Pooch Pawsitive

I hired Heidi for private training for a newly adopted dog at a friends recommendation. She was quite knowledgable but unfortunately, did not quote me the correct amount and made no attempt to keep my business by compromising between the quote and end rate which was $ 30 more so would caution anyone using her to get the quote in writing prior to hiring her. Though I will not give her any future business I did pick up enough guidance to move forward.

Update: We have now completed three training courses with Heidi, and literally everywhere we go with Cooper people comment on how well behaved he is and how well he obeys our commands. With Heidi’s help Cooper has achieved his AKC Canine «Good Citizen» certificate, and will be testing for hospital visits/​therapy dog work soon.
I highly highly recommend!

Thoroughly enjoyed the Saturday Puppy Social Group. She allows the puppies to play while explaining their behavior. I look forward to more training with her.

I found Heidi when looking for a puppy kindergarten class for my Jack Russell terrier puppy. I was recommended to her by a local agility instructor and decided to make the commute to East Providence when I saw how flexible her scheduling was. As a mom of two small kids and having a crazy schedule, I was unable to commit to one day a week for every week so having the flexibility to go to different days and times was huge.
Once I met Heidi, I was impressed with her knowledge of animal behavior and different breeds. Her business is very well-​run and organized. She was great and very encouraging, especially for someone who couldn’t make a new puppy my «life» (as I did with my older dog 9 years ago). She’s realistic and supportive. I hope to get back there for another class with my pup!

My puppy, Hunter, (German Shepherd) has attended both the puppy play groups and is currently in the puppy pre-​school/​day care. He LOVES it! He has his friends there he plays with and Heidi and Steve work with them on some training as well as introducing them to things like fireworks noise so they will no be afraid. When we arrive at Rumford Pet Center in the mornings, he paws at the door and when she takes the leash, he does not even look back at me leaving! He comes home a very tired puppy! Heidi is great with giving you a report card for the day to let you know what they worked on that day and who he played with. She also takes the time to let you know what you need to work on your puppy with more. I have had nothing but an EXCELLENT experience. The sad part is Hunter is 17 weeks old now, so his days at pre-​school are limited. He will miss going, he so looks forward to it! I cannot recommend Heidi and Pooch Pawsitive enough.

Heidi is the teacher up there. I actually went to the ASPCA down the street and asked if they had a list of highly recommended instructors. Hands down a whole group of their staff referred me to pooch pawsitive. My 3 lbs shih tzu has been going to class there since she was 9 weeks old. Heidi did a slow integration with the whole group for many weeks until my dog felt confident enough to play effectively with other puppies. She is extremely intuitive when it comes to dogs and she has tons of experience. We also look forward to going to her preschool. She does a lot better than even kids daycare in taking care of the puppies. She does activities, and is always supervising/​observing them.

The owner runs puppy playgroups Friday, Saturday, and Mondays. I think that proper socialization of young puppies is key to a well-​trained dog, so it’s wonderful that she does that. However, because she is a small business owner the number of dogs at any one playgroup can be small (i.e. even just your dog), and that means that the puppies who are there can have mismatched sizes and play styles. If you want to take your puppy to a playgroup, you might try Canine Mastery — they have well attended playgroup sessions split into different sizes and activity levels.
I like the positive training Heidi espouses, but the way the playgroup was run didn’t jive too well with me. When puppies get too uppity or scared she has owners pick them up and cradle them in their laps, which isn’t something that other trainers I’ve worked with have recommended. Also, during the playgroup when I asked other behavior/​training questions Heidi was rather rude and uncommunicative — I know that I wasn’t technically paying for a training session, but we were all just standing around.
Also, she works with and advertises for Rumford Pet Center, known seller of puppy mill puppies. Boo!