Animal Minds Behavior & Training

Susan has been working with my two newest rescues, a 1 year old Australian cattle-​dog/​pit-​bull mix, and a 4 year old Saint Bernard. In addition to my senior hound mix, I now have a stubborn «teenager» and a large breed «delicate flower» who is still finding his personality. Walks were exhausting and full of anxiety over interactions with other dogs. Dog parks became a thing of the past, and my family refused to come to my home until I got the jumping and barking under control. Susan evaluated the situation right away and decided on the best training plan for us. The changes have been wonderfully positive! Walks are more disciplined and peaceful, and unwanted behaviors are corrected easily and without frustration. I’m learning so much about their individual personalities, as well as breed-​specific traits. I’m becoming more confident and consistent when addressing my dogs’ unwanted behaviors and in turn, they are more calm and better behaved. If you have dogs with challenging behaviors, or if you just need a refresher, you really need to call Susan and Terra! They are the best!

Terra has been an amazing trainer for my border collie/​Australian shepard mix Willow. I called Animal Minds at the end of my rope with my crazy puppy. I was very happy with how quickly I was gotten back to and put on the schedule for an evaluation. After the evaluation with Terra and Suzi I immediately signed up for in home training sessions. I am very happy to say that after five sessions with the very knowledgeable Terra my completely out of control puppy now has manners, knows basic commands, and is no longer on my last nerve. :) I would definitely recommend Animal Minds to anyone!

Suzy and Terra are AMAZING and intuitive trainers. I cannot say enough good things about Animal Minds! We first met Suzy when she was working at another training facility. When she left to start her own business with Terra, we were very disappointed. We stayed at that first facility for a while and gave it a good effort after Suzy left, but it became clear that none of the other trainers that we tried out could fill her shoes. We missed Suzy’s clear instructions, responsiveness, natural intuition, and her deep knowledge of animal behavior and incredible experience with a variety of training strategies. We also missed Suzy’s ability to problem-​solve and the fact that her training is highly individualized and NOT «one size fits all.» Suzy and Terra genuinely care about the success and well being of both my dog AND my husband and I as a team. Needless to say, we ended up leaving our original training facility to follow Suzy and Terra to Animal Minds. They have trained my German Shepherd dog so well that he is now doing therapy work with special needs children in both clinic and school settings. They continue to find new, creative ways to challenge him and socialize him in a variety of settings and environmental distractions. In addition to one-​on-​one training (in the community or at our home), they also offer group classes once a month, each time in a new public setting. We look forward to these group classes for «distraction training» which have been extremely beneficial for generalizing our dog’s skills to real-​life situations. As dog owners, we want our dog’s training to be effective across a variety of settings so that we can include our dog in our weekend outings and enjoy spending time together (whether hanging out at home, going to the pet store, going to the park, going for walks, attending festivals and events, visiting the houses of friends and family members, etc), and Suzy and Terra’s strategies make sure that our dog’s training is effective no matter where we go. Thanks to the training and experiences provided by Suzy and Terra, we have met our training goals and will continue to develop new challenges and opportunities together to continue to challenge our dog. With Suzy and Terra, training is a fun, bonding time for our family that we all look forward to (including our pup!), and it continues to strengthen our bond and keep our dog active and engaged (both physically and mentally). We are VERY happy customers!

I love love Terra! Her love for animals and dedication to her trainees is apparent and genuine. Animal Minds Behavior & Training will come right to your home, it’s so easy. I have all ready learned so much in our short time together and have applied it successfully. My Crasher girl is happy and listening better. :)

I met Suzy before she started Animal Minds Behavior & Training at another dog training facility. I absolutely loved the way that she handled my dog and showed me how to have him follow commands and explained to me why I was experiencing any problems. I followed her to Animal Minds and am so glad I did. She is the best trainer. Not only is she patient, kind, timely, and just an overall good person, she genuinely cares about the animals she’s working with and wants to see them do their best. She has a wealth of knowledge and she has helped me from dog stubbornness to his fascination with semi trucks. We can now take our dog almost anywhere knowing he’ll be well behaved. Thank you Suzy!

Susan is an amazing trainer and we cannot say enough about the positive changes we have seen in Elliot! Susan is patient and so thorough with her instructions, explanations and very generous with her time! We cannot thank her enough for everything she has done and for giving us the tools and confidence to continue our work with Elliot. We highly recommend her and wish her every success!

I have had nothing but positive and informative contact with both Terra and Suzy. They are professional, compassionate, and follow through with promises made. They respond to questions and issues in a timely manner, explain things in a clear and consistent manner, and continue to help address issues as they arise. My 10 month old lab likes to do the typical 5 steps forward 10 steps backwards in both behavior and obedience-​they have been spectacular in helping me through my frustrations and to continue working with him so he can be what I want and need.

If you want a great perspective on training this is the place to get it. Suzy is extremely knowledgeable on all dog behavior matters. My dog and I have learned so much about obedience and sports activities with Suzy’s guidance. I always look forward to the weekend group outings. It’s a great way to interact and practice good obedience in realistic public settings. Thanks Suzy for all your help.

Suzy is so talented at what she does! It becomes very evident when meeting her that she not only has a vested interest in training your animal (in our case, our sweet Bella a German Shepherd Dog) but in YOU as a person. She is not a ‘quick fix’ type person. She takes the time to understand your needs and sets up realistic, attainable goals to help you set up an action plan to get to that level. She is understanding and KIND to the animals. Truly loving them and never using unnecessary force to make the animal understand her requests. We love Suzy and Animal Minds!