Tell A Tail Dog Training

I started taking K9 Nose Work classes from Sarah and Wendy a year ago. Yesterday, my little Norwich Terrier, affectionately known as «The Hamster,» passed her ORT (odor recognition test) for all three odors, and is now eligible to compete for Level 1 titles.
I’ve never competed in any dog sport before, but nose work is so much fun, for both dog and handler. Wendy and all the instructors at Tell a Tail are so gentle, supportive, and good at what they do, that all the dogs succeed and have a great time doing so. Nose work is a sport open to all dogs — purebreds, mutts, seniors, dogs with physical disabilities, shy dogs, reactive dogs, and more. It’s been wonderful to see how much fun they all have, and how dogs with problems just blossom in this environment.
I couldn’t recommend Wendy and Tell a Tail more highly. Wonderful, knowledgeable people in a warm and caring, yet completely professional, environment.

K-​9 Nose Work is fun and totally different from regular training classes. Whether you’re serious about competition, have a dog with issues or want something new and unique; this is a cool class with cool dogs! Have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and so had Galileo, my 1 year old Newf. Will continue class ~

Bean graduated the puppy class a few months ago! I found this place thanks to Unilocal and had a great experience.
Wendy had a lot of helpful info in socializing my shy chi, as well as helping her learn basic commands. I actually looked froward to going to class because I could tell the great progress Bean and I were making.
Pepe is next in line for training!

Fantastic dog class. I spent plenty of time surfing the internet to find just the right class for my new dog. Tell a Tail’s Family Dog class was just what we needed! Wendy and her colleagues use the latest and best positive training approaches. They are warm, friendly, and knowledgable. There were a mix of dogs and behaviors in the class (from small to large dogs, shy dogs, aggressive dogs, barking dogs, jumping dogs, etc.). We all learned the basics and had plenty of time for questions and discussions about our unique dog issues. When my dog started displaying some aggressive/​resource guarding behaviors (on top of many other issues), I became a bit panicky and overwhelmed. My husband suggested we might consider giving the dog back to the shelter or finding another home for him. Instead, we consulted with Wendy. She gave us additional tips, suggested some books, a dvd, and recommended an individual dog trainer. She was calm and understanding through what was a very difficult and emotional time for us. Last night was our last class and what a difference we’ve seen in just over a month! Our dog is doing much better and we feel confident that we can continue to work with him and see improvements. We also have a stronger relationship with our dog — who actually enjoys practicing his new skills. I highly recommend Tell a Tail’s classes.

I highly recommend Wendy. She is wonderful. I took Family Dog II with her and she was so great at addressing the individual needs of each dog even though it was a group class. She is great at explaining things and has really good helpful hints and tricks for day to day issues. Great place for positive dog training (which in my opinion is the only way to train a dog!)

Wendy is hands down the best trainer I’ve ever worked with when I lived in the tri-​valley. I took her puppy kindergarten class years ago, but I still remember how great her class was. She offers excellent positive reinforcement clicker training and practical techniques for problem resolution. Her golden retrievers were excellent «assistants.» I’ve taken other «positive» reinforcement classes closer to where I live now, but nothing ever quite compared!

Caleb and I LOVE Wendy’s Nose Work class! We’ve taken a few sessions of Nose work classes now and we will definitely keep coming back for more.
Nose work is an anti-​obedience class. You’re not teaching your dog to follow your commands, you’re strengthening your dogs already inherent desire to hunt then shaping it so that he learns to find specific odors. Once you have that foundation built, you add all sorts of fun distractions, locations changes, and blind hides to really make you and your dog work together!
Wendy is a wonderful dog trainer, as well as people trainer. If you think about it, dogs already know how to use their nose to find something they want, Wendy just uses positive reinforcement (lots and lots of delicious treats) to teach the dog to key into certain odors. Training the owners to be good handlers, however, is something completely different. Lucky for us, Wendy is just as good at training people as she is dogs! We’re inevitably slower than the dogs most of the time, but her patience and good sense of humor, and the ease with which she is able to convey such difficult concepts as ‘Stop talking to your dog and let him work it out for himself’ (Truly much harder than it sounds, I promise you) makes her a joy to learn from and I look forward to many, many more classes with her!

We took Wendy’s Perfect Puppy class with our Lab Daisy and it was such a positive experience. Wendy is a great dog trainer and instructor. She keeps the classes small and gives plenty of time for one on one questions. All her training is done through positive reinforcement which is so important for us as owners to learn. She keeps the class rolling and focused. At the end of each class we had puppy play time at this point we as owners relax and let the little ones go free but Wendy keeps an eye on each pup and watches their behaviors closely. She matched the pups up to their playing style and slowly through each class brought them all together. We had a lot of fun at the classes. Wendy is good humored, focused, very professional and knowledgeable… oh and always smiling ;) We are going to be taking her Family Dog 2 and Intro to Nose Work… We are fortunate to have found Tell a Tail Dog Training.
Dave, Liza and Daisy

My husband and I adopted a fearful/​timid dog from the humane society. We took Wendy’s Family Dog class and I am currently taking the Agility for Fun class. Both classes have helped Abby to be more brave and successful. Wendy doesn’t advocate using negative punishment, but instead uses positive reinforcement, clicker training, etc. Abby has responded in a positive way to the training and she is becoming less fearful. Next, I plan to take Wendy’s Nose Work class and I think it will also be a great class.

Wendy is great instructor and very easy to work with. You and your dog will learn useful stuff that can be applied in real world situations. She teaches positive training which is a plus.

Wendy will teach you how to positively work with your dog, and love working with your dog. She just naturally gets to the root of an issue by observation and comes up with solutions. I have attended a variety of her classes with my own dogs, and also hired her for private instruction. I am a professional petsitter and I recommend her to my friends and clients who also have had dogs in her classes or have hired her privately.
Leisa
Pleasanton Petsitting

We took our Australian Shepherd to Wendy when we first got her. The poor girl was scared of everything as she’d been locked in a garage for a year and then dumped at the shelter. She was rescued by NorCal Aussie Rescue and we adopted her from there. Wendy was wonderful with her and understood her issues. We received great direction on handling her problems and getting her socialized. I would (and do) highly recommend anyone who gets a puppy or new dog to the household to take her puppy socialization class or family dog class. It’ll make all the difference both to you and to your furry friends.

I recently completed the Family Dog I class with Wendy, and it was great. She is so knowledgeable, and it really shows — she brought her dogs to class and it was fascinating to see how well trained they were, yet very happy at the same time. Wendy focuses on positive reinforcement, which is exactly what I was looking for in a training instructor. All of the training guidance and tips were positive, and I didn’t have to worry about hurting my dog like I would have with other trainers. She spent time with each individual in the class and addressed behavior problems that the different dogs were facing — it was more than just a simple class about teaching the dog to sit.
I would definitely take another class with Wendy. I learned a lot and the class definitely helped me bond more with my dog. I just wish she was closer to where I live!

My puppy just graduated from Wendy’s «Perfect Puppies» class. I have taken a puppy class before, but NOT like this. The classes are small so there is plenty of indivdualized instruction and a great balance of discussion, practice and playtime for the puppies. The outdoor training area is great!
Wendy not only has a great love of dogs, she really understands them and how they differ slightly from breed to breed and dog to dog. Wendy is an amazing trainer, but also a great instructor. She made herself available for questions and answered email questions while I was training at home.
I would HIGHLY recommend this class to anyone. Whether you have a troubled dog, a new pup or just want to teach your old dog new tricks! She is great. My family will be taking many more classes with Wendy!

We were in desperate need of help, as Oola has taken to running out the front door at my sister-in-law’s place, which puts her at risk of being run over and puts everybody else at risk of being harmed as they chase her. We have done training before, but this is a specific issue we needed to address, so we looked around and found Wendy’s website, and read the Unilocal review. She was responsive to my calls and we set up a training date. During the call to set up the training, she made clear she uses positive reward training, which is what we wanted. We don’t believe in yelling at the dog or shocking her and freaking her out.
We had the training at my sister in laws, because that’s where the problem happens, and also so my SIL could get in on how to fix the problem. Wendy was gentle, funny, pleasant, and most of all, knew her stuff. She put together a plan that we can follow, and sent a written report to my email, with all the steps, so we can remember what we are supposed to do. She spent almost 2 hours with us, longer than we expected. She’s also a lot of fun and that makes the experience much more enjoyable for the dog and humans.
I recommend Wendy if your dog has a problem behavior that needs some work. Some of it is training the human, and Wendy’s good natured approach goes a long way in accomplishing that, and some of it is training the dog, and she knows how to give the tools to do that. Wendy is a great dog trainer.

Wendy the dog trainer at Tell-​a-​Tail training has taught us so much about training our dog — I’m not sure who has changed more … us or our dog! We’ve really enjoyed working with her and find her to have very creative and innovative ideas for working through issues with our dog. For example, our dog had some issues with distraction by other doggies. Wendy actually had some of her other clients (and their doggies) overlap their sessions with ours so that we could use them in our sessions to practice doggie-​distraction strategies.
In addition, Wendy has made a point to discern the best manner in which to engage our special needs child into the training process so as to facilitate a strong bond between the two of them.
I especially appreciate the fact that Wendy takes a very intellectual (yet practical) approach to training, applying what is basically Skinner based psychology to motivate our dog. It’s been extremely effective for us and the result is that we now have a wonderful companion animal.
I really didn’t know what to expect when we started to work with Wendy — we’ve never worked with animal trainers before — but we’ve been incredibly impressed with her professionalism (frankly, I REALLY didn’t expect that from someone who trains animals) and her commitment to her clients. She regularly reaches out to us just to check in to see how things are going and she makes herself very available for advice and problem solving. It’s been a really nice surprise to get such extraordinary customer service.
Wendy also teaches group classes through Pleasanton and Livermore parks and rec depts and I’ve enjoyed those classes as much as our private sessions. She approaches all «dog problems» analytically and will tirelessly work with you until a solution is discovered. She is well versed in several training modalities including clicker training and she will only use positive reinforcement training methods. (LOVE THAT! If you beat on or yell at your mutt, these classes are NOT for you!) She’s energetic and enthusiastic and I find that after each session I am completely motivated to train my dog to do ANYTHING!
If you’ve got a problem pooch or if you just want to learn how to help Fido become a well mannered animal, I would strongly recommend Wendy at Tell-​A-​Tail.