Core Canine

What a wonderful experience! April was just terrific with my 17week old puppy. This was our initial session, and I think I learned almost as much as my dog! Patient, sensible, intuitive and obviously a true dog lover. She wants them to feel comfortable in OUR world, but knows there are a lot of things we can learn to facilitate the process. I will definitely ask her to come again.

I decided to look into working with a professional trainer when my abundantly energetic dog had me close to losing my mind. I could not have chosen a better person than April. She was incredibly kind and patient with him and made the whole process fun instead of stressful. Within our first session she worked with him on some basic obedience (especially «touch» and «leave it») and we did some work on leash manners. The second session was dedicated solely to walking politely on the leash.
What I loved the most about April was the fact that she also did a great job of training me! She was able to give tips and answer my never ending chain of questions. I walked away feeling like I had a better understanding of the «why» behind my pup’s behaviors as well as a strong foundation to build on.
Finally, it was so easy scheduling everything and following up with her when I had any additional questions.

My fiancé and I tried almost everything with our little one who has, to say the least, a very reactive streak. We’ve not had great experience with our previous positive reinforcement school, and in desperation found ourselves at the other end of the spectrum with another trainer using to a prong collar for her to keep her heel. It absolutely killed us to use it and decided to give positive reinforcement another shot.
Enter April, who after hearing our story quickly contacted us and expressed her desire to help. We spoke for over half an hour, but it was was immediately clear that she was genuinely invested in our success. I sounds strange, but felt like I was venting to a friend. She was stunned at some of the things past trainers taught us to do, and really empathized with us and our frustration.
So far we’ve had two sessions with her, and it’s already made a difference. I never in a million years thought that counter-​conditioning would work with our Olive, but it turns out we just needed a little more personal guidance. She’s been so generous with her time, and the homework she’s given us has been a push in the right direction. Both times that we’ve seen her, we never had the feeling that we were «on the clock», which is a very nice change. I won’t pretend that Olive’s been cured overnight, but April has shown us that progress IS possible, and that we don’t have to be alone in finding it.
I’d readily recommend April any day of the week.

We love April and so does our pup. She is friendly, thorough, and her methods are effective. She gave us the tools to ensure that our rescue pup,
Floyd, succeeds in his training. She seems to genuinely care about the animals and that’s very important to us. I highly recommend her and will definitely be using her in the future should the need arise. Thanks April!

My dog loves April, and so do we! She has been so helpful.
I had April come to our home to do some puppy training and again to do some leash training on our energetic lab/​pitt puppy. She came soon after I had gotten fed up and immediately got to work. He is tough to handle, but April never gets frustrated. She clearly loves dogs as much as we do. Her price was so reasonable, and she is worth at least double.
All positive reinforcement, practice, and consistency. She doesn’t nitpick (she doesn’t think dogs should act like robots either), she just makes sure everyone understands the commands, and has the right treats (HOT DOGS) to get our pup to pay attention.
I can’t recommend her enough. She’s also just super fun and friendly to chat with, so we enjoy the session too!

We cannot say enough good things about April and her business. We were looking for a class to teach the basics to our Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, Madison, as we know how important it is for big dogs to have good manners. April and her class were fantastic. Her training methods were incredibly helpful and if something didn’t necessarily work for Madison (she can be a little stubborn) she was quick to suggest a few other methods to try. She went above and beyond at all times. She was incredibly helpful and even oven offered to come to our apartment for a private makeup class when we had to miss a group class due to travel plans. We definitely recommend April without question!

I just love April and her techniques. I was impressed when I signed up and she limited class size to just 4 puppies. She also has a very gentle teaching technique, using treats and positive reinforcement for training. That worked great with my pup’s shy personality. April’s love of canines is obvious, but also her dedication to training. I couldn’t make the last lesson, so she gracefully volunteered to come to my home for the last lesson. I can’t speak highly enough of her and her business.

April is fantastic! Super friendly and really takes her job seriously — and she’s great at it! She goes above and beyond. We called her the «dog whisperer.» In just five weeks, Spock learned all the basic commands necessary for how to be a good dog — and an added bonus (and my personal favorite, «shake/​paw!») Highly recommend!

We had a great learning experience with April. She’s worked with our puppy. He already is learning commands. He’s 8 months and stubborn. She showed us how to work with him. It was amazing to watch him learn commands. We have a while to go but off to a great start. If we need any more help, April will be there. She’s knowledgeable and reliable. You can’t go wrong if you need a trainer. April is your girl!

April, the owner and trainer, is awesome!
For me living in DC so long, it was a breath of fresh air working with April. Its clear how much she invest in the dogs as a priority and gives more than expected, while never nickle or dime you. She really wants what is best for you and your dog. And spends the necessary time to ensure they success in learning and well being of your dog. Throughout the several week class I felt like we were all a big doggie family with lots of individual attention from April. Due to how the classes are structured it allowed for the flexibility of the topics to be covered based on your dog’s individual needs. We were able to focus on the areas that the dogs need more help with and fly through the topics where our dogs already had down. Overall, my dog had such a good experience he still gets excited when we drive by there even though its months after our last class. I’m sure he misses April.

I can not say enough good things about April– I looked at many places, but decided to go with Core Canine because of the great things I read. As of now, we have had 2 private training lessons and both times she was able to teach Miss Lexi and I new tricks, which isn’t easy when dealing with a 12 week old puppy and a new dog owner, but somehow April made it work. She is very knowledgeable, patient and very up beat which transfers to the dogs. We will be using April in the future as we need to master walking on a leash «properly». If you are on the fence whether to call or not, get off it and call April, you won’t be disappointed.

April just left my home after spending a couple of hours working with me, my sister, and our dog. She is amazing! I’m really excited to try her tips and commands. I appreciate her availability to help my dog in the future whether by phone or email for free or to stop by for another session of private training. My dog responded quickly to her work. I highly recommend her. I knew from her initial email to my questions that she was a good choice to help with my dog’s behavioral issues. Thank you, April!

We came home from a dog adoption with more than we could chew. The kids (5 and 3) had fallen in love with him. He was a puppy with massive paws and the last thing the adoption agency said as we finalized the paperwork was «maybe he’s part mastiff too.» We called April.
We had lots of reservations about this situation. The kids were so small. The dog would be so big. She worked with the whole family one-​on-​one and helped us to work with Pumpkin. She had strategies in hand and homework for everyone. Even the three-​year-​old looked the puppy in the eye (at eye level to boot) and commanded him to «Focus, Focus, Focus».
We had some setbacks. Some puppy play became roughhousing and he now outweighed the kids. We called April. She was a great sounding board. She gave us some strategies for adjusting the behavior and was understanding as we weighed our optons. She also stopped by to evaluate Pumpkin for any signs of aggression we may be overlooking.
In August Pumpkin celebrated his first birthday and his 6^th month with the family. Throughout April provided great guidance, was a very helpful sounding board, and was both pragmatic and sympathetic as we evaluated this new member of the family. We can’t recommend her enough.

My experience with April was great. As a first time dog owner, she understood that I needed as much coaching as my dog. After a few sessions with her I had a lot more confidence in myself and my ability to make my dog as happy as possible. My dog was really comfortable around her, but I’d been nervous about getting a trainer because — I’d assumed then the dog would listen to the trainer and not me. That was totally not the case. The environment provided was perfect and exactly what I had been hoping for. She really listened to what I was specifically worried about (my dog being a rescue, leash behavior and possible aggression) and tailored our sessions to fit my concerns and the dogs needs. She was awesome. I’ve already recommended her to a few friends.