Private In-Home Dog Training in Orange County Expert Help for Puppy Training, Aggression, Reactivity, Separation Anxiety, and More

Dave saved our lives!! Charlie is 1 year and 8 months old and is a German Shepherd/Lab/Doberman/Cattledog mix. We recently had major changes in our lives, which was even bigger changes for Charlie. We moved into a new apartment that was bigger, but had much more foot traffic and we had our first child. We were very lucky that Charlie does not seem to mind our little girl, but he started to develop some major issues and became very protective of the house and started barking at everything. He also became very fearful of new visitors coming over to see the baby. When Dave came on the first day Charlie was not having anything to do with Dave and just barked and the hair stood up on his back. Dave was incredibly patient and worked and worked with Charlie. By the last day of training Charlie was licking Dave's face and they were best friends. We worked on many different techniques and every week Dave made more and more progress. Now we have had multiple guests over and can actually keep Charlie in the house instead of putting him outside. Dave really helped us understand what Charlie needed and showed how everything was connected. We had no idea that the little things we let slide could effect Charlie so much. Now Charlie hardly barks at people and other dogs when we walk him and he is much more accepting of visitors coming over. Dave had a game plan for us that we implemented and it has made all the difference with our visitors. Charlie is far from perfect, but life is much easier and quieter. I would recommend Dave to anyone and will each out when we need some refreshers. Thanks again Dave!

We would have died without Dave and his guidance. Dramatic but very true! Unbeknownst to us, we adopted a feral pup and quickly realized that we needed some serious help. Muchacho (said feral pup) had severe fear issues and reactivity. He loved my sister and I right away, but was fearful with anyone else, we could barely walk him a couple feet outside without a reaction, and forget about having anyone over, basically, we had no life. Enter Dave! Not only was Dave honest about the amount of work we were going to have to put in, he assured us at every step and was available to answer questions we had at any time. Slowly (and I mean sloooowly), but surely Chacho started to trust and the day he curled into Dave and solicited pets was literally the best day ever! The smallest wins made the biggest difference in our lives and we have Dave to thank for all of it! Fast forward a year and a half and we have our first guest staying over for an extended period of time and less than a couple hours after the introduction, Chacho had accepted them as a part of the family and we could not be more proud! We can't recommend Dave enough and he will always be a HERO in this household!

TLDR: I would absolutely recommend Dave for anyone that is unsure about who to turn to for help.

I adopted a 3yr rescue poodle mix (Mac) about 2 years ago. It became clear pretty early on that he had some intense fear/anxiety issues. He was reactive on the leash and I felt like I couldn't invite people into my home anymore. Mac had a very small circle of friends/family that he trusted and anybody new was a threat to him. I was worried about whether or not I would be able to handle him. I spent weeks reading reviews with 100 tabs open trying to find just the right person for Mac. Dave had the upmost patience with Mac and with me as well. I had so many questions and he had so many answers.

While Dave is a dog trainer, most of the training was really for me--how to prepare Mac for a walk, how to walk, how to introduce new people to Mac. It has been over a year since my last visit with Dave, but Mac is still improving because of everything I learned. Last month, Mac and I went on our first pack hike. He met new people and new dogs on our own terms and he was an absolute superstar! There is still a lot of room for Mac to grow of course, but I feel like it is something I am prepared to work on. I would absolutely recommended Dave to anyone looking for help with their fur baby

I cannot express how helpful Dave has been training my little Boo Boo! He is a two year old rescue mini poodle/chihuahua mix with serious aggression issues towards dogs and humans. Anytime anyone would come to our house he would lunge, bark and try to bite them - sometimes succeeding! When we would go for a walk he would bark and lunge at any dog or human that passed - going for walk or having people over has been very stressful for both of us!

We have been seeing Dave for about 4 weeks and there have been MAJOR improvements in Boo's behavior! He is now able to go for a walk without going nuts every 3 seconds! He has also been much friendlier with other humans!

Dave is such a passionate, kind, incredible trainer and human - he really cares about the well being of both you and your pup and his methods are gentle and very effective. I could see an improvement in Boo even after our first session!

He also sends the most helpful, amazing emails after every session - they have been so wonderful to use as a reference while continuing our training!

I definitely recommend Dave if you want a kind, passionate, non-aggressive trainer for your pup! He is hands down the best!!

Dave was, simply, a blessing. I had adopted a rescue dog -- my first dog ever -- and I was overwhelmed. I fell in love with a dog at first glance, and the rescue organization couldn't tell me much about him. I just knew I had to adopt him. I soon discovered that my dog, Didion, who is a year old, wasn't trained and clearly was a far cry from being socialized. Immediately, my life was turned over to a dog. The problem was, I had no idea what to do! I got some names of trainers and interviewed them. The first one came to my home and had come highly recommended by a pet store that my friends trust implicitly. This trainer (NOT Dave!) scared my dog into obeying him immediately. My dog was barking at him when he first arrived. And, as it turns out, rightly so. This trainer (NOT Dave!) jerked Didion's lead harshly, over and over again, yelled at him, and basically terrified him into submission. Didion wouldn't take his eyes off of this man. The trainer was proud and felt he had given me an example of what needs to be done. But I saw my dog was terrified. I then heard of Dave and EveryDog. Dave educated me about a whole new school of thought pertaining to training dogs -- simple, really -- with love, repetition and rewards. My dog, Didion, was excited and happy every time Dave arrived. It was play time! Didion had no idea he was being trained! For Didion, it was all fun and entertaining! Dave not only calmed Didion down and taught him many crucial skills, but he calmed me down and taught me skills as well. He was always there for reassurance when I called, emailed or texted -- which, I promise, was often! I could go on and on singing the praises of this very special trainer and person, but suffice it to say -- choose Dave and EveryDog among all other trainers. He will work magic with your dog -- and with you!

I remember reading these reviews prior to meeting Dave and hoped they were true. Now that he's worked with my 5 year-old French Bulldog-mix Pierre for a few months, I can confidently say that his 5-star reviews don't do him justice! Dave is worth every penny. In fact, I shopped around -you're getting an amazing value from his training.

I have a friend whom Pierre and I run with every Monday, and, after JUST TWO SESSIONS with Dave, my running buddy said, "This training you're doing is clearly working; Pierre is a different dog!" My running buddy isn't a dog person nor is she particularly generous with compliments. Because I adore my dog and think he's the sh*t, I don't have an objective standpoint to evaluate his progress with his anxiety/ aggression around other dogs. It was really gratifying to hear from a 3rd party that these sessions were helping my dog in a measurable way! And so early in the process!

One of my favorite things about Dave is that he has a nice vocabulary and expresses himself well. It sounds silly to highlight that about a dog trainer, but a good majority of the training is for me; I learned A LOT about how I interact with my dog when Dave isn't around and how that is or isn't helping him. I also appreciated the many varieties of approaches Dave brought to the training, which, of course, benefited Pierre and kept the sessions fun and interesting for both my dog and me.

I also deeply appreciated that I didn't just get an hour of Dave's time -he drove to me, AND he also sent follow-up emails with helpful reading materials for the interim between our sessions. I really felt I was getting much more than my money's worth.

Finally, Dave loves dogs! I palpably felt that he loved Pierre and Pierre loved him, too! I imagine that if you're reading these reviews that you think your dog is the sh*t as well and want to feel like you have a team of qualified people who share your affection for him/her. Dave is someone you can trust to have the right motivations for doing what he's doing, to communicate well, to make scheduling easy, and to get your dog where you want him/her to be. Thanks Dave! Pierre and I adore you!

Dave is absolutely amazing. Our dog Ollie is a rescue pitbull mix and at about a year old has so much puppy energy and excitement that we could not fully control him. Whenever anyone walked into the room he would shake his tail with his entire body (which is super cute), but then proceed to jump and bark and play bite and basically terrify all of our guests. We live in a 1 bedroom apartment so it was crucial to curb this behavior since we couldn't really isolate him from the guests. He would also get so excited about walks that the moment we put the leash on him he would start jumping and biting it, making walks impossible.

Dave immediately identified the issue as impulse control and showed us how to teach Ollie that it's much more rewarding to be a calm and well behaved dog, and the improvement we've seen in his behavior after the sessions with Dave is just incredible. He now sits for strangers to pet him and keeps his nibbling exclusively for his chew toys. The jumping is essentially gone.

Of course, only so much can be accomplished in hour long sessions, but Dave sends you lengthy follow up e-mails with instructions so that you can continue to train your dog every day and if you do your homework the way he tells you I can guarantee that the results will come. We learned so much about how our behavior influences our dog's behavior and how to act around him in positive and constructive ways.

And lastly, Dave is just an awesome person who is 100% dedicated to the dogs he works with and is super friendly and nice to the owners. His schedule is pretty busy so you might have to wait to get a session scheduled, but it is TOTALLY worth it.