Client Experiences

"We were given Beverly's work as a gift, and what a gift! We had just gotten a lovely but very untrained rescue dog with some serious behavioral issues. Beverly explained the dog's behavior in very understandable terms, and then, explained what we needed to do to get the dog to do what we wanted in a non-punishing way. It was marvelous, and it worked. Naturally, when we got another dog, we immediately looked to see when Beverly was teaching her class. We have recommended Beverly and her work with dogs to all of our friends and to anyone else we see who has an unmanagable dog. She's amazing." Stina Pope/Pacifica

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"Beverly Kingsbury is an awesome dog trainer. I took my dog to two obedience classes before I met Beverly. I felt that my dog and I learned almost nothing at the first two classes - they graduated my dog each time but she did not obey me and overall she was stressed and out of control. I really felt that they didn't care about me and my situation; they merely wanted to collect the class fee.

I walked into Petco with my dog and we met Beverly. I discussed some of my issues with her and she immediately picked up on my problem. My dog was acting as leader in our house and I needed to assert myself as leader. I took Beverly's class at Petco and she showed me specifically how to let my dog know I was in charge. My dog changed dramatically during those 6 weeks of classes. She started to calm down, she started to listen to me and she showed a lot less stress.
Beverly truly knows how to work with animals and her love for them shines through. Her classes are excellent and my dog and I had a great time learning together! Anytime someone asks about my dog and comments on what a sweet personality she has, I don't hesitate to attribute that to Beverly and her wonderful classes!" Bev Shapiro/San Mateo

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"We adopted Tia, a 2-ish year old rescue Doberman, in June. It wasn't exactly an impulse – we had been considering adopting a companion for our elderly dog Baxter ever since his lifelong friend Bear died two years earlier. But each time we got close to searching, we “thought better” of it. Then I saw Tia's picture on a rescue site and felt oddly drawn to meet her. When Baxter approved in their initial introduction, we took her home. But in order to smooth her transition into our lively household (we also have 5 cats and needed to know she wouldn't turn into a chaser/tormentor!), we wanted to get her into obedience training immediately. We knew she would have lots of energy and anxiety to channel. Tia came with an interesting mix of personality traits: very smart and a bit strong-willed, yet terribly anxious and fearful. We could only guess at her rough beginnings, but mistreatment was clearly a part of it.

I still can't believe our good fortune at landing in Beverly Kingsbury's obedience class. The course was already one session underway, but Beverly welcomed us into it, and the whole mixed-species household is better off for it! Beverly is wonderfully “bilingual:” she anticipates missteps and misunderstandings on the part of a dog's human companion (let's face it: obedience training is more for us than the dog), and she understands how dogs think – all breeds and temperaments of dogs, as I witnessed in that class. I think she has a bit of “dog whisperer” in her. Beverly's insights into Tia's behaviors, and the ways to enhance the good and correct the bad, were consistently spot-on. Tia now has great friendships with the cats, and is a delightful companion to humans. Many thanks to Beverly!" Marilyn Matevia/ formally of San Mateo

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Dear Beverly,

I wanted to thank you again for your wonderful dog training class that my daughter and I recently took with Kelly, our 5 pound 8 1/2 year old maltese yorkshire poodle mix.

When we came to your class we explained how Kelly had never been trained and didn’t even know how to sit. Even though we have had her for the full 8 1/2 years we had never taken the time or effort to properly train her. Our 12 year old standard poodle, her best freind, had recently died and we could tell that she needed something to bring her spark back.

My son signed us up for these classes and told me about it afterwards. I was very hesitant and figured after all these years it would be hard for her to learn anything. You explained how all dogs no matter how old can still learn, it just can take more time with some breeds than others and that smaller dogs can learn, but you have to be persistant and train everyday and not give up. After the first class , which Kelly spent most of trying to get me to pick her up, we were able to get her to sit. The reward system with treats that you teach is great. It keeps their attention and focuses on the positive, not the negative.

Our next goal was to get Kelly in a down position. After our second, third and fourth class she still was not able to do it. It was quite discouraging as all the other dogs in the class could do it. You told us to keep trying, have patience and not give up. Every day we trained and finally my daughter came to me all excited and said Kelly could do it. Sit and down. It was like a lightbulb went on in her head. You had told us that some dogs have to hear it ten times and then they get it and some it takes 300 times. She was the 300 times. After that breakthrough the training became easier and better. Kelly really started to enjoy her training sessions and will come and stand by me to get my attention so that I get her treat bag so we can train.

During your classes we had to come up with a trick to teach our dog for our graduation day. I was quite nervous as there wasn’t anything “trick’ wise that I thought she could master in 2 weeks. The one thing she would do for your attention was to sneeze and wag her tail. So I decided to treat her for sneezing. It didn’t take long for us to say ‘‘Kelly sneeze’’ and she would, on command. Sometimes big sneezes and sometimes little ones, but sneezes non the less. I felt confident that I could get her to do this on graduation day and she did it. She also did all of the other commands that we had learned and practiced. It was an exciting day and most importantly she came away from your classes a happier and smarter dog with an interest in learning now.

We have since taught her to crawl, roll on her side like she is dead and paw at the ground, bark on command. Maybe not useful commands, but fun for her and fun for us to come up with something new for her to learn. She plays hide and go seek with my daughter, which she couldn’t do before because she wouldn’t stay.

Your classes and your knowledge were instrumental to us in being able to get Kelly to learn as she has. I would reccomend your classes to anyone with a dog, even if you think your dog can never learn, is too old or stubborn. Your classes are the best thing that you can do for your dog and for yourself.

Thanks and keep up the good work!!!

Cindy Antoniazzi/San Mateo

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