But with my puppy showing some attitude that had my vet and I concerned, I knew the sooner he was in training the better. My vet actually recommended I try AnimalSense, and I got in contact with them about the Class Plus plan–a class session and two in-home private lessons. The private lessons were so that we could start training before January and thank goodness we did!

Our in-home instructor was Katie, and in our house we affectionately call her Katie Poppins. It’s like she blew in on her umbrella and helped me start turning my obstinate pup into the dog I always imagined I’d own some day.

In our first lesson she had great advice for helping us deal with the specific troubles we had (herding our cats and guarding issues), not to mention general advice to make our life easier (house training tips and feeding ideas). I could also tell that she’d done research before meeting our puppy, because she had knowledge of his breed, the breed’s history, and the problems herding dogs typically present to owners. My family and I were so pleased with her help that we both agreed we would be having more private sessions in addition to the two that came with the Class Plus deal.

Yes, you are going to be paying more for lessons from AnimalSense. Yes, it was expensive. But after our lessons with Katie, I can say that you are paying for the trainer’s experience, their calm and insight, and their ability to train you to train your dog. Having never trained a dog before I knew I was out of my depth with our puppy and AnimalSense threw me my life preserver.

I have no doubt that AnimalSense is one of the best groups of dog trainers in the Chicago area, and I’d highly recommend them if you’re looking for more help training your dog.

Lindsay also continues to go to many seminars and retreats for behavioral training in order to offer the best techniques for her clients.

Thanks Lindsay and AnimalSense!

Sally is the third trainer I’ve tried and in three sessions, her insights have had remarkable success.

As she puts it, obedience training can’t help my pup, only anxiety reducing will do the trick to refocus his attention to more pleasant matters. I will continue using her techniques to help Macki because they work.

Sally is amazing! She’s knowledgeable, experienced, patient and creative.

A word of warning: You must be prepared to do the work on your own as well.

You will get out of it what you put into it. I wasn’t prepared for how much work this would be for ME at first. But Sally is very encouraging, and after each session would send me detailed notes on what we covered and what we should continue to work on.

I look forward to working with her again – her love of animals really shines through her work.

I searched the internet for help and answers, and broke down and reached out to AnimalSense, thinking I might fix it with some classes.  I liked the receptionist right away, and she helped me to know that I needed a little more.  In comes Sally.

Just one session.  That’s right — one session.  And within two weeks, I had a new dog.

He doesn’t bark, he rarely jumps up…. he waits calmly sitting until I tell him it’s ‘OK’ to eat his food. (I still have a hard time believing this one.)

Her approach and philosophy work.  Friends cannot believe the transformation, and I’m so relieved to have such a fun, calm, and appropriate companion to share my home with.   I’ve since met with her another time, and everything I learned continues to work.

After each session, you receive a full report (mine was 10 pages) that includes what she observed, how we spent the hour, recommendations, and attachments with step-by-step instructions.  I love these reports.

Don’t take annoying dog behavior as a given…. call AnimalSense now!

We never intended to go in looking for the perfect dog – Jack is high strung, an avid herder of anything that moves, but I like a challenge and we backpack and camp and Jack now has an oulet for all that energy! We all saw Jack’s potential that day at the pound.  We signed up for obedience training classes at the AnimalSense’s Oak Park location.  Jack was a quick study and learned how to better socialize with other dogs every week.

Four years later, we are so thankful for the guidance given to us by AnimalSense’s highly trained staff!

Thank you for offering such a wide variety of classes. We’re going to sign Jack up for Agility this Summer.

I just felt that she genuinely wanted the best for us and our pup.

We hope in the future to be able to take a recall or scent class with her or perhaps another Animal Sense trainer in the future.

What my husband and I really love about Sally is that she she really gets to know and evaluates your particular dog and figures out techniques that the dog will respond to.

The main problem we have been trying to eradicate with Ginger is aggression towards visitors to our home, and Ginger has made huge strides since Sally has started working with us.

Sally is super diligent – she takes detailed notes (and sometimes video), and provides very valuable feedback so that we can continue to make progress in between sessions. It is apparent that Sally truly cares about my dog and helping her overcome her fears. I would highly recommend Sally for any training that your dog needs.

Our dog learned a ton over the 6 week period, and each week our trainer sent us a follow up with “homework” and little tips on treats, toys, etc. that might help.

The emails were even tailored to our specific dog.  The price was reasonable.  A lot of similar programs cost upwards of $300.  I would highly recommend this to anyone.