Basil's K9s

I brought my young Doberman to Basil’s K9’s for ecollar training, because I was impressed with Basil’s instant recall in a very busy park. His off lead manners were brilliant, and I wanted my dog Uma to react in a similar, predictable way. Ilana took great care in making us feel secure and comfortable whilst learning a new training system. At her suggestion, we even tested the collar on me so that I had a clear understanding of how it feels. To my surprise, it was reminiscent of a TENS machine in a physiotherapist’s office, proving to me that the negative stigma associated with the remote collars has much to do with the old fashioned training methods used. I was delighted to learn that the E-Collar can be used in an extremely humane manner. Under Ilana’s patient and watchful eye, our sessions were catered to the commands that I already use with my girl, and we’re now expanding the repertoire to learn a few more impressive ones! Uma is even excited when she sees the ecollar , as we’ve trained this to be a totally positive experience. She now has 100% recall. This is priceless; especially when we are up north where there are lots of animal encounters (foxes, coyotes, fishers, etc).Nothing means more to me than my baby girl’s safety. Ilana, you’re truly the BEST!We can’t wait for our next session, so that we can continue to explore more training avenues together.

I met Ilana at a pet expo in Toronto, and during our chat I couldn’t focus on anything but her well behaved dog Basil. Basil was so calm and well mannered for a Doberman, that I had to ask where she got him trained. Turns out she is a trainer! I was so excited to meet a dog trainer with such a bubbly and warm personality that also works with guardian breeds. Most trainers I have seen working with dogs over 130 lbs are super intimidating to talk to and have more of a military style of training, and I did not want my dog to be trained this way. I had recently been struggling with my 1yr old female Presa Canario, Murphy. She became increasingly reactive last year on walks when she saw other dogs to the point where I had to start walking her late at night to avoid bumping into other dogs. The most frustrating part was that Murphy stopped paying attention to me when I gave commands or told her to leave it. When Ilana came to our property she evaluated Murphy and we spent a lot of time discussing training tools and humane ways of using them. I have never been comfortable working with a prong collar and was very relieved to see that this tool looks a lot scarier than it actually is. Within an hour Murphy was making eye contact with me and engaging with me and I’ve never been able to do this on my own. I honestly can’t believe I did this, but I cried happy tears, and I do EVERYTIME I see Ilana because the bond I have with Murphy increases during each training session. This is gold to me. Ilana makes sure that I understand how to do my homework and practice with Murphy when the sessions are over and I can tell the most important thing to her is my comfort and Murphys welfare. Ilana is so compassionate and just a lovely human, I’ll never be able to thank her enough for continuously helping me with Murphy! My trainer for life!

When my husband and I decided to get a Bully, we knew that she would need a lot of intensive training especially after seeing some neighbours dogs pulling and jumping at others on walks, including myself.After doing our research on balanced training we found Ilana and it’s the best decision we ever made!Our puppy Blue responded so incredibly well to her direction. Watching Ilana work with Blue was such an amazing experience!Blue was always excited to see her at every session and as a bully was always excited to work.Ilana has a true passion for helping dogs and you can tell from the very start with our phone consultation. She cares about you, your pet, instilling confidence in you, and the progress you make over the weeks of training and beyond (and she always follows up)!If I had questions, all I needed to do was text her and she would give me the answers I needed. Flexible scheduling and a service that is 100% worth every penny!I will use Basils K9s over and over again to continue Blue's training along with any future puppies that come into our home.

What can I possibly say. Ilana is amazing. I can’t express how grateful I am for her help. We had a very reactive dog who was biting and out of control. We were thinking of giving him up. Thanks to Ilana we have another chance with our dog. Ilana is also one of the most kind hearted people I have ever met. She was available whenever we needed help night or day. I have a son with special needs and Ilana immediately put my sons safety first. I am in awe of her. 5 million stars. Thank you Ilana. You are amazing.

I live in a condo, and taking my senior sweet girl out in the middle of the night is next to impossible with a sleeping baby beside me. Who can relate ? I contacted Basil’s K9s after Ilana came highly recommended to me by a neighbour that raved on about how she helped her little Chihuahua stop barking inside the condo. I had a free telephone consultation and discussed training Layla to to “pee” on command. I was impressed with how friendly and welcoming Ilana was, and the phone call put me at ease learning there was a solution to my problem. During our training sessions Ilana was very patient with Layla. At the tender age of 14, I was worried that she wouldn’t be responsive and as a Yorkie / Cairn mix Layla can be somewhat sassy at times! Layla instantly took a liking to Ilana and in a few sessions Layla was actually able to “pee” and “poop” when asked to! This has been incredibly helpful to help balance her potty break schedule with the times I put my baby to sleep. Ilana was patient, gentle, and made me laugh and enjoy the training process. She sent follow up notes and was available anytime I had a question with a quick text! I highly recommend Basil’s K9s for your training needs. Even if your pup is an old gal like mine.

Ilana at Basils K9s absolutely changed our relationship with our dog. Tank our 2 year old Rottie, was agressive and reactive at the sight of any other dogs or animals, and was a crazy puller, pulling so hard that I wouldn't allow my mother to walk him as he can potentially dislocate her shoulder weighing more than she does! This was becoming a major problem as I travel frequently for business, and need to leave him in the care of my mom. Tank is a strong willed and intelligent dog, and this coupled with pretty substantial leash reactivity made it impossible to walk on leash anywhere without him losing control and becoming overwhelmed and reactive. After trying two separate failed local training programs, I did a great deal of research online, and thankfully found Will Atherton on YouTube. As a behaviourist his balanced approach to helping dogs was very refreshing to learn about. I immediately contacted him in the United Kingdom to see if he offers virtual training sessions, and was very excited to be directed to Ilana, one of his local trainers right here in the Toronto area. She uses all of his training methods and is incredilbe! Ilana absolutely cracked the code with Tank. After booking a package of sessions with Basils K9s, Tank walks perfectly by my side on a loose leash and is always calm and well behaved. No more pulling me, in fact he mostly ignores other dogs and is focused on me when we are out together. The best part is since he is no longer jumping, barking, or showing any signs of aggression or reactivity towards others, my mom is even able to walk him which we thought would never be possible! We are able to take him to the local Home Depot and Winners stores, haha my mom totally loves this as it brings her so much joy to have this sweet Rotweiller boy so well behaved in public! Ilana is very knowledgeable, loves what she does, is so kind and has a lot of patience. Tank is always happy to see her. You will not regret booking Basils's K9s. I wish I had contacted them sooner.

Basil's K9s worked marvels. Ilana is a great human and she was very open and non judgemental when coming to our house. At first I was almost embarrassed to say I needed help training (I'm sure you can relate), but boy was I wrong. The two dogs we currently have being trained are 3 year old American Bulldog Siblings Max and Tasha. Max could never be walked without a lead and he still pulled like crazy no matter what we tried. To the point that only my husband, a 6’3 male could walk him. Now I don’t even need to hold a leash. I can put it in my pocket, leave it drag, whatever I please. Fabulous! With Ilana's help, I can now take Max on walks by myself or have both Tasha and Max walking with me together on a loose leash by my side. Recall training has been amazing. Being able to let my Tasha wander (closely) on our walks is an incredible change. A simple “Tasha here” and she is on her way. Bonus to these obedience training sessions, is that it has improved our pups overall manners and now that they listen to us, we are able to take great photos of them finally! We worked on visitor training as well. Max loved to jump, go crazy, and throw himself when visitors came to the door. Tasha is smaller but she was a total copycat and if her brother was jumping then so was she. We coudn't have visitors at the front door with the dogs inside the house. We also always had the “stay get back, get back” struggle to let people in, have parcels delivered, or for us to leave the home. This is not a problem anymore, at all. Max and Tasha will look at you when you visit but until you acknowledge them, they know to sit and stay. Overall, I would recommend calling Basil's K9s for any dog issues you may be having. Ilana is very knowledgeable, professional, and does an amazing job. We can’t thank her enough for what she has taught us and how much calmer and happier Max and Tasha are! A++

I met Ilana while walking my Doberman Pincher at our favourite park, Samuel Smith. Her dog Basil was so friendly, approachable and well behaved, that I just couldn’t resist asking where he goes for training. I’m very cautious with whom I speak to on our walks because my 3 year old Chuichui was viciously attacked and bitten by a Rottweiler just over a year ago. We were minding our own business walking on leash when the Rottweiler came out of nowhere charging towards Chuichui. She was bitten badly and had to see the Vet. This made my girl very reactive around all dogs when going for walks. I NEVER want to relive this horrifying experience again and have since then taken it upon myself to enrol Chuichui in training. Well let me tell you about that terrible training experience: they took $2800 and kept my dog overnight for one week and when I came to visit her she had a fungal infection and I immediately removed her from the facility. In addition whatever happened to her over-there made her very aggressive about her food and treats. What a nightmare as Chuichui was actually worse than when we started the training. When Ilana told me that she is a Balanced Trainer under Will Atherton I was super excited because I follow him on Instagram and have watched lots of his videos on YouTube. After speaking to ilana I knew in the first 5 minutes that she was going to be perfect for Chuichui’s needs. She was very knowledgeable about training tools and has a very humane approach. Within the first hour of our training session, Chuichui was walking perfectly to heel beside me. No more pulling and no more fear or anxiety around other dogs nearby. I was totally Shocked! What Ilana accomplished in just one session was more than I got from Chuichui spending an entire week away from me with my former trainer. Also Basil’s K9s is very affordable, admittedly, I spend more money on my dogs clothing than the price of one training session with Ilana. We look forward to every session we have with Ilana and she treats us like family. I am so grateful as I can now walk Chuichui everywhere. She is calm and her reactivity towards other dogs has stopped. Thanks to Ilana’s guidance, I have developed the confidence to trust the relationship I have built with my dog. Thank you Ilana. We can’t wait to see you at our next training session!