Valentine Dog Training - Avon, Colorado

Nicole L.

Jennifer has been incredibly helpful and made a huge difference for me and my dog. After working with strictly positive reinforcement trainers for a year, my rescue Malinois mix was plateauing and even regressing in her behavior and had bitten two people. I had been struggling with her reactivity to other people, cars, and bikes, and her resource guarding, and the force-free trainer had run out of ideas, essentially leaving me in constant management mode with no clear path forward. I could always see that my dog has a lot of potential and learned quickly, and that there was still a lot of training that could be done to specifically tackle her challenging behaviors. In one training session with Jennifer I was able to walk away with tools that changed the way I worked with my dog and allowed us to have far more enjoyable walks and overall a more enjoyable life together.

I really appreciated Jennifer's focus on incorporating play into training and finding ways to meet the dog's genetic needs, and that she encourages a lot of positive reinforcement and rewarding along with establishing boundaries and using tools that make sense. She isn't a trainer who just slaps on e-collar on and claims the dog is trained; she is incredibly thoughtful and well educated and that shows in the behavior of her clearly very happy and impeccably trained dogs.

Her passion for dog training and commitment to continuing education is outstanding, and you would be hard pressed to find a better trainer.

Traci K.

Our dog Henry deals with a lot of fear that sometimes translates to aggression and disengaging with us. We had worked very hard on daily training, brain exercises, and desensitization for well over a year but still hadn't mastered walking on a leash without pulling or respecting my husband or staying calm when visitors arrive at the house. And then we went to Jennifer! We learned how to maintain proper body language to make Henry feel protected on a walk. We learned that our priority must always be to make Henry feel safe which in Henry's case means not allowing people to pet him, even if he looks like he wants them to. My husband learned adjustments to make in his behavior with Henry that have resulted in a wonderful relationship developing between them. We know that Henry will always deal with fear and anxiety, but we also now know how to best support him with those. We cannot possibly thank Jennifer enough for the gift of tranquility that now exists in our home!

Karen C.

Jennifer is an incredible trainer. We have a 16 month old Cavapoo girl who needs serious impulse control training. She freaks out when people come over, when we see other dogs and people on walks, etc., Jennifer spent at least a half an hour on the phone with me when I called her to get information on her training services. She asked me lots of questions, trying to get a better sense of our dogs personality, likes and dislikes. I was convinced and we set up a training day. Jennifer spent over an hour with us at home to see our interactions with Maple. Then Jennifer took Maple to her house for the day. We came back to a much calmer, non reactive and focused dog. We then spent a few hours practicing walking her and using the techniques she taught us. We were amazed. At the end, Jennifer brought out her Dobermans, one at a time. I have never in my life seen dogs that are so incredibly well trained and focused. Typically dogs like that would want Maple as a snack. We took turns walking with Maple to practice her not reacting to Jennifer’s dog and outside distractions. Maple was a rock star and learned so much in one session. Jennifer is firm, yet gentle and excellent at what she does. Now we need to practice, practice, practice at home!

Bill G.

Valentine dog training is amazing! I went to them over this last weekend because my 14-year-old lab has issues of being aggressive, lunging and growling at other dogs when he's on a leash on a walk. He's the biggest furball baby around people, but for some reason he had issues with dogs. I didn't have much hope at his age and as long as it's been behaving badly, so when I found Valentine dog training in Avon I was skeptical, but hopeful. I knew something had to be done with his behavior. I met Jennifer to hand over my dog for a session and she was extremely professional. When I came back at the end of the day I was amazed that this was still my dog. Not only did she train my dog, she also instructed me on how to use a leash properly, my commands properly and my attitude properly. As mentioned my dog wouldn't be within 10 ft of another dog without going aggressive mode. When I picked up my dog from Valentine dog training he was able to stand within three feet of a Doberman with no problem. There's lots of work to continue to do this was no magic pill I know, but I believe Jennifer has set 90% of the solution in motion for us. I can't thank Valentine dog training enough for this amazing transformation of my dog.

Morgan P.

Amazing is an understatement! Jennifer was able to help both of my dogs. My 1.5 year old has some behavioral issues that we are still working on but we are already seeing an improvement and it’s only been one session! My 6 month old puppy has learned how to walk on a leash and respond to nonverbal commands! I am so happy with the results so far!

Kristen Y.

Jennifer was extremely responsive and professional right out of the gate.

My 80lb rescue pitbull is extremely dog-reactive. When I adopted him a year ago, I knew this would be his greatest challenge. The problem was easily circumvented back home in the Midwest where we had plenty of places to walk without other dogs, but now that we live in Vail Village, walking him was like playing Minesweeper. I had tried every collar, every method, to no avail.

One day with Jennifer and Duke and I finally have the tools to face a walk head-on. She taught me how to be calm and assertive so that he could relax and let go of his fear. We still have a long way to go, but I loved Jennifer’s no-nonsense approach to training where she says “call me when YOU need me”. She doesn’t waste time with packages or make empty promises like “in six sessions, he’ll be a new dog!” She lays it all out on the table, tells you exactly how YOU’RE contributing to your dog’s progress (or lack of) and gives you the feedback necessary to let you keep working your animal on your own.

What I really loved about her approach is that she really listened. She empathized with me. She listened to my concerns about types of collars (Duke has a pretty gnarly neck injury). She listened to all of the avoidance methods we had been using to circumvent his reactivity. She heard me on all fronts. And when it came time to work on training with Duke and I at the end of the day, she was ready and armed with perfect feedback to help ease my anxiety around my reactive dog - addressing all concerns and correcting everything I was doing to add to his reactive fear-driven response.

If you have a reactive dog, Jennifer’s approach is the only approach in my opinion. Be ready to do the work. Be ready to make the change. She will meet you with that energy 10-fold. You can just see how much she loves what she does and the passion she has for dogs. It’s remarkable and I can’t recommend her enough!

Matthew K.

She is a horrible dog trainer she blew me off for 2 days in a row I lost money over this she was rude and not professional at all 0 out of 10. The owner has to be the most stressful peraon to work with ever. 😔 she wasted my time and money

Pat K.

J Valentine was just what I needed! She reinforced that I am in control of my dog! Before, I was sending messages to my dog with my body language, such as "sure, let's chase other dogs"! With her leash, I can have my dog in a "sit" position, with one correction tug! Jennifer Valentine suggested food, toys, activities to help my dog become healthy! Thank you!