Testimonials

Becky Vinci

As a first-time dog owner, I was relatively clueless about dog training methods. Needless to say, my first several months after bringing home Otis, a 4-month old puggle, were far from boring. He is a high-energy, loving, curious dog, and I had no idea how to teach him basic obedience.
Otis began responding to simple commands after Gil’s consultation with us (before we even starting the training sessions). Since then, Otis has mastered come, down, sit, stay, leave it, off, and is well on the way to many other important behaviors including off-leash walking. Gil and Susie’s training methods are effective and motivating, and Otis has responded quickly and has learned faster than I ever could have imagined. Friends and family have noticed his improved behavior and obedience.

More important than teaching simple commands, Gil and Susie have a wonderful philosophy about dog ownership and opened my eyes to what a dog really needs. Because of their advice and their understanding of dogs, I have been able to provide a more nurturing life for Otis. Simply put, he is a happier dog since we attended the Wet Nose Training Academy!

Art, Ann & Chatham Starr

Gil and Susie were the best find on the internet to date! Our delightful Cavachon, Chatham, needed some extra help in learning how to listen, respond and obey. Since she is such a small dog, 10 lbs., we were especially concerned with how to train her to “come” and respond to other commands to ensure her safety and outside enjoyment. What we soon realized is that the training was necessary for both us and Chatham! Gil and Susie are experts in quickly assessing the temperment and personality of the pet and how that affects the interaction with the owner. Their techniques are consistent, firm and sensible. Their goal is to teach behavior modification through reward and positive reenforcement. After the first week, we began to learn the techniques that were necessary and how to implement them. Over the course of the next six weeks, we learned the correct approach to training for specific behavior. This will be an ongoing process, but we have seen significant progress and highly recommend this wonderful team!

Alan & Adele Mendel

Coleen is a 3-year old Flat Coat Retriever mix rescue dog that we adopted on a trip to Raleigh, North Carolina, late last summer. We are unaware of her background other than she came from a high kill shelter and was being treated by my daughter’s vet for heartworm and had difficulty with her spay operation. When we picked her up at the vet’s, she was under heavy sedation; so we were unaware of what her true disposition was. What we saw as the medication wore off was a dog that was frightened, untrusting, insecure and not people friendly. Both my wife and I agonized over what we should do with her. Should we keep her or return her? We both felt that could very well lead to her euthanasia if her behavior did not change. We decided against returning her to an unknown fate and began a search for a trainer(s) who could help us modify her behavior. We selected Wet Nose Dog Training Academy to help us. The first step was to have the trainers come to our house and do an evaluation of Coleen as to whether or not her behavior could be modified. After seeing what Coleen was like, both Gil and Susie felt that there was hope for her; they could help us make her gain the confidence that she needs. Gil and Susie came back with a plan of action designed to desensitize and recondition her behavior. The training moved at a pace that was comfortable for Coleen and did not overly stress her. Both Gil and Susie seemed to have an excellent understanding of animal behavior and were able to read Coleen’s actions and responses. Her training began with the simple commands of sit, down and stay with treats as rewards for obeying these commands. We went for walks in the neighborhood to get her used to passing cars and people. As the weeks passed Coleen accepted both Gil and Susie and greeted them when they came in to our house. When Gil felt that Coleen was ready, he introduced her to his dog, Bruno to socialize and see how well she would get along with other dogs. Coleen was also introduced to Montana, which is Susie’s dog. As time progressed there were walks down the main street in Nashua to introduce Coleen to more people, more traffic, and more noise. But perhaps the most enjoyable moment was when we took Coleen and the trainers’ dogs for a walk in the woods in South Nashua. To see her run free and play and enjoy the freedom that she had showed us made us realize that the time and cost was well worth the results. While we still need to work with Coleen to improve her confidence and behavior, both my wife and I feel that we made the right choice in our selection of trainers. We know what we need to do, and we will stay in touch with both Gil and Susie on any issues that might arise.

I would heartily recommend The Wet Nose Dog Training Academy to anyone who is seeking help in behavior modification or training. Both Gil and Susie seem to have a keen sense of animal behavior and are very adept at both reading and understanding a dog’s signals. Their patience and dedication to their work, their love of animals, and their understanding of both the owners and their pets are truly remarkable.

Brittany, Sean, & Kaiya

When my husband and I first got our German Shepherd puppy, our vet took one look at her delightful combination of energy and intense focus and said, “You need to get a trainer.”

The last time I’d raised a German Shepherd, negative reinforcement was part of the process. But later research refocused on positive reinforcement, and we knew we had much to learn this time around. We were thrilled to discover that Wet Nose Academy is focused on “benevolent” training through the use of marker/clicker training and positive reinforcement. We were also thrilled to have one-on-one, in-home training sessions so that they could work with our dog on her particular needs (and not struggle for attention in a group class with other dogs who had varying levels of focus and needs).

The first day Gil came to our home, the training began before he even introduced himself. He spent five minutes working on opening the door and getting Kaiya to calm down — a skill we continue to reinforce when guests arrive. Armed with treats, clickers for the whole family, and an agenda to get us going that night — and for the next six weeks — we began our journey.

Gil’s philosophy, it seemed to us, was that his role was to train US so we could train our dog. He provided us with detailed information about how dogs learn at different ages/stages, and he encouraged us to get comfortable with reading our dog’s body language and signals so we could tell when she was tired, frustrated or stressed. To help us learn how to train, he emailed command instructions before each session for us to preview (and later review after the session). During sessions, he explained and then modeled the training, and then he had both of us practice what we’d learned. Each week, we had homework that Gil would “check” during the subsequent session.

But above all, Gil genuinely cared about Kaiya’s development. He emailed us frequently between sessions to check on us and on her progress. Sometimes, these messages were sent to us late at night or over the weekends when one might imagine he’d want to be resting and enjoying time with his own dog and family. Instead, he was thinking of us. He never made us feel our questions were silly, and we never waited long for a reply.

Training with Gil at Wet Nose Academy made dog training a joy for our family. We have a thinking, problem-solving puppy who can learn from us now that Gil has taught us how to teach.

Tremendously grateful,