Pet Behavior Help

The trainers at PBH are very knowledgeable and nice, they're patient and non-judgey with beginners (both me and my dog are new to sports) and they both explain things well and send you resources to work with via email between classes. Me and Loki love it here!

Val is so knowledgeable about addressing behavioral issues in dogs! Our dog was very anxious due to spending 6 months in a shelter before her adoption. She was great with us but very timid with strangers, aggressive with other dogs, and fearful of new situations. After three appointments with Val, we have already seen so many improvements in her demeanor and a huge reduction in her anxiety level.

In her one-on-one behavioral counseling sessions, Val spends time identifying triggers and areas for improvement then provides training exercises and other suggestions to implement at home. Highly recommended for anyone looking to address their dog's behavioral issues!

Valerie is wonderful and very knowledgeable. She understands the psychological of a dog's mind and why they may act certain ways. Valerie provided exercises for my dog and myself to work on during one on one sessions to use daily. In a matter of two months, there was a dramatic difference in my dog who has anxiety caused by medical issues. We will continue to use the exercises and it is great seeing how my dog has become so much more relaxed. Highly recommend working with Valerie!

Approximately 10 years ago we had a very negative experience with the head trainer. She basically said our dog, an Aussie-Pit mix, was hopeless and seemed to imply that we should put her down. I also recall her disdain for such a mix of breeds. 10 years later our old girl is happy, healthy and well adapted. You might have a positive experience if you own a proper pure breed. Otherwise stay away. There are much better choices in the Triangle area.

Val has been so great with helping our baby! We are still in progress but we cannot be more pleased with the changes we have seen! We adopted an anxious mess with some bad habits! He is slowly becoming less impulsive and more confident! We were both skeptical when we started. We have never heard of or needed a Canine Behavioral Counselor in the past!

But we were also at a point of desperation! We are so glad that we gave it a chance! Val is worth every penny! If our baby continues to progress at his current trajectory, we will forever be indebted to Val!

Out of the three classes we have done with three different companies, I have to say we got the most training help and information from our Senior Puppy Class with Amanda. The instruction was broken down, demonstrated by her very well training dog, and then we each were given multiple times to do the skill we were given. Each week we were emailed a homework sheet with very helpful info that I'm still using to master each skill Amanda taught. The outdoor space was great, especially being our class was in the middle of the pandemic. We are looking forward to the next class with PBH.

I started working with Val when the rescue dog we adopted showed signs of severe dog aggression, and lunged and barked at people too. My dog did not sleep through the night in her crate, and lived on edge in most situations. Within three weeks, we had things in place that had my dog relaxed, sleeping 11 hours and I trained the lunging and barking at people out of her within the first 2 months.

The dog aggression took longer but steadily we make progress. My dog was one likely to have been euthanized or was unadoptable because of her behaviors. She's now beautifully leashed trained, knows tricks, my neighbors are stunned at how well mannered she is, and I no longer dread or am fearful of taking my dog out for walks. She is a different dog, all because of what Valerie taught us.

I have two dogs who both react to dogs and/or people on walks, and over the years they've fed off of each other and gotten worse. It got to the point that I dreaded walking my dogs, and they weren't getting enough exercise when we moved to a house without a fence. Val has been incredible with them - she tailors her exercises to their specific problems and they've responded to everything she's told us to try.

So far we've cured them of barking in their crates (which for one dog was constant and driving us crazy), and they have both calmed down significantly in the house due to the training focused on relaxation. My little chihuahua checks in with me constantly when we walk now and is great on a leash. My other dog is a little more distractable outdoors, but he has still improved dramatically with a couple of sessions under his belt. Keeping up with the training at home is certainly a huge commitment, but the price of individual behavioral issue lessons for two dogs with Val is comparable to what we would pay for group classes at a Petsmart for basic obedience training with SO much more value for my family! We still have a bit to go with the dogs, but both we and they are already so much happier and calmer.

Val has been this special girl's trainer for a long time. Our Charlie is a bit different and has true anxiety. Our grandson has been to visit many times from out of town and he and Charlie just could not make an easy go of it. The last time he was in town, we called Val and said. please come help this situation. It is painful for Charlie and Eli. Val came to the rescue and worked with both Eli and Charlie and within 45 minutes, Val worked her magic and Eli and Charlie are now best buds. Amazing. We are so grateful to Val.

We just started private lessons with PBH and are already seeing huge improvements in our dog's behavior. Valerie is vey knowledgeable and gave us small exercises that don't require any special tools or a ton of time. And most importantly, she is adhering to social distancing by keeping all training outdoors, having sanitizer readily available and can effectively train us more than 6 ft away. We would definitely recommend her and cannot wait to see the positive changes in our dog.

Valerie is amazing. My 5 year old Lab rescue mix was a giant ball of anxiety. He had separation anxiety, tennis ball anxiety, you name it. As long as he was with people, he was great but could never be left alone without tearing things up or hurting himself. I had done crate training with him but could never get him to buy into the crate. He would eat blinds, butter dishes, loaves of rising bread (that was a fun day).

He would hide to keep from going in the crate - including in the neighbor's bushes for hours without making a sound. You name it, he did it. I have never seen such an anxious dog especially after a lot of training where I had worked with professionals! Val came in and within 2 visits, I could tell a HUGE difference in Montross. Don't get me wrong, Montross and I have put in the work but Val saw some minor changes that have made a WORLD of difference. I cannot recommend her more highly. She is worth every penny and worth the calmer, less anxious dog! (Hint - she cost me less than 2 sets of our wooden blinds!)

Val was wonderful. She immediately diagnosed the underlying reasons for our dog being so reactive and gave us the tools for having a calmer and better behaved dog. She also gave us the skills to be better dog owners/handlers. We now have a calm, happy and well-behaved pet. We are just sorry we did not find her years and several trainers ago. Highly recommend Val and PBH.

Let me start by saying that Valerie literally saved Charlie's life. My parents adopted Charlie a year ago hoping that he would be a laid-back companion, but even though they did everything "right" - socializing him as a puppy, doing puppy obedience classes, giving him lots of exercise every day - as he grew older he became incredibly anxious, destructive, unable to settle, and even began to show signs of aggression towards dogs and people.

After trying everything they knew how, including exercising him for multiple hours every day and sending him to day camp whenever they were not home, my parents had given up, knowing that they were not the right match for Charlie and that the situation would continue to worsen if they kept him. After a failed attempted at rehoming him, and with the worry that his behavioral problems would make him difficult to be deemed adoptable by a shelter or rescue, we were worried that Charlie was in danger of being humanely euthanized.

This was a dog who could not sit still and seemed more like a wild animal than a family pet. As a last-ditch effort to save him, I offered to take him on as my project and reached out to Valerie at Pet Behavior Help to set up a behavior consult. Valerie worked closely with Charlie and I, teaching me the huge importance of crate training Charlie and helping him develop an ability to relax, with the goal being slowly training his brain away from being so desperate for adrenaline "hits" (being way over-stimulated) and teaching him how to look to me for how to handle the situations that gave him anxiety.

The transformation in just a little over six weeks of working with Val has been absolutely mind-blowing. Charlie has become a relaxed, happy, easy-going dog who loves to work and now looks to me anytime he is uncertain of a sound, animal, or person. He sleeps more than either my parent's lab mix or my corgi (which is saying something!) and is by far the best behaved out of the three of them.

He leash walks beautifully, is almost completely crate-trained, and is really a completely different dog - a happy, relaxed one, and a real joy to be around. It seems like every day there are new improvements, and the bond between me and Charlie is getting stronger too! I have grown so attached to him, and him to me. And perhaps most surprisingly, we are about to start group agility lessons with Val!

I never, EVER thought Charlie could be half the dog he has turned out to be, and I can't even begin to say how grateful I am for Val's wisdom and lessons. She truly saved Charlie's life, and even managed to give me a loving, super-chill best friend in the process. I have never been more attached to or in-sync with an animal before, and it is all thanks to Val and PBH!

Val's training changed my life! Through behavior modification therapy, followed by customized training tutorials, Val helped my 5 year old collie mix Jack and I have a better more fulfilling relationship. Jack is all collie, as I like to say. He has a strong herding drive and cared very little about what I had to say, resulting in an aggressive state.

I had reached a point where I felt I didn't have many options, but Val's training truly saved him. I highly recommend her to anyone who has an aggressive dog or is considering giving up their pet for behavior or aggression. The skeptic in me didn't expect it to work, but it has and I am forever grateful for the new life Val has given Jack and I.

I started training agility with Val last year. She has managed to teach this old handler new tricks and turn my dogs and me into a real team. She has a great eye for seeing what you and your dog need to succeed!

If I could choose no star I would. she accused my dog of trying to bite her. ( he did not). Her training consisted of sitting in a chair and talking to me and ignoring my dog. She never would look at him or work with him but she sure took money She hates the shelter and that's where I got my dog from. I moved and got another trainer and now my dog is fine.

We're in the middle of our Agility Foundations class. Ovie loves it and we're learning a lot about how him and how to create a great dog-human bond. So far so good. Valerie really knows her stuff!