Clearwater Dog Training

I adopted my dog Carter from Clearwater's sister company Nikenos Second Chances. The adoption included training classes. The training was very helpful for both me and Carter and we are still working on what we learned. Gina and Tom are great people to work with and made the classes very enjoyable. I highly recommend Clearwater Dog Training and Nikenos Second Chances for anyone looking to adopt and / or train a dog.

We had a wonderful experience working with Tom and Gina at Clearwater. Their years of working with dogs, their patience with their owners, and their ability to see both owner and dog clearly, gave us confidence in working with our two dogs. We have one shy dog and one highly reactive dog, and both Tom and Gina gave us hope that we could work with commands and behaviors. I highly recommend Clearwater Dog Training.

We got Belinda from Gina in 2015. She is not with us anymore but she was the sweetest mama and foster mama ever. Gina rescued her for a kill shelter just in time. We have been going to Clearwater for their Halloween and Christmas parties since. I do recommend Clearwater for boarding, training, and finding your best friend.

A good trainer should approach his task calmly, displaying an even disposition. Unfortunately Tom seemed unable to control himself, and raised his voice during every training session. He said that dogs respond to the energy they sense from the humans around them. Given Tom's demeanor noted above, he should have been able to control himself better, because my dog and I became extremely agitated by the end of every training session. I am a disabled adult and Tom was made aware of this before our sessions commenced. He should have been more understanding, but seemed unable to do so. On one occasion, his wife, Gina, let three puppies into the room without my consent. My dog felt threatened and immediately backed into a corner and displayed her teeth. She has never displayed her teeth before or since and plays nicely with other dogs. I have twenty-five years experience in dog day care and that is unacceptable behavior. The overall experience was very disappointing. I was looking forward to a positive experience, but that turned out not to be the case. Raised voices and intimidation should never be part of the learning experience.

I Always know when I drop my dog off that he is in good loving hands. Gina and Tom are both experts with handling and understanding dogs. They are great at helping us humans understand our dogs and bring out the best dog parents in training one and one and then lifetime group sessions.