“My wife and I started working with Tracy after adopting our puppy Georgie – our training
started around his 12-week mark. He’s a Golden-Doodle, and it became clear early on that his
personality, intelligence, energy level and puppy-like ‘nibble’ reflex were going to take some
work in order to ensure good, healthy interaction with humans and other dogs. We were
referred to Tracy by a friend, and we’re SO glad our paths crossed when they did.

Georgie has thrived from his training, and my wife and I have become much more attuned to
his signals, his moods, his needs and how to assimilate him into our household, allow for guests
and activities, and even bring him on trips, restaurant and beach outings, have him respect our
commands (and play nicely) off-leash at the dog park, etc…

Tracy’s help has continued to be immensely helpful as our family has begun to grow. Georgie
was our first ‘baby’ and, when we discovered we were expecting our first human child (a baby
girl) we were slightly worried because we knew that is often a lot for a dog to adjust to –
especially one who tends to be active, anxious and very much needs clear definitions of roles in
the ‘pack’. Additionally, we had spoken to several friends who had to unfortunately rehouse
their dogs as the result of having children – we love Georgie very much and the thought of that
was simply heartbreaking.

So with that said, we were proactive, set up some training sessions during our pregnancy and
also once our daughter was born, followed the recommendations for how to prepare Georgie
for her arrival, how to introduce the two of them and how to set clear boundaries for his
interaction with her, and he has turned into the sweetest, most caring big brother we ever
could have hoped for.

Needless to say, we highly recommend Tracy for all your training needs. She fully understands
what a dog needs in order to be a well behaved and happy member of your family, and she will
work to help you understand also.”

“Tracy entered our lives when we adopted Juliet, our German Shepherd mix. She was 3-4 years old at the time with an unknown social situation, having come to a shelter pregnant and having 13 puppies soon after arrival. We immediately saw issues regarding anxiety and abandonment and were unsure how to best help her. Tracy was calm and reassuring on our initial phone call and immediately put us at ease. She visited our home soon after, and gave us many ideas and exercises to implement. Over the course of subsequent visits, she recognized new challenges and always had more than one way to practice new behaviors-with us as dog parents because by this time Juliet was better trained than we were! Tracy obviously understands the challenges of an older rescue dog. She educated us on the canine mindset and was excellent at communicating good boundaries and expectations for a family dog to us. We continue to have her come over and work with us when issues arise. We highly recommend Tracy and her wide set of skills with animals.”

“We came to Tracy just after adopting our Treeing Walker Coonhound, Chester. He was around 1.5 to 2 years old and pretty freaked out after being in the shelter system for about six weeks. He was very anxious, completely untrained and had separation anxiety. Tracy brought patience and compassion, along with many years experience working with dogs in similar situations. Her approach really threaded the needle between discipline and patience and love. And what we have now is a very well mannered and exceptionally well trained dog, with no separation anxiety. We’re so grateful to her and are also aware that during the process, she was training us too. And we tried to be good pupils! ”

“We adopted four-year-old Karma from the Ojai Humane Society, and we quickly began working with Tracy to establish good routines with our new dog. Karma has a loyal, sweet heart, but she was nervous and aggressive towards other dogs and people. All four family members worked with Tracy, who always arrived on time with positive energy, plenty of treats, and wise insight. She has many different tools and techniques that she utilizes to help you find what works best with your dog. Additionally, she helped us see the world through our dog’s eyes. She worked with us from the small things (like going out the door ahead of the dog) to the big (like introducing her successfully to other dogs) to help us and Karma gain confidence and integrate her into our family. ”

“Finding Tracy was the best thing I could have ever done for my dog Gracee. Gracee is a “Potcake” from the Turks and Caicos Islands. I rescued her when she was 11 weeks old and brought her back to California to have a better life. At that time, Gracee was afraid of her own shadow. She had never been socialized and lived in the wild up until the time she was captured and prepared for adoption. Disliking humans and other dogs is an understatement, and I honestly felt that she would never warm up to me or anyone else for that matter. Once we began training with Tracy, I finally felt hopeful. Tracy taught me to have patience with Gracee and to take things much slower than one would with a domestic puppy, which really helped a lot. Her kindness and understanding of this “different” dog was just what Gracee needed. After a few months of working with us, I had the confidence to continue on with helping Gracee become more adjusted and subsequently, a very happy pup. She has now turned one and enjoys people, walks on the beach, and she always has a smile on her face. Thank you, Tracy Vail, for everything you’ve done for both of us!!”

“I had reached out to Tracy in the Fall of 2019 when I was ready to begin looking for a rescue dog. She encouraged me to be very clear on the lifestyle I live, the home environment I have and any other preferences, from the beginning. I knew I wanted a smaller-medium sized female, not a puppy, and one that would be a good companion for my semi-active lifestyle of walking, running and hiking.

A couple weeks passed where I visited the shelter frequently and finally saw the first dog I felt like I had a connection with. Tracy scheduled a time for me to meet her and I was sure she was going to be the one. However, once we got to bring her to the play area, I realized she would be way more work than I was going to be able to provide. I felt awful, but Tracy was so patient and really encouraged me to continue to be open and honest so we could find the best dog. It felt great to not have pressure to adopt the first dog I visited with if she wasn’t going to be a good fit.

As I wandered through the shelter to see if there were any other dogs I could meet, I saw her. A black dog who just calmly looked at me, and I said “Who’s that? I didn’t notice her before.” Tracy led us to the play area and I knew I had found my dog. Luna was the dog I had been patiently waiting for. However, I’d have to be patient a while longer. Luna was around a year old and rescued from a shelter up north. She was found lactating from having puppies, but we are not sure where her puppies went. Because she was still healing from this experience, I had to wait a couple weeks until she could be neutered and cleared to come home. I visited her weekly in the shelter and was so excited when I finally got the call to be able to bring her home.

Luna and I continued working with Tracy for training and I really learned to have more confidence in being a person who could train a dog. Tracy is so patient and very clear in explaining why “this” works like “this”. She understands dogs more than anyone I have ever met and this makes me feel so confident in putting her suggestions into action. Not only has Luna learned a lot, I have also learned a lot about myself. While Luna still loves chasing squirrels and birds, I have learned other methods to create structure for the benefit of us both.

It has been 7 months with Luna and I am so thrilled to have found the dog that was meant for me. While training is continuous, beyond meeting with Tracy, I see the value in the work. I am so grateful for Tracy’s guidance, patience and continued dedication to helping me have the best relationship with Luna that I can.

I look forward to continuing to work with Tracy to help Luna and I build a relationship that will be so meaningful to us both for years to come.

Thank you, Tracy! I am so grateful for everything.
”

“So happy to have found Tracy!

Several months ago we adopted a sweet 11-month-old German Shepherd named Sophie. She had already lived in several homes, which deprived her of consistent training. She is adorable in almost every way, except for her aggression towards other dogs. Since we stay in RV parks for every vacation, a friendly dog is essential.

Tracy met with us several times, and was able to initiate better behavior for Sophie, and also to teach us to be effective trainers so we could effectively continue the work she started. Tracy was everything we hoped for in a dog trainer – calm, patient, perceptive, knowledgeable, reassuring – and completely honest when discussing our expectations for Sophie’s behavior.

Sophie is now enrolled in doggy day care several days a week, where she very much enjoys playing with her peers and had no more “time outs” than any other dog in her group!”

“Oh my gosh! We can’t say enough about Tracy Vail and her positive training techniques. She has worked miracles on our dog Rufus. Tracy is so knowledgeable about how to deal with bad behaviors and really gives the pet owners the skills to train their dogs. She makes the lessons fun and tries to involve the whole family. We love playing hide and seek with Rufus!

Tracy come armed with different kinds of leashes, collars and treats that really help give a new dog owner an idea of the tools available to help successfully train their dog. She listens to the client and understands their needs and is quick to answer emails.

 Tracy has always been readily available to help us with any concerns that have arisen in the training of our puppy.
We can’t recommend her enough!”

“  We recently added a new addition to our family, a sweet and handsome boxer puppy named Koa Mac. We needed help training this extremely smart and stubborn young pup. More importantly my 5 year old, my hubby and I needed to be schooled in doggie language. My niece referred us to Tracy and she is the local dog whisperer! If you would like to get rid of your 4 legged companion’s bad habits in ONE session give Tracy a call.  

  Tracy was very professional showing up on time with an enthusiastic and friendly attitude. Koa immediately took to her and was very agreeable to the training. Tracy has extensive knowledge that she shared with us, not only on training but the tools and doggie gear we would need for life to become much more easier on us! As well as awesome recommendations for doggie day care, websites to order supplies and local pet shops.

  Tracy was hands on, showing us commands, leash techniques and crate training. She let us try on our own and gave us helpful tips. She had a way of explaining to our 5 year old and gave us links to videos for her to watch. The videos are kid friendly with songs/characters and our daughter loves them.

By the time Tracy left Koa was a new pup. He was calm and more receptive to us. We have continued to incorporate what we learned from Tracy each and every day.  Tracy had an incredible impact on our family and we cannot thank you enough for your hard work and dedication.  ”

“I adopted a Boston terrier from a person who could not care for her. It was a rough road from the start. I tried to better her manners, her habits, and her aggression towards other dogs. She is a beautiful dog and loves people of all ages. She is a dog who will sleep with you all day, but all that changes when she sees another dog. She would literally go crazy.

Tracy came to help me. In a couple visits she had better manners. From there I could see Tracy is an amazing, patient, and calm trainer. My dog responded to her almost immediately.

I recommend Tracy without hesitation. You and your dog are in the most capable hands with her.
I will always carry gratitude in my heart for my canine messenger.”

“They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks—but Tracy Vail can! She worked wonders with both of my dogs, one of whom is 5 and the other is 14. The five-year-old is a rescue who is lovable, but has a few issues. Tracy helped us with conquer her separation anxiety and overly-protective nature, which made it difficult to have visitors to the house. We learned ways to manage the dog so that she behaves on her walks and is less stressed about sharing us with friends. The older dog, who is also a rescue, had occasional times where he misbehaved; I thought he was just senile in his old age, but Tracy showed us how to correct some bad habits. I highly recommend Tracy, and will call her immediately when I get my next dog so that we can start off on the right foot, or paw!”

“After many months of searching for a rescue dog to become part of our family, my husband and I went to the Ojai Humane Society to take a look. Sitting in one of the fenced-in enclosures was a young, and very little, black and white terrier mix with a wagging tail and playful eyes. We loved her immediately. That is the same day we met Enforcement Officer Tracy Vail. Tracy happened to be the officer who rescued this puppy from a very bad living situation. We wanted to adopt this dog right away, and Tracy felt comfortable in giving us her blessing and approval. So, on a cool winter morning we picked up our little girl named Haylie and brought her home.

In a flash we learned that Haylie needed a lot of training of basic commands, walking on a leash, refraining from jumping on our legs, and socialization skills with both people and other dogs. We hired Tracy to help us with Haylie’s training.

Tracy came to our home and spent a good deal of quality time going over all of our concerns. We had hands-on training right away with the leash, and could see improvement in Haylie’s demeanor almost immediately. Tracy was very professional and skilled with handling our little dog and taught us tips to further Haylie’s adaption to her new environment. She answered all of our questions with clarity. She even showed us some games we could play with our dog to challenge her curiosity and natural abilities, and at the same time keep it fun.

Tracy was certainly the perfect person to start us out right with our new dog. She is very intuitive and canine savvy, and applies her skills in a gentle manner, but with leadership. As a result of Tracy’s training, I see so much positive growth in our dog from walking on a leash to behaving and not pushing boundaries. We are very happy with Tracy’s service and would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone who wants to enrich their relationship with their canine friends.
”