Garvin's Divine Dog Training

We had an hour long video consultation with Karyn. So easy and very thorough. We were able to use the laptop camera to show her our home and she pointed out some spots we never thought of to create a safe and contained place for our two dogs. Her wholistic approach was very appreciated and helped us understand how giving our dogs more freedom while nurturing their spirits with benevolent authority will create the calm family environment we crave. We felt much more capable and confident after the appointment. So refreshing compared all the other popular methods being promoted these days. Very happy with her service!

Training with Karyn has been confidence building for me……and it has made sense to my pup!! I’m an older adult with a large, extremely excitable/energetic Doodle who can knock me over in an instant with her enthusiasm! I’m realizing that using different collars with her (in my dogs case, a head halter), possibly till she is a much older dog, works well for BOTH of us! We can now have such fun AND safe walks and pay attention to other important aspects of her training that Karyn is helping me with. Friends can’t believe how calm our walks are now! I even savored a cup of coffee during our 2 miles this AM……and not a drop on either of us!!

I was almost ready to surrender my puppy till Karen helped me to realize that I held the key to her comfort. I switched my complaining and comparing her to my dog who had passed, to feelings of love and acceptance. She changed over night when I made her part of the family. I showed her I cared about her with my words, actions and a more varied diet. While she is still a puppy and has a puppy brain, she can feel my heart open to her and we are so much better, I would not have understood what I was doing without Karen.

We thought we knew dogs, having raised them for years. But when our daughter’s job took her to a big city with a small apartment, we found ourselves struggling after adopting her dog. He’s always been a great with us, but he was getting more and more aggressive with our neighbors and other dogs we would meet on walks or when people would come over. He’s a rescue and DNA testing revealed pit, boxer and rottweiler in him. After a few close run-ins, we were at a loss on how to handle him and always anxious when we’d take him out. We decided we needed professional help. Met one trainer who came to our house, charged us $200 to basically give us a sales pitch and didn’t even bother to meet our dog - we knew he hasn’t the guy. Fortunately, we found Karen’s number and had a good feeling when we talked over the phone. We had a follow-up in-person intro session and knew soon into that lesson she was the one for us so we signed up for a 10 session plan. And we are so glad we did. It’s truly remarkable what she taught our dog and perhaps just as much, us. She always had well-thought out lesson plans that she would adapt to focus on our areas of concern. She took a holistic approach and spent a lot of time discussing tools & strategies with us that were perhaps just as helpful as the specific obedience training she did with the dog. She was always caring and humane, but also pragmatic and focused on results. By the end of the sessions, we were able to take him to the pet store where he was well-behaved around other dogs there. That was something I didn’t think would ever be possible with him. Of course, he’s still a big, intimidating dog. He’s not a golden retriever, we still need to pay attention with him. But now we feel like we have what we need to avoid or de-escalate situations that before would have blown up on us. For “graduation”, we did an outdoor hike with some big male dogs he just met. It was wonderful to see him able to enjoy the walk and be around other dogs without his hair constantly standing up or barking ferociously. Karen really knows what she’s doing. We’re so grateful she was able to help us get to a much better place with our dog. - TJ