Savvy Canine Training

We had rescued a 6-month Golden Retriever who was exhibiting
several behaviors that had me desperate for help.  We had hired trainers before when our other Golden?s were young
but none of them had proved effective and some had questionable tactics. I read reviews of several other trainers on Angie?s List but selected Roger because of the sense of enthusiasm by his reviewers.
When I called Roger to request an appointment I sensed that I was going to be pleased with his services. 
He more than exceeded my expectations.  After arriving early for our appointment and before meeting my dogs, Roger familiarized himself with the house, their food and treats then offered a thorough overview of his approach to training.  After that we invited the dogs to join us.
 
I believe that animals have a much better sense of people that we do. Their response to Roger was that of meeting a long lost friend.  More importantly, he was able to calm them with great ease and they obeyed his commands instantly.  His approach is firm but gentle and I was amazed with how quickly they adapted to his body language and hand signals.  
He explained how people send mixed messages and how dogs learn which is contrary to how most of us try to train our pets. Roger also gave me a training leash which he made specifically to use for training exercises and to reinforce certain behaviors.  What was remarkable (and still is) is the moment he sees the leash he totally calms  down and not from fear but from a positive association. After his initial assessment Roger concluded that we should focus the training on our young pup.
Roger is a highly talented individual with a great understanding and love of animals.  I am so impressed with his knowledge, demeanor and professionalism and what he accomplished in just one visit that I have scheduled a series of weekly training sessions.

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 We did learn some interesting facts and a few tips that were helpful but it was different because his approach is to follow the same type methods that a mother dog would use.

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How did it go?  It went far beyond what I ever expected the service to be.
From the first moment I spoke with Roger to set the appointment, it was apparent that he was a real pro and knew exactly what her was doing. At the visit, he demonstrated an innate sense of comfort and familiarity with dogs. Specifically, why a dog behave the way she does, and why she reacts the way she does to the conflicting signals that we humans send, which can cause some problem behaviors. 
Roger provided insightful explanations to my questions and awesome training techniques that demonstrated to me that even though Missy is 9, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. We discussed the logistics of the very important first meeting between Missy and the puppy.
After the consultation, I decided to continue working with Roger on a set of private lessons where I can learn the right way to train Missy and work on maintaining consistency with these lessons so that they become a part of our daily routines. In addition, I'm going to have Roger help me introduce Missy to the puppy so that Missy is not threatened and the puppy is not frightened.
Its apparent that Roger loves his work. He is kind and compassionate with both Missy and me and I look forward to him working with me and my dogs.

I had just got a rat terrier puppy from the shelter and things were not going well between him and my older dog. Even if they were getting on fine I would have called Savvy Canine Training to help me train the pup, based on the reviews I had read. I called Roger on Sunday, at my wits end and he said he could come over the following day. He told me what to do and not to do when he turned up. Roger took time to look at the food and treats I was feeding my dogs to ensure they were getting proper nutrition. Then he spent time with each dog individually and showed me some effective ways to train and command the attention of my dogs. Everything he said made complete sense. After he left, I had 2 calm dogs snoozing beside me! Roger gave us lots of homework and he gave me the confidence to give my dogs the guidance that  they need. I look forward to working with him further!

It was a very good experience. He was very informative and knew a lot animals and how humans interact with the animals. He was prompt and thorough. He is knowledgeable and reasonably priced for the amount of information that you receive.

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Roger came very punctual and even before interacting with Lucas (our dog), he took the time to explains the bond between human and dog. Next he looked at Lucas's stuff - food, treats, crate, bed- to make sure we are feeding him correctly. Next he told us to never let our dog to command our actions and behavior and how we should be the ones choosing when to pet him. He showed us how your body language can help to control the dog. Finally he met Lucas and even though Lucas is a really energetic dog with simple a word like Enough, Roger was able to control him pretty well. Roger kept giving us guidelines on how to have a balanced dog and he always answered any question we have with a really concise response. The really big eye opener was when he showed us how to walk our dog outside, we are not going into details but let's say Lucas gets really CRAZY when he sees other dogs outside but with Roger he was able to do really well and the coolest thing is that we were able to see how we are suppose to walk our dog. We totally recommend Roger because he showed us everything with examples and he always gave us a detailed explanation.

The session was SO informative.  Our dog is a rescue and she was 9 months old when she came to us and had been adopted and "returned" previously.  She suffers from acute separation anxiety, is VERY fearful of humans and we were afraid that she may bite out of fear.  She gets along beautifully with other dogs.  She is 'mouthy,' wanting to gnaw on humans, anxious, and jumps on people relentlessly once her initial fear subsides.  She has been very destructive, chewing through wires and other dangerous behaviors so we knew we needed help!! 
Roger was INCREDIBLE!!!!  He had VERY specific tasks for us and suggested that we work with her for at least one month before we even attempt to begin true obedience training.  He gave us a very few items to work with to help Izzie get more comfortable in our home.  Within 24 hours we saw huge changes!!!  Izzie actually started to RELAX!!!  She is responding beautifully to the basic commands we are working on (not dashing out an open door in front of us, not jumping up on us or others, and stopping her destructive (or sometimes just annoying) behavior by using the command 'enough" ONE TIME rather than a million "no, stop, quit" like we used to do!!  It is like a miracle!!!
It has been almost 30 days now and every day gets better!!  We are SO much closer to having a happy, well adjusted dog who understands that she is well loved and will be taken care of--and having two dog owners who are consistent and understand WHAT to do, HOW to do it, and WHEN to do it is making all the difference in the world!!  As soon as we return from vacation, we will be contacting Roger to begin the next stage--actual obedience training so we can walk her comfortably and safely on a leash and help her socialize more easily with strangers as well as follow basic commands.  I HIGHLY recommend contacting Roger for assistance!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The time with Roger went very well.

Roger spent 2 hours with my husband, two young sons, puppy and myself. He was very polite and professional. He took time to explain the reasons for some of our puppy's behaviors and what we, as a family, need to work on to help improve these behaviors. He gave us a large number of recommendations and we have been working on these since Roger's visit. It's only been 3 days, and we still have a number of things we have to work on but, we have seen a huge difference in the behavior of our puppy. He seems calmer and more responsive to our commands. It's incredible what spending 2 hours with Roger has done for us! We plan to spend more time with Roger getting more advice after we return from a vacation.
Roger is a real professional and he certainly knows all about dogs.I would highly recommend him to anyone having issues with their dog.
I'd also suggest you contact Roger if you are considering getting a puppy/dog.  He asked us a number of questions about where our puppy came from and weren't able to answer all his questions. He gave us some good things to find out if we were ever to get another dog.

I was very impressed.  He's an animal behaviourist.  I get someone to evaluate my dog because his suffering from separation anxiety.  It was fantastic and very good.

Roger met with all the significant folks who are in and out of the house.. he knows sign language and communicated for himself, giving an assessment of the behaviors that have taken over the house, gave us insights on how the dog thinks (pack thinking) and suggestions on how to proceed - see if we are committed to the work it will take to change the dogs behaviors. watching roger with the dog, a 3 year old jack Russell, the changes were immediate. we have used his tools and found they work. the problem has been us, following through.

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If you are looking for a dog trainer, then, Roger is the one to call! He responded immediately to my phone call and we made an appointment. Not only was he on time, he rode his bike up my steep driveway in the cold! As instructed, we met Roger at the door, while our dog,Jesse,  was in another room. He spoke with us and then met Jesse by himself. Then, within an hour and a half, our family had learned several very easy techniques and Jesse was on the way to learning them too! Roger is a canine behaviorist and he really understands how dogs think, feel and act. Roger is courteous, warm and kind. Roger taught us that all it takes is consistency! Roger contacted me a few days to check in on Jesse and the training. I would definitely call Roger Bernard for any dog training!!!!!

We were having lots of issues with our two dogs- barking when people came to the door, trying to dart outside, chewing rugs and furniture, jumping up on people. Mr. Bernard came to our home and started out with a very comprehensive overview of what we would be doing today, which basically fell into the following categories: nutrition, setting up "house rules" for the dogs, how to communicate commands effectively, the different ways that men and women tend to react and communicate with dogs, and then going over the problem behaviors we were concerned about.
Mr. Bernard impressed me as a veritable walking encyclopedia of knowledge about canine behavior. So many of the things we were doing were giving conflicting messages to the dogs, unbeknownst to us. For example, instead of saying "No, no!" when they're doing something wrong, he suggested saying "Enough", dropping the inflection at the end. Much of communication needs to mimic what the mother dog does with her puppies.  Saying "no" over and over again sounds, to a dog, like another dog howling, which indicates that dog is in distress or needs help- not exactly our intent. Saying "enough!" sounds like a mother dog growling at her puppies. Believe it or not, in just the time period he was there, we were able to get one of our dogs from barking when she was in another room. There were many, many other areas he helped us with.
I can't emphasize enough how excellent and professional Mr. Bernard's services were. Definitely don't waste your money on a doggie "boot camp" or big box store obedience lessons! Mr Bernard is the way to go: all you have to do is listen, pay attention, and then do what he recommends. Our dogs are still a work in progress- they've had years to get the way they are, but we are seeing improvement in a lot of ways.

Roger sat with us and spoke about dog behavior and helped us understand how to structure our behavior in order to get Bella to improve. His theories are different from other trainers I've seen on TV or the local pet store. We got a list of no compromise rules and we have stuck to them. Her behavior improved dramatically and we met all the goals we had for Roger's consultation.

Roger is a wonderful dog trainer. He is courteous, prompt, and clearly knows dogs and dog behavior well.  Our dog was frightened to go on walks before Roger trained him. Now he loves getting out and seeing the neighborhood.

Mr. Bernard came to our house to evaluate one of our dogs who tends to be very excitable.  Within minutes of his arrival, he had already observed the problem - our house is a "high energy" environment, and this dog doesn't do well with high energy.  What was amazing was within 30 minutes, Mr. Bernard had her lying quietly on the carpet, completely content.  He spent over two hours with us, helped us to understand the dog's needs and how the approach he was advocating would work for her, and what steps we should take to work with her.  We immediately began implementing his system, and she is improving dramatically.  She is much calmer, and my daughter is even playing with her more.  Mr. Bernard spent more time with us than he initially planned, but he only charged us for the rate he had quoted us.  He also has been available by telephone when we had questions.  I cannot recommend him enough.  He is a true Dog Whisperer who clearly loves animals and has spent a lifetime acquiring knowledge about dogs.

wonderful. He met and interacted with each dog individually, took each for a short walk, then sat down with us to talk about each dog's personality and temperament, nutrition, daily habits, etc. Then he worked with Cocoa, and in no time had her going in and out the dog door, then had her riding on my husband's lap in the wheelchair. These were just first steps - we must continue to work slowly with her to make these things comfortable for her. He left us with advice and instructions, and we are to call back if we have problems or need him to come back for more sessions. He is truly a "dog whisperer."

Strange for us. We just didn't mesh with him. He said some uncomfortable things and we decided not to have him back.

Our dog was 2 years old with some bad habits. He taught us some helpful tips and explained that the bad habits had been ingrained for years and it would take time to change them. We have been working diligently with him and there is improvement but it can get frustrating. If you are looking for a quick fix to a problem, I'm not sure you would like his style. He has an amazing way with dogs and was able to control him easily. He does not use any tangible reward system - just praise. I couldn't help thinking that with our dog we would have seen more compliance if treats were used. We did like the information we rec'd and have used most of it in terms of the dog's place in our home.

Roger was very knowledgeable and professional. He gave us a lot of background information on dogs and how factors in their environment can affect their behavior and training. He was thorough and genuine.

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