Better Way Dog Training

EXCELLENT TRAINER!!!
We recently adopted a 14 year old senior rescue maltese. We first volunteer as foster parents and fell in love with our first foster. During the first two months was adjustments for both our new senior dog and ourselves. She was an absolute darling, no aggression, no barking, nothing… just a well behaved dog. The 3^rd month she started having leash aggression and separation anxiety.
In our research, we realized that how our senior dog’s personality will begin to show itself as she got comfortable with us. So, we started looking into ways to socialize her and behavior modification training. We found Bob who held group classes that helped us worked with her leash aggression. So our dog was socializing with other dogs and learning it was safe as well as behave on leash. In every class, Bob focuses on every dog in the class and what they need work on.
Our dog has improved the very first month, so we plan on taking her to the next class to fine tune her behavior some more… Or to better put it… to train us how to work with her. What I like about Bob’s class is it is totally positive and uses reward method. We didn’t want a 14 year senior to be disciplined… so, the reward method and distraction method works perfectly for our senior girl. We highly recommend the beginning leash training class.

I went to Bob for my GSD pup starting at 10 months. At one session a dog started to attack my dog and several other dogs also joined in. There was a lack of guidance for several minutes. My pup only had some superficial marks and I had some ripped jeans, no real damage. I continued to go to Bob for about 3 more months but my dog was getting worse every session. I now have a dog that is fear aggressive and we are working with another trainer one on one but it has been 6 months and only marginal progress. The assistant (blond woman) and me didn’t get along so I dropped off. I just want to say although Bob is a good trainer, me and my dog did not have a good outcome. I felt that I should have been offered some one on one training before my dog got out of control due to the attack in class. He never showed any signs of aggression before that. We socialized him at an early age.

I was referred to Bob Gutierrez when I got my dog three years ago. We’re hooked because Bob is an amazing dog trainer and teacher of handlers. Bob’s first observations about my dog’s personality as a puppy were 100% accurate. Having worked my way up from Puppy classes to Advanced Obedience and Open, I can attest to his dedication and ability to have disparate groups of dogs all working well and harmoniously (we have everything from Yorkies to Pitbulls in the same group). Bob is assisted by very capable trainers and the fact that many professional handlers come regularly to work with Bob and have their dogs take classes says it all. The new facility on Toland where Bob holds his classes is the best and largest indoor dog training space in San Francisco which is an added plus. Bob’s class fees are both reasonable and flexible (class card system) which makes it very doable for people whose schedules shift around. Bob is the real deal and no offense to training offered by big box pet stores but it doesn’t come close to what Bob and his team offer.

We first did Bob’s training when he was at the SPCA with our last dog that we adopted from the Oakland SPCA — Bob told us our dog was a Malinois — which is an amazing breed that thrives with lots of training — he did great. After he died last October we adopted a 12 week Malinois puppy and started Bob’s puppy training right away — so did our friends who adopted her brother. Bob was super helpful with lots of puppy issues, especially on the Malinois breed since he has had several himself. We are all in Advanced training now and his methods have been great and our pups (now 8 months) have really made great progress. We have also seen other dogs in the classes make great progress.

Bob has been around dogs enough to cater to how the certain dog learn and uses it as an advantage to train that dog. I highly recommend Bob if you want your dog to be trained well. there are alot of «dog trainers» out there but not many also trains dog that does competition obedience. i think that in itself says alot.

I have a shepherd mix that I recently rescued she is 5 months old, many of my friends are dog walkers and they reffered me to Bob. I registered her as a California Companion Dog (service Dog) So I needed to enforce training and good manners. I Have not even finished the session of puppy classes and she already know sit, stay, come, drop it, take it, go to your crate, off, and down. Bob knows what he is talking about especially when it comes to working breed dogs. This class is for the human, not the dog. I practice everything he teaches me in class. Fear, agression, and anxiety are all symptoms a dog has BECAUSE of its OWNER and the way he/​she treats the dog. so it is up to you as a responsible dog owner to LISTEN TO WHAT BOB SAYS and actually ACT ON IT. your dog is not a baby, not a human its a DOG. Bob applies basic dog psychology to prevent those behaviours and rehabilitate dogs that already have them. I will take my shepherd mix to Bob for intermediate, adult and Canine Good Citizen Certification.

I have been attending Bob’s classes on and off for several years. He by far is the best trainer in and around the city. He is very knowledgeable of dogs and dog behavior. His people skills sometimes aren’t the best but he does know his dogs. I would highly recommend him.

Me and my boyfriend have our rescue pup currently enrolled in a beginning obedience course and I must say that Bob and Charles have both been great. When I first enquired of the course, Bob and I played phone tag for several days, but he always returned my calls and answered all questions. Only after a few classes, our pup has learned quite a bit, and we can see a difference with him already on the leash. With the group classes however, the class time is only an hour per week. Bob or charles will show you the technique but it’s really up to the individual owner to spend time every day reinforcing the commands. They know their stuff, and the price is very very competitive for the Bay area. Sucks what happened to Valerie below, but I have to disagree with her opinion of what I consider to be a great service.

I agree with the first review. I went to Bob with an already well trained small dog. My problem was that she was nervous. She was scared of everything and everyone. This did not change one bit by going to him. We keep going in hopes that our 4 lb shy dog will eventually become social but it didn’t work. What did work is the fact that my boyfriend & I had her so well trained that she was the star of the class. After a few classes I ask him what his advise was. His (quite rude) suggestion was to sign her up for another 6 sessions of beginning puppy training. Clearly she did not need training, and when she as there it would make him look good when he had done nothing. I was so pissed that I left and never went back even though I had a few more pre paid, non refundable classes left.

I’m sorry for what Valerie went through, but the bottom line is, Bob is an excellent trainer and really knows dogs… especially aggressive (dog or human) dogs. He really works with each person to help cater the training to each individual dog.
My rescue german shepherd went from being dog aggressive to earning his Canine Good Citizen certificate. It took a lot of work on my part but attending Bob’s classes was instrumental in rehabilitating this dog.
I would recommend Bob to anyone but especially if you have a dog with issues.

I am so sorry for what this poor woman and her son went through. its mass hysteria about pits combined with bad timing. Yes, Bob can be curt, but he does know what he is talking about. Also, — you are in a group class! You are not paying for private instruction! And, as a group class — it is very good. I have had an encounter with SF Animal Control because of my neighbor, and judge Herndon was very fair. I went to their trainer, who was too expensive. Then, I went to Bob’s group classes. I have better control of my dog now, eventhough he is a dominant 100 lb German Shepherd, which even big guys find hard to handle. Its too bad Valerie did not have more time to train the dogs. Hope she sues the pants and shirt off the City and Child protective services for the damage they inflicted on her child.

What happened to Valerie is an absolute tragedy. The city government, the law enforcement agencies involved, and Bob somehow contributed the tragedy that was written about in the papers.
But Unilocal reviews should really focus on the business being reviewed. I started sending my dog to work on basic obedience. Bob and Charles Kramer are excellent trainers and took my dog that was de-​socialized and helped him learn some basic obedience.
Also, Bob was very good at answering my emails.
They use a lot of positive enforcement and even neutral enforcement techniques in their training and you can tell that they get dogs, and that your dog will get them.
I would recommend A Better Way Dog Training to anybody who’s adopted an adult dog that’s rough around the edges and needs some smoothing out.

I know that there are many people out there that really swear by Bob Gutierrez and his dog training. For many years, I agreed. I took my own puppy to puppy classes with Bob when he was still teaching for the SPCA. When he left halfway through the series, I thought it odd, but what did I know then? Ahhhh, naivety of youth…
Then I took a couple of my foster puppies to other puppy classes when Bob started his own business. I give him this: he is good at teaching you how to do the basics. And puppy classes are best for socializing and getting to know your dog.
So why the one star rating, you ask? Because I think that Boob G. is a money-​grubbing a-​hole that sucks as a person. I would have to search long and hard to find a moral fiber in him. FIrst of all, his customer service is crappy. He rarely answers emails or phone calls to prospective clients. And when he does, he gives short curt answers. Ok, Ok, so some people are better at relating to dogs than people… but if you have a business, you kind of have to be nice to both… after all, it’s the people who are paying the bills (unless you happen to own the real Lassie).
The above rant aside, I will relate a story about my last experience and conversation with Bob G. For many of you who know me personally, you are aware of my troubles with Animal COntol and CPS. IF not, please read the SF Chronicle article for the background on this next episode:
So I had been taking Cricket to «dog aggression classes» with Bob for about 18 monthes. Why so long? Beause these classes were a «safe» place to work on Cricket’s dog-​aggression with experienced dog handlers. I was and am still committed to working on Cricket’s issues. Hey, it is like having a kid who can’t read or swim or has emotional issues… you take classes or therapy to learn what works for that kid and sometimes you continue to take classes and therapy because they need more help than one series of classes can offer. Anyway, I have to say that Cricket did get a little better around other dogs or I got a little better handling him around dogs, but we were a «work in progress». Even Bob said we were getting better. And rememeber; dog aggression is TOTALLy different than human agression, which Cricket NEVER, ever showed. So we happily spent almost every Saturday afternnon in doggy class for a year and a half.
Then came the animal fuzz and they were leaning heavy on Cricket, you know, pitbull and all. Well, I tried to defend Cricket by saying «ask Bob G… we have been taking all these classes from him and we are working on Cricket’s dog agression». Guess what? They call Bob G. and what does he tell them about us?
«THAT WAS A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN»
Huh??? Never in my entire time at class did Bob ever, ever, ever relay any sort of sentiment like that to me… he was all happy and glad to cash every check I laid down. But he never, ever gave me any indication that he thought Cricket and I were a poor match. He not only sold us out to the animal fuzz, but he never ever told me that he was feeing that Cricket and I were a «poor match». Oh, and when I directly apporached him about this, face to face, he could not even look me in the eye…
Does that mean he was ashamed at what he said or (to me) not said? Well, I guess if he had a conscience, he could be…
Take it from me… there are a zillion dog trainers out there. Pick one that has some scruples.