Happy-Dog

WONDERFUL dog trainers and training facility - positive reinforcement ONLY! I've had training in the Karen Pryor method but these guys had fantastic ideas that I had never heard of in training tips & exercises for my 6 mo old puppy for loose leash walking, sit/down stay, leave it, & other essentials. She was in the Family Dog 1 class, so couldn't socialize with the other dogs, but did learn to be calm in their presence & focus on us, & made wonderful progress.

As you can see, there is plenty of space between dogs (6 max per class). This was the ONLY place I found on Long Island which had KPA-trained dog trainers so traveled 45 min each way - totally worth it! DO NOT BELIEVE those so-called "balanced" trainers that punishment is required to train dogs - it IS NOT and just damages your relationship with your dog! They call it "correction, " but what they're balancing with positive reinforcement & kindness is punishment. Ellen and Lorrie are amazing!

Happy Dog Training is run by two amazing woman, Laurie and Ellen. Not only are they both incredibly knowledgeable about dog behavior and training but they are excellent at translating that information to their students. What Laurie and Ellen excel at is giving you, the dog parent, the skills to train. They literally teach you how to talk to your dog.

Myself and my dad took our mastiff starting at 8 weeks old to Laurie's classes, we went every week for 8 months and gosh what an amazing dog we now have, worth every penny and every minute that we spent at Happy Dog. People on the street literally stop me to marvel at how well behaved our Charlie is (our pup). Because of all the time Laurie spent training US and when I say us I mean, me, my dad and Charlie we can now take him anywhere and that's saying a lot as he's 120 pounds at 11 months old.

I have two adult dogs as well at home, that had previously had no training, with the skills that we learned in Laurie's classes, my dad decided to start training them too. Now we have three perfect pets and a very happy Dad, he loves his new hobby, training pups! We could not be more pleased with our experience at Happy Dog, if I could give them a million stars I would! Thank you Laurie and Ellen!

My experience with Happy Dog Training and Behavior was wonderful! Ellen, our trainer, provided a safe and fun environment for my dog and I to learn and hone new practical skills. Ellen was able to transform a large amount of information into digestible bites for the layman and in turn we were able to assimilate and put said information into practice. I would recommend their classes to anyone with a dog!

Excellent dog training school. I highly recommend this place over any petco location. They really are detailed and educated themselves on all facets of dog behavior. I have learned so much in the last 10 weeks we have been going!

I highly recommend Happy Dog Training. The classes are carefully structured to cover several aspects of training without overwhelming the dog or the dog's owner. Ellen is extremely patient and kind with all of the dogs (and their owners) and is available to answer questions at any time. She quickly assessed that my dog was a bit tentative when coming into the classroom and gave me great cues and suggestions on making him more comfortable. We made wonderful progress in just 8 and weeks and we are already signed up for the next class with Lorrie.

It was decades since we had a puppy and with info on the web so overwhelming and conflicting, it's been great to have the support and expertise of Ellen and Lorrie from the get-go. I went for New Puppy Consultation with a hundred questions, including plenty about setting up for successful housetraining and sleeping arrangements, and our pup was housetrained with very few accidents (I have a nearly fully bottle of Nature's Miracle) and slept thru on his second night home with us.

I would have freaked out about his teething/mouthiness without the weekly support of Puppy Kindergarten and other owners dealing with the same phase--AND it was wonderful to have a safe space for the pups to begin to learn to socialize. We're now participating in Family Dog 1, reinforcing lessons from Puppy K and advancing from there. Whenever I've reached out to Ellen or Lorrie with questions (re neutering, dog parks, how best to travel with the dog, collar vs. harness, veterinarians, etc.), they've been available, patient and SO informative. Our pup gets lots of compliments on his friendliness and good manners, thanks in large part to his/our early training with Happy Dog, I'm certain.

More detailed review below, but if you want really good training, great instruction + awesome service just stop looking and pay to come here. I did puppy kindergarten as all I wanted was to be taught basic puppy skills + socialize my puppy with other dogs and felt I got a ton for my $. Training: All of the training advice here is extremely simple to understand and implement.

By week 2 of the course I had my puppy offering to sit and be calm in the house without me even having to ask them. Everything you learn is stuff you can start doing immediately and it's all so easy a child can do it. The course covers basically everything you could want your puppy to learn to exist calmly at home. Everything they teach just works because it's easy for YOU to understand and easy for YOUR DOG to understand. Service: I had tons of questions throughout the course and always got prompt, well written replies.

This isnt a Petco course where you'll be left out to dry, it's premium and custom. Facility: The training area is BIG. You wont have to worry about your dog being too close to other puppies to pay attention during class. At the end of most classes there is supervised puppy play time where they can socialize. Most importantly though- the place is CLEAN! As someone who was worried about socializing my dog when I was only 2/3 of the way through vaccinations, there's nothing to worry about at this place.

I think what sets it appart from any other training service that you might get from PetCo or any other place is the fact that the staff (in our case Lori!) is incredibly knowledgeable, has an answer to any question or doubt you might have, and genuenly wants to help you and your pup! The service was nothing short of exceptional, they are incredibly responsive and reactive, and they listen to your and your pups needs! Sure, it might be more expensive than other methods, but you definitely get what you pay for! And when it comes to a pup that you're going to keep for 15+ years. This was a no-brainer for us!

So far we have taken 2 classes with Happy Dog. The first one was puppy kindergarten (taught by Ellen), which was a blast, even though we had to do it through zoom, because of the shut down. My dog learned so much and for a puppy with a tremendous amount of energy, she was very well behaved thanks to them and their training tricks. We were able to potty train her relatively quickly, about 3 weeks in.

Since then we have now just completed family dog one (taught by Lori), and thanks to this class my dog was become quiet the leash walker. She comes when called, without me having to repeat her name multiple times, she is starting to respond to commands with us just saying it once. She does not touch the food on our counters, tables, or end tables, even though she can reach them. They have helped turn our Tasmanian devil puppy into a well mannered 10 month puppy who gets complimented all the time. I strongly recommend them to all your training needs.

Ellen is wonderful, organized, so helpful, and everything she teaches is coming from a place of love. She taught us ways to positively reinforce our dog's behavior and strengthen our bond. We just finished puppy kindergarten and it was such an amazing experience. It helped our whole family get on the same page with training techniques and it was so fun!