Your Dog's Best Friend

Freddie did an amazing job training our 17 month old Hedlund husky, Theo! It was more than just obedience training, he truly seemed to communicate with our dogs. Plus, I felt like so much of what he taught us could also be applied to raising our kids! We highly recommend him to anyone!

We reached out to YDBF after traditional group training wasn’t helping us meet our sensitive/reactive dog’s needs. We were matched with Freddie, and after just 2 sessions we are communicating with both our dogs on a whole new level. He really took the time to make sure we understood each ‘game’, practiced them with us and set us all up for success. Freddie teaches from a place of deep respect and understanding of dogs and their relationship with their people, it was a wonderful experience! We now know how to better communicate with our sensitive pup, and she is a more confident dog.

I hired, Freddie, from YDBF for a private session with my dog. My dog was struggling with being reactive toward other dogs and people both in my apartment building and outside of it. This behavior was unique to my apartment building. Freddie helped me to understand the potential origins of my dog's behavior. The approach felt more therapeutic and attachment based. He supported me in working on my communication with my dog so both her and I felt confident. The approach was not obedience/fear based and worked on building on the relationship/trust that my dog and I already have. I highly recommend!

Freddie helped our two little pups so much in just 2 sessions. I can already see our communication with them getting so strong with the games and tools he shared with us. He gave us exactly what we were looking for in helping our dogs become confident and less reactive inside and outside the house. We found that our natural instincts and reactions were reinforcing their behavior in a way. It was great to have someone help us who was so knowledgeable and really broke down the why behind everything we were doing during the sessions. If you are looking for someone to help you from a non-judgemental, respectful and caring place then do not look any further.

We have a 70 pound 2 & 1/2 year old Happy golden retriever and had been looking for dog training that could address her excitable behavior. We have been to several different classes & trainers, in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and she has learned all the basics, but still very excitable with different triggers. We desperately needed her to simply be calm in different situations. But today we found the solution from a trainer at Your Dogs Best Friend"

The sessions we had with Freddie were a game changer for our pup, AND our whole family. I highly encourage seeking his eye-opening, and heart-opening expertise. We resigned ourselves long ago that our 8-year-old pitty beagle, an affectionate sensitive people-pleaser who turned this cat family into crazy dog lovers, just didn't do well around other dogs.We adopted her when she was 2, took obedience classes and leash-walking and reactive dog classes, and learned to manage fairly well, but chalked up her persistent anxiety to her nature and/or the experiences she had, or did not have, as a puppy. I hated that we always had to leave G at home because she'd bark and lunge and generally flip - often just at the sight of another dog. I left dog-walking up to my husband because it was such a chore. Long story short, Freddie coached us on how to see things through her eyes and how to show her she can trust us to keep her and her pack safe. It's been less than two months and so much has changed! We've taken her on picnics, she's met (butt sniff exchange) dogs around the neighborhood, my husband and I compete for dog walking time because it's pleasant now AND . . . we rescued another pup! (Freddie was here for the intro and helped us get that off to a great start!) The fact that she is an easier dog to have around is great, but secondary to the fact that G's life is fuller and less stressed. I take the rescue" in "rescue dog" very seriously. These guys have been through the wringer in their early days

We worked with Freddie on issues surrounding our Boxer puppy’s nipping and being rough with my small children. Two sessions with him were absolutely transformative, helping me understand what my puppy was thinking and how to better communicate with her in ways she would understand. The issues with my kids stopped and we were also able to work on other big things, like leash walking, crating and overall limits and thresholds. Freddie explained and demonstrated the concepts, had fun games for teaching them and also seemed to celebrate my dog’s energy instead of finding it a drawback. I would highly highly recommend sessions with him, especially families with children who have brought a new dog home.

Our dog Rydell has been completely transformed since working with Adam and Neil! Even our friends and family have noticed a difference! They worked hard to understand her unique personality and offered tailored exercises and practices to help build her confidence. We are able to have people over again and she plays super well with our neighbors dogs now! We will always recommend them to our friends!

We contacted Your Dog's Best Friend for help with our dog's storm anxiety. Freddie worked with us to understand our dog's behaviour and how to communicate with him in a way he understands. Our dog is learning to be less anxious with storms and we feel that we have the tools we need to help him feel more confident. We've found that the techniques we learned have transferred over to other areas as well - leash reactivity and greeting visitors at the door. I highly recommend YDBF and Freddie!

We are working with Dustin for our puppy Brynns resource guarding and reaction to dogs that she has on walks. She is a cattle dog German shepherd mix with lots of energy and also loves to roughhouse with her dog siblings. The technique he taught us helps in so many scenarios and he is always super responsive to a text or an email if a question is asked. We have seen a huge improvement in her behavior since we started working with him. She is able to be calm and patient for a lot of things. It’s nice to know we have someone who we can reach out to if we need some tips. Although the technique covers a lot of issues. We thought we would definitely need the board and train but he was able to teach us a lot that we feel confident handling her. She learned to greet dogs in a calm manner as well. Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask for help if you are having trouble. Thanks Dustin from Brynn and family!