Thankfully, she had spinal cord surgery and has regained most of her mobility. However, she can never jump, walk up and down stairs frequently, or rough house with other dogs (all of her favorite things!). So, we needed serious help in figuring out strategies to accommodate her needs without driving us crazy. Through a video chat, Michelle offered concrete (and doable) suggestions to help us regain a routine with our dog. We saw an immediate improvement with our dog's anxiety and behavior and are all happier for it! I can't recommend her highly enough. Thank you so much Michelle - you are a life saver.

I couldn't be more pleased with Michelle and the help she provided me and my puppy. Michelle came highly recommended to me by two coworkers who used her in the past. Michelle helped me with six weeks of personal training for my 8 week old (8 weeks at the start) puppy to learn puppy basics. She traveled to my house, educated me and then showed me how to teach my pup. It was a rewarding experience. Once I master the puppy training I have learned, I look forward to working with Michelle again on intermediate dog training!

Michelle answered questions via email and even sometimes text when I was in a jam. She's very responsive.

Thanks, Michelle!!

I highly recommend Michelle.

I arranged for a session with Michelle to help me tame my two golden retriever 10-mo-old puppies. She arrived just as I got home from work, which was great because the homecoming has been my biggest frustration. She came in and within a couple of minutes she had the girls sitting and laying down on command. Over the course of the hour, she taught them several very useful commands and had me do the same things to practice. I really liked her calm demeanor and her philosophy of being very clear and concise about what you ask them to do, giving them a firm "NO" when they don't, and just as strong positive "YES" or "GOOD" when they do.

One of my pups is a rescue who had a rough start - lots of neglect and scolding. She has been extremely needy and insecure since coming to live with us. Michelle explained that because of how she started out, she doesn't have a sense of who she is or how she fits in, and that she needs more than anything to have structure and rules. In the three days I've worked with her, the change is really amazing - she is so much more easy-going, doesn't need to be right near me all the time, still jumps a lot, but now gets it when I say NO, and knows how to get the YES and a good rub.

The thing that has helped me the most is the Leadership Tips Michelle talked about, and left a hard copy for me to review. I thought I had been the pack leader before, but I realize now that I was really more of a tyrant - YOU WILL DO WHAT I SAY, rather than an effective leader - one who is calm, in control, assertive. I'm finding it easier to be even-tempered - firm when I need to be, but ready with the positive when they earn it. It works - it really works! And the dogs are incredibly smart and eager to work and get the reward.

Michelle is great. I appreciated that she followed up with an email to ask how things were going. I'll be calling on her for more of our training.

We just had our first session with Michelle this week. It was a life changing experience. Michelle worked with my wife, I and our three dogs, including a new Belgian Tervuren puppy. In just minutes, Michelle solved long-standing chronic behavioral problems with our pack. She also has put us on a path to a good solid learning program for our puppy. Michelle has been super professional, easy to coordinate with, very likable and is highly skilled. I consider myself a very knowledgeable and experienced dog owner already, but she taught me a ton in just that first hour.

I can't wait to work with her more. And I can't recommend her highly enough to other dog owners.

Michelle is fantastic. I never thought someone could help our dog make so much progress, so quickly. My father came to visit last month and I was SO pleased with how Chandler did. Usually he barks and is very aggressive to my Dad, at least for the first few hours. He just doesn't visit us often enough for Chandler to really get used to him. But this time, I put Chandler on the leash before Dad came inside. Then I gave him some string cheese and told him to feed Chandler little pieces until he calmed down. Then I worked on correcting Chandler's behavior with leash yanking etc. and praising him for being friendly. Basically, using the techniques that Michelle worked on with us.

Would you believe, within half an hour, that dog was following my Dad around, letting him pet him, and basically treating him like an old friend? By the second day, my Dad had Chandler on his lap, rolled over on his back and getting belly rubs like a big ol' love sponge. Photographic proof attached. This dog used to HATE my Dad. Of course my father loves dogs and he spoiled Chandler something rotten, but it was worth it to see Chandler finally loving him.

Michelle Jackson provided a first class service for us from beginning to end.
She made and confirmed appointments well in advance, always arrived at our home on time, listened to our concerns and taught us how to work with our dog, first by demonstration and then by encouraging each of us to try the techniques. She has a friendly, but firm and confident manner and it was wonderful to see her training our dog and then being enabled by her to put it into action ourselves. We completed three sessions, for a total of a little over 3 .5 hours with Michelle. I believe we covered the six week beginner syllabus in that time. In addition to visiting our home, Michelle always followed with prompt emails, reviewing what we had covered and providing other useful information. We would like to take group classes with Michelle in the future and highly recommend her. We adopted our 1 year old dog from the FOHA Shelter and had no experience of dog owning in our adult lives. Working with Michelle has truly enabled us to be good owners.

I can't say enough good things! We have two rescue puppies, one is blind and deaf and the other is his "service dog". Michelle worked wonders with them both and taught our whole family how to work the commands with ease. I highly recommend her, she's just amazing!

Michelle was wonderful to work with. We have a puppy who is a border collie/beagle mix who has been having problems with strangers. Michelle was at our house for under and hour and already had him successfully completing new training techniques. I was so impressed. She gave us several tips about how to be successful in the future and they are working! I spent hours on the internet trying to find solutions to his aggressive behavior and with just one hour with Michelle she was able to give me unique tips and suggestions how to handle him that worked for both me and my dog. I would highly recommend her to a friend.

Michelle was great working with my new lab puppy, my 11 year old senior citizen lab, and my 7 year old daughter (and me!). She got us on track with leadership, good manners and basic puppy skills. We loved her puppy program and highly recommend her.

I called Michelle because I was totally at a loss for what to do with my VERY energetic lab mix, Copper. Copper was nipping, jumping up, chewing everything we owned, dragging me down the street on walks...you name it. In the very first session, Michelle showed me how to establish leadership and gave me a game plan for changing Copper's behavior. By the second session, he was a dog that I actually enjoy living with. Michelle follows up each session with an email summarizing what we worked on, making it easy to remember what to practice. We are well on our way to having a well-mannered dog who fits harmoniously in our family. Copper would also like to add that she has transformed me from a frustrated, screaming dog owner to someone that HE enjoys living with! Michelle's training services are one of those rare instances in which you get more than you pay for. If you need help with your dog's behavior, you will be really happy you called Michelle.