Amanda Gagnon Dog Training — Local services in New York

I’ve been to a few dog trainers in the past with my first dog who mostly taught how to teach your dog cues. This school is much more holistic, teaching you how to teach your dog regulation, impulse control, capturing behaviors, and building your relationship with your dog. Rather than just outlining the steps to teach a particular behavior, they explain the theory, principles, and behavioral science of positive reinforcement training. I’ve been extremely impressed and grateful to have found it.

My puppy has attended the socials, day school, adolescent level 1, and a recall workshop and all of the trainers have been extremely knowledgeable, kind, and go above and beyond to be helpful. We especially appreciated how much individual attention and support we got from Suzanne in adolescent level 1. Liz taught our recall workshop and after only one of the three sessions, my puppy improved drastically in her recall. Melissa has been incredibly helpful in helping us choose which programs to attend and explaining the behavioral issues my puppy was displaying. Michelle has given us such detailed and helpful feedback after day school so I can continue building on the skills my puppy is learning there. Day School has been a miracle. My puppy’s leash skills and impulse control have improved so much more rapidly since she started attending. I felt like I was working on training her every minute of the day I wasn’t at work and it was still slow going, but since she started day school, I see marked improvements every week. Day School and the socials have also been an excellent outlet for her to play with other dogs safely (unlike at the dog park which can be unpredictable) and wear herself out which has been sanity saving for me.

Every trainer we have met here has seemed like a true dog lover and excited to help us with our journey, I’m only sorry I can’t recall everyone’s name to mention them specifically in this review, but anyone who works here is obviously an excellent trainer. The administrative staff has also been so lovely and warm and made me feel they are invested in my puppy too! We got to meet Amanda once and I felt she personally cared about me and my puppy even though I’m sure she’s very busy as the owner of the school. It feels not just like a training school, but a community for me and my puppy. I plan to sign my puppy up for every course offered here and would recommend this school...

My vet recommended Amanda Gagnon Dog Training for classes for my puppy & I'm so happy she did. My goldendoodle spent a few weeks with a trainer before I got him, so he was pretty much housebroken & knew the basics, but I definitely didn't & was overwhelmed when I brought him home. Going to class with my dog has been empowering as a new dog owner & encouraging to see his progress week to week. I've done both puppy kindergarten levels with Amanda, day school most often with Gwen, socialization on Saturdays, & private sessions with Gwen to deal with some separation issues. The way Gwen has spent the time with me to explain why you should do something a certain way, tell me how special my dog is, & give us reasonable goals with ways to level up has truly changed the way I live with my dog. It's a lot of work to train a puppy & the investment in training classes with professionals has been totally worth it to me. When it comes to running the business side, the admin team is super responsive & polite with questions & booking.

Update: Past puppy life, my dog & I have continued to take fun classes with Gwen. For me, it's bonding & a way to focus my dog's energy which remained very high until about 18 months. We've done agility & nose work. Both classes have been fun & challenging for my high energy & eager to please pup. Gwen had great tips to practicing weaving & jumping without the agility prop course set up & people always get a kick out of the little circus tricks I often have my dog doing while waiting for a light to cross the street. Nose work was trickier, but if your dog is like mine & likes to sniff trash bags on your walks, it's fun to try to focus that skill. I cannot wait to see what fun class comes next, the AGDT crew knows I'll be the first one to sign up.

We also took the recall workshop with Denver which was AMAZING. Great tips for how to call, how to treat, what kinds of high value treats to use, & how to build up the skill. We practiced at the dog park between classes & in three weeks I went from knowing he'll probably come when I call him to he'll drop a toy & run away from play with other dogs to rush to me across the park when I call him 98% of the time. Off leash walking is now a comfortable...

Update: Our puppy developed symptoms of kennel cough 4 days after we went to the puppy social. The vet treated her for upper respiratory infection (confirmation of kennel cough required a lab test that we opted out of). She had not been around other puppies other than at AGDT, so we have strong suspicion that she acquired it there. I see that other reviewers also experienced the same. A $40 puppy social turned into $240. Pup owners beware!!!

We took our puppy here for a puppy social. No one greeted us when we walked or asked us to check in or even verify what class we were there for. When the trainer came out to pick her up, she didn’t even ask for our names or introduce herself, which I thought was odd. She asked if this was our first puppy social and we said yes. Due to Covid social distancing we couldn’t go in the back with her, which we totally understood. When we came at pick up, the trainer didn’t have anything much to say other than “she did well.” She also didn’t take any pictures or videos. This was very disappointing since this is was not just our first time at AGDT, but first social ever! Come on! We walked out of there feeling bewildered. We just dropped off our puppy with complete strangers, we have no idea what the place looked like, or even what she did there. We literally have no idea what we just spent $40 on!! Based on the rave reviews, we trusted that this was a reputable place that had trustworthy trainers. I don’t want to assume the worst unless I have evidence to do so. But unfortunately, we will not be coming back. Also they have a very strict late policy - Locked doors after 5 min late for drop off and $25 fee for EVERY additional 5 min you are late at pickup. This is completely unrealistic. This made us very stressed trying to get a squirming puppy across town in rush hour.

Side note: Most dog training facilities require that owners get a note from a vet with record of first vaccines before any puppy social. AGDT does not require this. We felt less worried because our pup has all her vaccines. But other owners with younger puppies might want to be cautious...