Zen Dog Training

My partner & I had a great experience with Zen dog training. Our trainer was Emily Fleming, and she was an amazing trainer whom we would HIGHLY recommend. She was kind, informative, had a bright spirit, and was flexible with scheduling. (At times, I wished we could've hung out apart from dog training & be human friends, too! ) We loved how she interacted and engaged positively with our anxious little man.

She kept it hopeful, and was very understanding & patient with his process of desensitization. It was quite evident how much expertise she has in the field of dog training, and in addition, we truly sensed her love for dogs, which I believe enhanced the overall experience. Our main criticism was that there were only two sessions, and it was quite expensive.

We would have wished for a few more sessions, a few weeks apart perhaps. Of course the emphasis is on our ability to interact with and train with our own dogs, and put in the time and efforts on our own, but more guidance and separate times with that support would have been additionally helpful. Thank you!

Would highly recommend Zen Dog Training! We worked with James, and he was awesome! We wanted to work on better leash manners, overall obedience, confidence and patience with our 9month old Mini Goldendoodle. James gave us all the right tools to handle any situation and we saw results after our first session. Two sessions was all we needed to get our pup going in the right direction! James was super friendly, and worked well with our pup. James and the Zen Dog training tips and tools definitely helped us achieve a more 'Zen pup' in our house!

Having in home training made all the difference for training my pup and for gaining confidence in what I was doing (and advice for what I wasn't). My pup took immediately to the steps and I noticed a difference in her behavior right away. Gordon was amazing in meeting me where I was and understanding my own personality, strengths and weaknesses. I really think there is nothing better than having someone come to your home and neighborhood to understand your setting and personalize your training. Definitely worth it!

Great experience with Zen Dog Training - I had rescued a 2-year old, large breed dog and I needed help with reactive dog training, repetitive barking and greeting people under control. My Zen trainer, James, came to my house, listened to my experiences and concerns, explained the core concepts of dog training and provided literature for review, and then worked through each concern with us verbally, by demonstration and through coaching while we practiced. The tools were simple and effective! We made immediate progress, and I am confident that I can apply the same tools to different behavioral goals in the future as well.

I would recommend zen dog training to any new dog owner, especially Emily! I recently rescued a puppy and did not feel confident with training. Not only did Emily teach me the tools to be successful with my new pup, she was super kind and very responsive to all of my questions. My puppy, Stevie, loves Emily and I cannot thank her enough for helping me with my confidence as well as Stevie's.

I started working with Neil at Zen Dog shortly after adopting my reactive middle aged pup last year. In just a few sessions (both virtual and in-person), Neil helped me understand my dog's behavior and motivations, and how to use her motivations to redirect her attention to me instead of her triggers (strange dogs and people). The past year has been a lot of work, but Neil was available and helpful every step of the way, answering questions or scheduling a session if needed.

My friends, family, vet, and dog walkers have all noticed the great progress my dog has made. If you are a new pup parent (or simply new to dog training), I highly recommend working with Zen Dog Training!

Cassie at Zen Dog is the best! We worked with her when our golden retriever pup was about 4 months old it totally changed our training trajectory. She is super patient, very clear and concise and was incredibly helpful in getting our pup to where he needed to be! She really personalizes the training to your needs and your dogs needs. We HIGHLY recommend :

Emily is awesome! My partner and i have a 13yr old rescue pitty who is dog reactive and she has truly been a godsend. She has gone above and beyond to help us with training sessions that meet our schedule, and is reachable whenever anything comes up. I've worked with many trainers and companies in the past, with many a difficult rescue pup, and haven't seen as much success. They've got a great model and a ton of great tools and resources! Highly recommend! Oh and all for a really great/reasonable cost!

I happily recommend Zen Dog Training, as their trainer, James, helped solve a major problem I was having with my two year old "lab rescue" dog. He is a very loving dog, but he experiences stranger anxiety and can turn aggressive if he feels threatened. When I brought him to my friend's home, it was especially bad; he got into a very aggressive stance and barked and growled at his adult son.

He also became fixated on his cat, and it appears that his prey instinct kicked in. My dog is 80 lbs, and he killed a rabbit in my backyard last year, so his aggression towards both my friend's son and his cat made it look like I could no longer bring him over to his house. James showed us tools and tricks to make greeting strangers a good experience.

He also gave guidelines on how to have the cat and dog peacefully coexist, how to make walking on leash a better experience, and how to set behavior boundaries for the dog. The training is a mix of positive reinforcement and redirecting, rather than harsh punishments. The money for training is well spent. My dog is now less anxious meeting new people, including friends, family, and even contractors who come in my house to do work.

The alternative would be to risk a situation in which a person or another pet gets seriously hurt, which would be much more costly in many ways. I highly recommend Zen Dog Training.

Cassie with Zen Dog Training provided without a doubt the best dog training experience we've ever had. We have a goldendoodle wild puppy and she has worked with us on leash training, anxiety, and general obedience. Even after a couple of sessions would could see a huge difference! We are so happy we found such an incredible company and trainer to work with! Would recommend 10/10 times!

My partner and I worked with Gordon over the course of two training sessions for our two pups. Gordon is insightful, fun, affirming, and a strong communicator. He shared with us training plans that were customized to each of our two dogs, and they've already improved considerably over just a couple weeks. We now feel much more in control of our dogs' behaviors, and understand better how they interpret and learn from us. We're looking forward to continuing to work with Gordon.

We got in touch with Zen Dog Training when we brought our 9-week old cockapoo puppy home. We started working with Gordon immediately and he helped us get started with our puppy's training. Gordon's training technique and explanations were really useful for us as first-time puppy parents. He took the time to explain to us the rationale behind each and every training technique and what to expect from it.

The training materials and references have been quite helpful and we still go back to those every now and then. We saw immediate results with some of the training tips. Our puppy is now nine months old and Gordon has been always available to help us out with any questions/concerns we have. He is super friendly, knowledgeable and he is great with our puppy. He has helped us form a great bond with our Ryuu. We can't recommend him enough!

First, they are very busy, so don't expect to get in right away. I moved to the Boston area apartment in the fall of 2020. My two pups had no experience walking on leash in a highly dense city environment. My very social rescue lab mix would freak on leash by growling and barking every time he saw another dog, which was frequently. It was a disaster for both of us, and my other dog. While, I'm fairly good at training my two dogs, this was an extreme situation.

I was lost other than to resort to a shock collar. After two in person sessions with Emily, she'd given me the tools to manage my pup. Hooray! We graduated with honors. Walks are no longer an anxious event but enjoyable. Very satisfied.

We adopted an enthusiastic 1 year old dog back in October and as first time dog owners needed some guidance. We had 3 sessions with Emily from Zen Dog over the last few months and she was excellent. Our pup is an overall sweetheart, but we needed help on some manners and reactivity over space/furniture. We worked on leash walking/distractibility/confidence, training games and tricks, recall, and resource guarding.

More than anything, Emily listened to our concerns and needs and helped guide us through best approaches. We still have some things we're working on, but we feel so much better equipped to handle situations than we did previously. Emily was responsive, supportive, and overall a great partner in guiding us through new dog ownership. We would highly recommend Emily to anyone looking for a great trainer in the Boston area.

It took some convincing for my boyfriend to be on board to spend $$ on training, but after the first session he agreed that it was the best investment we could have made. Totally worth it!

Julie at Zen Dog Training is fantastic. We are SO happy that we signed up for personal training sessions. Our dog is a 2-year-old rescue that we just adopted. She is very fearful and skittish -- when we first got her she would cower on walks, refuse to let strangers touch her, and be very aggressive towards dogs. After just the first session with Julie, our pooch was so confident and excited to go on longer walks. There's a lot of homework and continual training, but we noticed immediate results. Julie also gave great advice to socializing our dog with humans and other dogs, even during COVID. Julie even brought her own dog to help socialize ours!

As much as our dog learned, we learned so much too! Julie explained a huge amount of information during our visit, and provided us with comics and instruction materials to take home. Another awesome feature of Zen Dog is the email newsletter with training tips, and the massive repository of online training information and videos that we can access anytime. Finally, we really appreciated the COVID safety measures that Julie took. I would highly recommend Julie at Zen Dog to anyone who is looking to learn new skills or help new dogs with behavioral issues. It is worth every penny.

We hired Zen dog to help with train our 2 year old dog that we just got from a rescue. Gordon was super friendly and did an amazing job teaching not only our dog, but also really taking the time to train us and made sure we understand why we were doing certain exercises. He was also able to help us better understand our dog and how she thinks, so we can react to her behavior accordingly!

In the few days after our training, we have already seen great improvements with our dogs behavior on leash. She was pulling us around before, but now we definitely feel in control of our walks. There is definitely a lot of information to learn, but Gordon provided plenty of worksheets, reading material, etc. so we can easily refer back to everything. Can't wait to see further progress from our dog!

Gordon was fantastic! We thought maybe we would be in over our heads with our new chocolate lab puppy, he has SO MUCH energy and was jumping, nipping, barking and had no idea how to walk on the leash. After our 90 min session, he was already learning and we could already see a change in him! It was amazing. He even gave us booklets and comics to go home with the lessons and treats that he taught us (which was so helpful for refreshers). Gordon was so friendly and welcoming, we felt like we had known him for years!

And our pup loved him just as much. Thank you so much to Zen Dog training for teaching us all the essentials to having a well behaved pup. We couldn't have done it without you! HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Gordon was a delight to work with! He came super prepared with tons of materials to give us after the session and we were able to ask him all our questions in our 2 hour intensive session. Gordon gave us the tools to succeed with Charlie and a level of attention most trainers wouldn't. Huge thank you to him and can't wait to work with him more in the future.

We did an in-home training visit (outside with masks on) with Gordon to work on some basic training with our 12-week-old puppy, and found it to be an excellent value. My husband and I learned so much from the visit, and came away with tools and reference materials that made us feel so much better equipped to train and socialize our pup than before discovering Zen Dog.

As a bonus, we've already seen some really positive behavior changes in the couple of days since our session by employing the training tools that we learned in the visit. Highly recommend Zen Dog! We also found their written and online materials to be hugely helpful and would highly recommend those as well.

Gordon and Zen Dog Training is the best there is. Gordon is very organized, thoughtful, and responsive. Our 8-week old puppy, Cosmo, is learning so much from Gordon. Gordon gave us so much information to help train us (the people!) so we can keep up good habits at home to give Cosmo the structure and training he needs. Within our first session we were seeing major differences in Cosmo's confidence and understanding of boundaries. Gordon is so kind and thoughtful, he is a fantastic person to work with.

The philosophy of Zen Dog Training is extremely helpful too- it gave us a good perspective to stay calm even through some of the most frustrating little puppy moments. We have been using Gordon's hand-outs, online videos and have had several in-person training sessions. As a person who does a lot of research, it can be dizzying to sift through all of the materials, but Gordon really helped distill all the information into some core concepts that we were able to implement right away. Cosmo and the whole family are benefiting from this approach! We highly recommend Gordon and Zen Dog Training!

We had a wonderful experience working with Emily Fleming at Zen Dog. Our sheepadoodle puppy started off relatively well-behaved, so we didn't think we had that much to do. But we were totally shocked by how much he still had to learn and everything we were able to teach him in a few short lessons! It was fantastic for my husband and I to really get on the same page and to make sure we were using a common language with our puppy. Emily was always very available by text for questions. We had an awesome experience and are so glad we used Zen Dog!

Thank you so much! Emily was fantastic to work with, and could not recommend more highly. We found Zen Dog during quarantine with our 11-week old puppy, beginning with training by Zoom (knowing that there would later be a safe yard visit if we all felt comfortable). Our dog had developed some bad habits, which got worse as we worked harder to address them.

After a couple sessions with Emily, our dog could not be better behaved, and the behavior has continued to be great for months after. We couldn't be happier. Some notes for those curious: -Emily was available whenever we needed to answer questions, watch our technique on video, or hop on a call. It was so helpful having access to someone between sessions, and even since we finished our training -It became very clear to us what changes we needed to make, and what fundamentals we had to instill in order to make those successful. Emily outlined it very well -Given all of the information about training on the internet, it was very helpful to have one set of rules to work with -The first session felt like repetition of the reading material, and it became very clear later why it was so important to start this way. -I'm sure that it's more effective doing this entirely in person, but we had a great experience doing this mostly virtually

Neil did a great job helping correct my bad habits when moving from my 15 year old elderly dog to a new and energetic puppy. My only reservations were in creating the feedback loop of observation and correction that we would get if in person. Given the restrictions of working virtually, I think this is a great option. Also very much appreciated the drop off puppy socialization events. The team really tried to provide meaningful feedback to get Zeus and me on the right track.

Life saver for me and my husband who are first time dog owners. We purchased the Puppy + package which includes one at home session as well as the 6 week class. Nayiri kept every session fun during what could have been an incredibly stressful time. She helps you to connect with your dog, set realistic goals, and execute them easily. Couldn't recommend this more.

I never knew dog training could be so much fun! We recently adopted our very first puppy, a 10 week old Boston Terrier, and our vet recommended Zen Dog. I wasn't sure what to expect for an in-home training session, but it was really the right decision for us. Gordon came to do the in-home training visit about a week ago and trained *us* on how to communicate with our puppy and walked us through some excellent training techniques.

He really could not have made the whole experience more fun or the training any easier. Gordon has distilled his philosophy and the science of dog training into fun games to play with your dog and comic books to remember the main topics! There's even a free PDF online explaining the basics of potty training. The handout had a bullet point list of the signals when a puppy needs to be taken out. which had taken me TWO WEEKS to figure out!

I only wish we had spoken with them sooner. I really cannot recommend them enough. We feel so much more confident and able to train our puppy and are so grateful for the effort that Gordon and Zen Dog put into their training! I'm finally not covered in band-aids from all the play biting :

Zen Dog has been great to work with as we train our Golden Doodle, Jack. Jack is a smart and energetic 1.5 year old who was always pulling on the leash and overly excited and jumpy meeting new people when we first adopted him. Working with Gordon, we've learned a ton of fun games that teach Jack good behaviors and that he really wants to "win". We've also learned to successfully interrupt unwanted behaviors. Jack's manners on the leash have improved so much in working with Zen Dog and we're seeing an improvement in his manners and listening skills, too. Zen Dog has given us a lot of tools and confidence to keep up with our training, including all the great resources provided during training and on their website.

They go above and beyond in supporting their clients and Gordon is just a genuinely nice person who clearly loves dogs and loves what he does. An awesome choice for anyone looking for a trainer!

Gordon came by to help us get started on the right foot with our new little guy, Mango. Despite reading a ton of books, watching a bunch of training videos, and reading forum recommendations - nothing was as helpful as having Gordon right there with us explaining things and the incredibly informative resources he gave. It only helps that Gordon is just a generally great dude and you can tell he really cares about pups. Would HIGHLY recommend - the money we spent on Zen Dog Training has probably been the best money we spent on Mango!

We had a great experience with Zen Dog Training. From our initial phone call with Michelle to working with Neil, we were impressed with their professionalism, knowledge, and training. When we were at our wits end with housebreaking and other basic training issues, Zen Dog and their staff put us at ease. Throughout the entire process it felt like they genuinely cared about our 5 month old Tibetan Spaniel.

We even got a personalized call from Gordon, the owner before we scheduled our home visit. They recommended the puppy package (in-home consult + 8 week classes) and it was honestly, the best thing we could have done for our pup. In-home consultation: Neil helped us with housebreaking, walking on leash and so many other things. Neil is a very talented and patient trainer; our puppy loved him immediately. Puppy classes: Well organized, lots of great basic training and lots of built in time for the puppies to socialize.

This really did the trick for her. Although she cowered in the corner for a good 4 weeks the way Neil ran the class and provided a safe space for her to socialize made all the difference. She loves dogs now! Thank you, Neil and ZDT! We are forever grateful for everything you did to support us during a tough transition.

Instagram: Duke_angryfluff I signed up for puppy group class with Nayiri. Once a week at 8:30pm so you can do after work. There are about 6 puppies in the class, range from 50 pound to 5 pound! My dog is on the smaller side but he doesn't have a problem with bigger dog. Each week there are homework you have to do during the week and class focus on different things. Nayiri is AMAZING!

They teach a lot things that's super useful like everyone will grab the dog and give them treat so later in the park the dog won't run away from you. Everyone will hold the puppy so they get used to be held by strangers so they won't be afraid of vet or groomer. We also did basic training like leash walk, listen to the command etc. my dog listen to me so much better.

I think this is the best 200 dollar you can invest in your puppy. One weird thing is that everyone in the class came as couple, like ok~ if I didn't know was a puppy class I would thought this is a new born baby class! Also there are some exercise you need to do with a partner like one person holding the puppy and other feed treats into the mouth.

Like a bit discrimination for single people. I have to force my boyfriend who has a commitment issue to come with me. good thing the class is so fun he end up coming every week but I would felt kinda shitty if I was single! Anyway, my usual off the rail rent :p