Bay Area Balanced Dog Training -

Beverley Jenkins

Meryl’s expertise and care has been a blessing to our pup, and our family.

We adopted a Doberman, when she was just over a year old. She was loved and cared for in her previous home, but due to a variety of circumstances, did not have the training and socialization that her previous owner had hoped to provide. That combined with a quirky personality, resulted in our dog lacking confidence, which looked like nearly unbearable reactivity. She also had some legit resource guarding issues that resulted in two very scary bit incidents.

We were already planning to do a board and train with Meryl, but the bites added urgency. We really weren’t sure if it would be safe or feasible to keep her. Many people in our situation would have put her to sleep.

We sent her to Meryl for 5 weeks of board and train and she came back to us as a new and improved version of herself. Meryl trained her on critical commands, and trained us, my teens included, on how to communicate with her clearly. Our dog has so much more confidence and so do we, which means we can walk in our neighborhood, on trails, and even in city neighborhoods without reactivity. It is such a gift to be able to enjoy our dog, and honor her for who she is- which is a protective breed with a quirky personality who loves her people and her routines, dearly. We can enjoy her and she can enjoy life because we have the best trainer.

Meryl is an expert. She is caring, thoughtful and communicative. She provided us with the direct feedback, coaching and information we needed to be good pet parents, and feel safe and confident with our pet with our kids.

We are forever grateful and look forward to continuing our training to expand our dogs skills and our skills as handlers. I cannot recommend Meryl highly enough.

Jesse Scarborough

My dog had reactivity and prey drive issues. Meryl was immensely helpful with my partners dog and recommended a board and train. We did some homework training beforehand, a check in, and final handoff after 5 weeks. She did a lot of great work with Papaya and was thorough with training me on how to keep up with the work over time. I'm very happy with the results.

Josie Bircher

I have a large dog who had major issues with reactivity, resource guarding, and a few instances of human aggression. He would bark and lunge on walks, was super fearful of everything, and had bitten me when I tried to groom him, when others tried to take care of him, etc. Every walk was stressful, and grooming him always led to me crying at the end of it (and he is a high maintenance breed who must be regularly groomed). I tried purely positive reinforcement training for the first year of his life, and found the methods to be avoidant, frustrating and ineffective, especially related to behavioral issues such as his.

After talking to several board and train businesses, I ended up sending him to Meryl for a 5 week board and train, and he came back as a completely different dog. He now had confidence in the world, was completely eager to train and very attentive (in contrast to him basically ignoring me, previously), and, most importantly, better handled stressful situations. I now look forward to training him, walking him, and even grooming him. Things truly transitioned from my dog being a major stress point in my life to him being a major source of joy. I have so much fun with him now, and can take him so many more places without worrying about how he will react. That wouldn’t have been possible without Meryl.

Meryl didn’t just change my dog’s behavior, but also outfitted me with the tools I need to effectively communicate with him and handle him when he does get stressed out and has potential to be aggressive. I am significantly more confident in handling him, and Meryl has been continuously supportive in the year since he finished his board and train. She spent time answering all of my questions, and has continued to be a training resource for me after his initial training. I also board him with her whenever I go out of town, and am so grateful to have her as a continued resource after our initial board and train. I highly recommend Meryl!!

Ann Ma

I sent my little miniature schnauzer to Meryl in August of 2022. I had concerns about reactivity and it possibly escalating into biting if I didn’t do anything about it. It was so worth it. My little girl came back much more confident and was way more attuned to me. I still had a few issues with reactivity with strangers in my house, and Meryl came out and helped me figure out the issue. It took her maybe a second to figure it out and even less time to teach me how to fix it. She’s magic! Since then my dog has been worlds better. She’s still noisy…and bossy…she’s a schnauzer after all. lol I tell everyone now that board and trains are so worth it. I had so many tools available to me thanks to Meryl. If you’re on the fence, just do it!

Kate Warner

The best decision we made for our dog was investing in Meryl’s board and train program. Not only did she help our dog Ruben, she also helped us become better owners for our dog. To see Ruben relieved of the stress he previously carried and instead full of confidence is priceless.

Meryl taught Ruben how to overcome stressful situations that would previously trigger aggressive behavior, instilled confidence in him, drastically improved his obedience and proofed his off-leash recall. Now we have an engaged dog who trusts us as his owners and an overall healthier, improved relationship.

We could not be happier with the results we’ve seen from Meryl’s program. We received regular updates from Meryl while Ruben was in the program and had no doubt he was safe and well cared for. We look forward to signing up for future training sessions with her, if and when we need it.

Background:
We started noticing reactivity from Ruben when he turned 1 and his reactivity kept getting worse over a year. Lunging, barking, growling, aggressive & uncontrollable towards dogs and people while on walks and at our house. We had absolutely no control over Ruben when he would get into this reactive state. We tried a positive reinforcement behavior modification training program, but ultimately we were still stuck with a reactive dog and our only control over Ruben’s reactivity was avoidance of dogs and people- not a sustainable solution. Thankfully we found Meryl and the rest is history.

Nicole Schneidman

Meryl is an extraordinarily talented and thoughtful trainer — ive never met anyone of her caliber!!! My puppy recently finished her board and train program with a focus on reactivity. To say the program was transformative is an understatement. Before the program, we couldn’t go outside without him having a reactive meltdown. Now, he is able to manage being in close proximity with reactive dogs and is well behaved in public settings. Im so grateful to have Meryl in our lives!

Alexandra Riley-Sorem

I cannot recommend Bay Area Balanced Dog Training and Meryl enough!

In November of 2023 my husband and I adopted our adorable 3-year-old Pitbull-mix, Midnight, from our local shelter. Unfortunately, pretty much everything the shelter told us in regards to his behaviors/needs was incorrect. For example: he was over-aroused all day every day, had lots of destructive behaviors with our furniture/household items, did not respond to verbal commands/corrections, jumped on us and on top of tables/counters frequently, had zoomies where he would body slam us and progressively get more aggressive, tried to run full force after any dog/cat/squirrel/bird we saw on walks, tried to redirect bite me on walks and landed one of them (which broke my skin), frequently ate inedible things (like leaves and cat poop – yuck!) no matter how hard we tried to prevent him from doing so, and landed a bite that broke the skin on my husband’s hand too when he was resource guarding a treat-stuffed toy.

My husband and I have owned and trained pet dogs in the past, but Midnight’s behaviors/needs were at a level that was way over our heads. After six weeks of trying to train Midnight on our own, we were beside ourselves from trying to figure out how to make things work with him and began to fear that we may have to try to rehome him or bring him back to the shelter, which we desperately didn’t want to do.

So, I did some research and found Bay Area Balanced Dog Training’s website. I reached out to Meryl and from our first phone conversation she put me at ease and began educating my husband and I about Midnight’s behavior and needs. Midnight did a 4-week board and train program with Meryl, during which time she continued to educate my husband and I on how we could be the best owners possible for our energetic, willful pup.

Now that Midnight is back home with us, I feel that he and we are finally speaking the same language and understand each other so much better, all because of Meryl’s training. My household is peaceful again, Midnight is so much happier/content, and we have been able to bond with him in a much deeper way than we were able to before. Walks are a dream (he even ignores cats now!), my husband and I are doing a much better job of properly taking care of Midnight’s activity/energy needs, and we feel certain now that we are a good fit for him and he is a good fit for us. Our little family is going to be just fine, due to the gift of Meryl’s expertise and skill.

Meryl has been an absolute blessing for Midnight, my husband and I. We look forward to taking more lessons from her in the future. Please, if you find yourselves in a situation even somewhat like ours, don’t hesitate to reach out to Bay Area Balanced Dog Training – it’ll be the best call you can make for you and your dog.

Rachel P

I cannot recommend Meryl highly enough. She has been a huge help to me with all of my dogs over the years but most recently helped me with an issue I was having with my goats and one of my dogs. My dog is now not only more behaved around my goats but is also much more confident. Whatever issue you are struggling with, if you put in the effort with Meryl both you and your dog will benefit greatly. Thank you Meryl!!!