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Testimonials (click on selection) |  |
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|---|---|---|
| Remy | Kayna | |
| Sophie | Spot | |
| Austin | Kaya | |
| Koda | Barney | |
We hired Jill Haley Rose to help us train and prepare our Jack Russell Terrier “Remy” for the arrival of our first child. We have used other trainers in the past and attended training sessions at their facilities, but the unique program that Jill designed training both Remy and I at our own home was by far one of the best dog training experiences that I have had.
Remy was just barely 6 months old when we started working with Jill. Being a very anxious and nervous Jack Russell Terrier, he had numerous behavioral problems. Having tried many different herbal supplements and training techniques without any progress, our vet suggested we try working with Jill. Working closely together over the span of about 3 months, Jill and our veterinarian created a program that resolved the majority of Remy’s behavioral problems and successfully prepared him for the arrival of our new baby.
With Jill's instruction, we taught Remy how to ring a bell when he needed to go outside. Now when the bell isn’t around, he will touch anything hanging near a door until someone lets him out. He also will wait by the door if he needs to go out and bark or whine until someone hears him. Since working with Jill, Remy has become more aware of when to ask for something, and we have become more aware of his signals when he needs something. He is 95% better then when we started in terms of his house training.
Even though he still has some anxiety issues, thanks to Jill’s help I now know how to interpret what Remy is trying to communicate. Had we not had the opportunity to work with Jill before the baby was born, Remy’s anxiety problems would have been very difficult for our entire family to handle. Because we followed Jill’s detailed checklist on preparing dogs for babies, Remy made the adjustment beautifully.
Thanks to all our prep work, Remy completely understands the boundaries that we have set concerning the baby. With Jill’s assistance and advice, we put Remy through a variety of baby related training sessions. By the time the baby arrived, we as a family felt comfortable and well prepared for Remy’s first baby encounter. Thanks to our hard work under Jill’s careful guidance, Remy is great with the baby and has made a wonderful adjustment.
Jessica and Jeremy Lavallee
Northampton, Massachusetts
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Sophie was adopted when she was about two years old from the Dakin Animal Shelter in Western Massachusetts. She is a “Dixie Dog” meaning she was brought here from an overcrowded Southern U.S. shelter. We live in the country near many trails and Sophie loves to hike with us and run around through the woods. She is a very sweet dog! Her comfort and confidence level has grown significantly since we first got her just over a year ago. Much of this improvement is due to our investment in Jill’s five session at-home training program.
Being highly recommended by our veterinarian, we recently hired Jill to help us take full advantage of Sophie’s potential. Although Sophie is no longer a puppy, we knew that mature dogs could still be trained. Our major issue was that Sophie often wandered off on walks, and would not respond to our recall. This was clearly getting worse with time and jeopardizing Sophie’s safety. Jill taught us how to reach out to Sophie through clicker training and positive reinforcement. This method of training is friendly, fun, easy, and very rewarding.
Judging from our results, Jill’s confident expertise is very impressive. She understands that every dog and their owner(s) are different. She demonstrates this with an initial and thorough evaluation of getting to know the dog, its environment, its lifestyle, and asking many questions to the owner(s) about their issues with the dog. Her handouts, notes, and reference material are helpful to have between sessions for practicing, and for future use. In addition to successfully learning recall with Sophie, we have also learned how to work with her in other behaviors and even teach her tricks. Jill’s knowledge has made our relationship with Sophie – especially our hikes, much more rewarding.
Eileen and John Hoogstraten,
Williamsburg, Massachusetts
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My dog Austin and I are proud to say we are among Jill’s very first clients. Jill was my 3rd trainer and I was about at my wits end by the time she came into our lives. About the time that Austin turned 1 year he began exhibiting aggressive tendencies towards other dogs. As the incidents grew more frequent, I came to realize that the trainers I had been working with were not actually helping ME work with my dog, they only worked with the dog themselves. Needless to say, this type of training didn’t yield very effective results for me.
Through working with Jill, I learned that there are many methods of dealing with Austin’s “fear” and “bully” behaviors through positive reinforcement training. I also realized a good trainer teaches you, the owner, how to work with your dog, instead of doing all the work for you. She also helped Austin and I to repair and build a better bond between us. We worked with Jill for almost 2 years and Austin’s behavior steadily improved. Not only did she became a friend of ours, but she saved Austin’s life. She taught me how to avoid his triggers and how to deal with them most effectively when something did happen.
When I met Jill I had removed Austin from all social settings. Now he is back at the park, playing with other dogs, and behaving himself. Jill always told me she couldn’t promise to turn a dog into a completely different dog, but she did display remarkable confidence as she helped me help Austin be the best that he can be….which is beyond what I could have hoped for. We really miss Jill and are eternally grateful for helping Austin succeed through his adolescence.
Lauren Civello
San Francisco, CA
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We really enjoyed working with Jill and would recommend her to anyone with kids. We were lucky enough to find our dog when he was 10 months old and even luckier to start training with Jill right away. She helped us get off on the right foot as dog owners by helping introduce the dog to our 2 year old (who is curious and very loud) and helping us to understand the Separation Anxiety and period of adjustment that Koda would go through. Jill was excellent on picking up on issues that might arise during meal times, when the doorbell rings, while walking the dog and handling a stroller, and a whole bunch of other real life issues.
After working with Jill for a few months, we really feel like we understand our dog, why he does the things he does, and most importantly, how to deal with issues when they arise (and they will). We will never forget that “dogs do what works” as Jill says, so you always have to think like a dog if you want them to be well behaved. We are blessed to have a great dog, but Jill has helped us to be great dog owners.
Robert and Brittany Michaelian
San Francisco, CA
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When we adopted Kayna, she had spent the last 4 months in the pound, her history before they found her wandering the streets was unknown. It didn’t take us long to figure out why no one wanted such a beautiful dog – she made the scariest noises, always showing her teeth. Even when she was happy, Kayna would snarl. Our hearts went out to this poor girl, who obviously had suffered some major trauma in her life. Most people could not see past her vocalizations, and were frightened. After a year with her, a dear friend gave us the gift of a lifetime – 5 in-home training sessions with Jill Haley Rose. From the first meeting, we were confident that she could be the one to help us. Jill helped us with not only the training skills we needed, but also gave us a greater insight into what might be going on in the mind of our dog. It has been several months since we started the sessions, and since then the change in Kayna has been tremendous. My mother almost cries every time Kayna quietly approaches her and gives her a kiss. We will always be grateful for Jill’s help, and would highly recommend her to anyone.
Roanda Alves
Feeding Hills, Massachusetts
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I was on the brink of putting my dog “Spot” down because he was so difficult. Having “inherited” this 4 1/2 year old high-strung dog with no discipline training, no self-control, no socialization experience, separation anxiety, and guarding issues - - I was at a loss until I hired Jill Haley Rose to rescue Spot and me.
Now it is 4 months later and we are both smiling! Spot has solidly learned the commands to sit, down, play dead, stand upright, touch, leave it, back, stay, wait, watch me, search, fetch, make a trade, carry it, and take a bow. He is even learning to jump through a hula hoop and slap me five!
Spot is improving each day on self-control. He now waits at the door for me to go first, he waits for permission to hop out of the car, he ignores other dogs when we take a walk, and he says “please” before getting up on my lap. His socialization skills have also improved. New people are no longer scary.
Spot has narrowed his separation anxiety down to just me. He truly does not want me to leave the house. Because of the training and understanding that Jill has given me, I am able to help him get through it without stressing us both. I feel that we are making progress. We certainly have come a long way from the days when he would try to bite at my coat and bark up a storm, while I was yelling “shut up” and running out the door.
Understanding a terrier has been a big help. Jill explained that Spot needed a job to get his mind off the guarding job he gave himself. So, Spot now has fun jobs like working to get his dry food from a Tricky Treat Ball, and his other food from a Kong toy. He also has the job of learning new things during our training sessions. And now the guarding issues are slowly disappearing.
It is truly amazing watching Jill work with a clicker. I had never heard of clicker training before meeting Jill. The fun part is that she taught me how to do it so that I can continue teaching Spot new things on my own. He loves the clicker and gets all excited when we “go to work.” And ultimately, that is what this has been all about. Spot is now a fun part of my life instead of a pain in the neck. He is obviously very much happier, and I am the proud owner of a great dog.
Roberta Kowal
Westfield, Massachusetts
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Our dog Kaya was 10 months old when she started displaying aggressive behavior towards dogs and people. Since we had adopted her a few months earlier from our local shelter, we didn’t know her history and assumed that continual exposure to people and situations would help her condition. What we were actually doing was aggravating her and making her condition worse. When we went to the park she would target dogs and people for no apparent reason. We couldn’t tell what was setting her off or why. We stopped going to the park and were afraid of having friends over to the house or taking her out in public situations. Finally, I was at my wits end and contacted Jill Haley Rose at Paws of Nature to help us figure out what was going on with our unruly dog.
Through a very detailed question and answer session Jill diagnosed Kaya as fear aggressive and started us on a training program that could help us manage her condition as well as help her overcome her fears. Kaya was very difficult to control before we started working with Jill but as the weeks passed and we practiced the exercises Jill had devised for us, Kaya started to improve. Now we are able to read the signs Kaya is giving us and predict situations that she can’t handle.
We take her to the park daily and she has even started with a dog walking group which is tremendous progress for a dog who used to attack every dog in the park. I would strongly urge anyone having trouble with their dog to work with Jill. I can’t thank her enough for helping us with Kaya.
Meika Rouda and Chris Brown
San Francisco, CA
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Jill Haley Rose came through for me during a very difficult time for Barney and myself. Besides giving me the security and confidence needed for leaving my home with a stranger, she became a best friend for my dog and helped him in many ways to become the wonderful dog he now is. I have to travel on business a lot and finding someone like Jill was a huge relief. I completely trust my dog and home in Jill’s hands and I absolutely recommend her to the highest degree.
Dennis Hayes
Oakland, CA
In Barney’s words….
I’ve got a pretty good “dad” in Dennis Hayes, and he only wants the best for me in anything, so I consider myself a lucky dog, especially after being rescued from a very difficult and sad early life. Because of my early life mistreatment, I became sort of a problem dog, but I am doing very well now and consider myself to be the luckiest dog in the world. Jill became my at-home trainer and overnight caregiver and it didn’t take long for her to become my best buddy as Dennis had to go away to work for long stretches of time. Dennis always worried about leaving me home with strangers, but Jill changed all that by treating me really nice and helping me out with all kinds of training and nice words. She even brushed me every day and took me for car rides to fun places. Don’t tell Dennis but Jill takes really good care of me so that I now look forward to her visits and it’s okay if he has to go away. Woof, Arf, Arooo! (means “Thanks Jill, you’re great!”)
Barney “Biscuit Boy” Hayes
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