Smart Paws Private Training – Amelia Olson

Someone recommended Amelia and I wish had known about her earlier. I have tried every kind of class and trainer — group class, private lessons, private home lessons, «boot camp» where the trainer took my dog into her home for a few hundred dollars and promised to return him as a new dog. One trainer endorsed the pinch collar which I couldn’t bear to use. One trainer endorsed throwing bacon all the ground to distract from the bad behavior which was not always practical. Needless to say, the boot camp method did not work either. Dog came back home the same.
About Amelia:
As a business owner, she responds promptly via text or email. She encourages you to text her with questions outside of the scheduled training time with her. She is encouraging, professional but personable and easy to talk with.
As a trainer, she trains the dog owners. She is a good balance of positive rewards and negative consequences only when necessary. She provides customized «homework» sheets after each lesson which has practical exercises to work with your dog. The exercises are do-​able and do not involve pinch collars or me trying to act alpha. She recommended us to buy a vest for our dog that says «I need space» and that was golden. Sessions can be in your home or in public or combination, whatever best meets the need.
I give Amelia 10 stars if I could. I don’t feel like a loser or bad pet owner with her. She leaves me feeling optimistic and excited about dog training. My dog loves her too… unlike other dog trainers who left him afraid of them or not wanting to return. She is also very resourceful in terms of what dog products to buy and where. I can easily text or email her my questions on anything dog related. I really value her opinion and philosophy and approach when it comes to dogs and training.
Thank you Amelia for everything!

Amelia conducted the AKC Canine Good Citizen test for our dog Mousse and she was very encouraging and supportive given that we held the test in a very busy and public area.
After he passed his test Amelia gave us great advice on what we should continue to focus on and additional areas and ideas to keep his development growing. I’m grateful we had the chance to work with her and hope to do so again!

Amelia has been the best thing to happen to Toby (my pup) and I! Toby is a rescue-​pup who had deep anxiety and fear of humans. With Amelia’s gentle encouragement and brilliant tactics (not to mention kindness and patience!) Toby is a well adjusted, confident pup.
Every session is like a light bulb going off. ‘Oh, right… THIS is why he is acting this way!” And in that moment of offering insight into your dog, she has very real tactics aka homework, for you and your pup to do to get them (and YOU) on the right track.
We will continue to work with Amelia for as long as she will have us and HIGHLY recommend for everyone and their pup, no matter where they lay on the behavioral spectrum.
Thanks Amelia!

Amelia is an incredible dog trainer and person! We are so lucky to have found her :) We needed help in training our two year old yellow lab Nova. She’s a great dog, but her pulling on a leash, barking and lack of manners can be difficult to handle, especially now that we’re expecting a baby. Amelia is giving us all the necessary tools to improve Nova’s behavior and make the transition to becoming a big furry sister a pleasant one :) Both Nova and I love and look forward to every training session with Amelia; I recommend her to every person I know who could benefit from dog training sessions. She is very thorough, explains her techniques and approach clearly and leaves you with clear instructions and homework. I see improvements in Nova already and am excited at the thought of how much better she will get as we advance the training over time!

Once again, Amelia was essential in helping us overcome a change in our household which our dog was clearly anxious about. Two weeks later and things are almost back to normal. It just takes time to adjust, and we have the right tools to handle it now.

Amelia saved us from giving away our crazy pup. When we got our insane 9-​week old standard schnauzer, all he did was jumping, biting, and humping. He did not react to anything we said and ignored us most of the time. We had to wear thick fleece jackets when we handled him, and he still made a lot of holes in our clothes. After two weeks of that insanity, my husband and I realized that we would give him away if nothing changed. I called several dog trainers, and only Amelia accepted such young pups. Amelia broke our pup’s perception of being an alpha dog after the first 15 minutes of the first session. He looked so lost that he even went to his crate (!!!), and then for the first time since we got him we found out that he could actually be fun :-) We’ve been working with Amelia on a regular basis for 3+ months, and our pup is a completely different dog now, and we started getting a lot of comments from strangers that he is such a well behaved pup (and he is only 6 months old). He comes to us when we call him, he doesn’t destroy the house any more, he plays nicely, doesn’t bite, leash walking is becoming better… There are lots and lots of good things that happened since we’ve started with Amelia. Ranger loves here very much, even though he knows who the boss is now :-) and our life became so much better because we really enjoy having him around. The only thing we regret is that we hadn’t met Amelia before we got the pup: it would’ve saved us lots of frustration and made our start with him much easier.

For Haley we didn’t find Amelia until we had taken our dog to two puppy classes, and some very expensive private training. After all of this training, we had a dog who while a diamond in the rough was quite rough… she is a big dog and to get attention she would paw people, loom over them when she could, was hard to walk and generally wanted attention in inappropriate ways that put visitors to our home off, and in addition, since she is 75 pounds, and I am 130 pounds, she was a bit intimidating.
Then we got a miracle in the form of Amelia… From the minute that Amelia walked in, we could swear she was a dog whisperer because Haley just seemed to understand what Amelia wanted of her and clearly wanted to change. Amelia taught us that Haley is so much happier with boundaries, she just grew and grew and grew into an amazing dog who all who meet her comment on what an amazingly well behaved dog she is. When they say that, if they have a dog, we rave about Amelia and refer people to her.
So of course when we just got Haley’s ½ sister, Comet, we immediately had Amelia out, both to acclimate these two girls to each other, help us with potty training, and general training. We have now had Comet for about 7 weeks, she is fully potty trained, sleeping through the night, she sits, comes, doesn’t bark or jump, but rather sits politely, when food is prepared (as she when we first got her she would get hysterical when food was prepared), and now Amelia is helping us socialize her as she has some fear of people.
Amelia teaches us how to work with our dogs, as most of the training is of us. She is kind to all, however, she teaches us over and over how to have a happy household with our furry members of our family, and happy dogs.

Amelia is simply amazing! We are the proud owners of 3 rescued dogs, which means they all came with their own challenges. But our biggest problem was with our Belgium Shepherd Charlotte. She was anxious, barked constantly and was basically taking us for a walk instead of the other way around. In a matter of a few sessions, Amelia had Charlotte walking along side us, waiting for her food until released and laying down while we ate or opened the door. Not only is she a great dog trainer, she was able to train my husband and me. LOL. My husband and I are so grateful for her help and patience. She is worth EVERY penny and I recommend her every chance I get.

Amelia is working with my family and our new labradoodle puppy. She has been available by phone, in addition to her training sessions.
When she comes to our house, she’s upbeat and models everything, explains everything, and creates an atmosphere that allows my whole family (kids included) to know how to help our puppy succeed.

When I adopted a Catahoula puppy from the humane society, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I’d always owned dogs of even temperament, generally mild mannered with no major issues. While my new puppy, Lua, was as sweet as could be around me, it quickly became apparent she had some serious fear aggression. She’d growl at people she didn’t know, sometimes even snapping if they came too close or looked at her wrong. And other dogs? She turned into Cujo around other dogs — lunging, snapping, snarling, the works. She even bit me a few times in her furor. We tried obedience classes at PetSmart and six weeks later had seen no major results. My family was urging me to give Lua away as she seemed beyond help; her issues were clearly bigger than we knew how to handle and we were at our wits end. This is around the time I found Amelia.
I have been nothing less than blown away since the first time we met Amelia. I was worried she couldn’t help us (or worse, wouldn’t try!) when I first presented Lua and her laundry list of issues, but Amelia was patient, firm, and knowledgeable from the get go. She gives clear instruction and sets firm boundaries, while making sure you’re aware where the problem behavior stems from and why it’s happening. She’s got a whole bag of tricks up her sleeve, and when one method isn’t working she’ll try another. She is patient while still being assertive, and shows you how to master the same; she is flexible and creative, switching up locations and scenarios so you get the best practice in as many environments as possible. Amelia has helped Lua and I in more ways than I can count. Three months ago I had a puppy that jumped, growled, pulled on a leash, stole food, and didn’t have the slightest idea of how to behave around people, dogs or in public. Now I have a dog that walks calmly through busy shopping centers, can sit and stay in the middle of a dog park surrounded by other dogs, walks politely on a leash instead of dragging me down the street, and is generally happier, healthier, and better adjusted than she was before Amelia. As long as there’s more to learn, Amelia is who we’re going to stick with to teach us.

We got a puppy, Cocoa, (Brittany and German Shorthaired mix) in summer 2012. We ran into problems like chewing, pulling on leash, and jumping, etc. I found Amelia from Unilocal,and started the session the week before Thanksgiving. After just the first session, I gained so much confidence on how to handle each situation. It is great to have a trainer at the house, so she can show you exactly what to do on each problem/​situation. We also had walks in the neighborhood to deal with various walking issues/​scenarios. Amelia is so patient; she answers all my questions and concerns every time. I take away so much from each session! You don’t need to worry forgetting what was taught, she provides you a detailed «homework» sheet on everything covered in the session.
I have only done four sessions, but during the Xmas holidays, we are so comfortable to take Cocoa to friends house, have company over; we just recently took Cocoa to a Pet Expo where tons of people and dogs! Family and friends are impressed with how Cocoa behaves so differently in just one month. Thank you so much Amelia!

She came as a recommendation from a friend and now I’m recommending you all to her as well. This is really working out for me. I have three dogs, who I love very much but lets face it, they owned me… now we have then laying and staying and and we are only on our second visit! I hardly write reviews but she’s been worth my time and every single penny. I bought a package which I though was totally reasonable and not only that, her visits are not rushed. I think I’m more worried about going over an hour than she is, which is awesome because for her it’s about getting results and not running out the door when its been an hour. I highly recommend her.

My wife and I brought Laila home in October as a 10 week old Boxer puppy. We both had dogs growing up, but that was always our parents’ responsibility. We figured we knew enough to train our puppy, but her hyperactive nature was at times becoming too much. When we found out we were having a baby, we figured it was time to get Laila some real training before she thought the baby was a chew toy. We’ve used Amelia three times so far and cannot begin to explain the transformation we’re seeing in our puppy and ourselves. While I’m not the most patient person, Amelia has helped me understand things from the dog’s perspective and brought things to the table that I would have never considered. She is extremely patient with us and our puppy, and has made the training fun for my wife and I, when it used to just be frustrating and tiresome. We another handful of sessions with her and cannot wait to see the additional progress we make! I’d recommend Amelia to anyone that is looking to improve their quality of life with their four legged friend!

When my husband Kirk and I decided to get two siberian husky puppies, I knew I had to get some kind of puppy training lined up asap. I found Amelia’s Unilocal reviews and decided to give her a call. She got back to me quickly and gave me advice on what I could do to prepare for my two pups. We had the puppies at our home for 2 days before our first training session and things were pretty crazy. After our first session both Kirk and I felt instantly relieved. We started to understand boundaries and what we can expect from our dogs. We learned just how smart our puppies are and that they were capable of listening and learning very quickly. Amelia has an answer for any question that has come up, if something doesn’t work Amelia will find a solution that works for our dogs. after 5 sessions with Amelia we couldn’t be happier with the progress we have seen. We are absolutely going to move forward with her and continue training. She is really great with our dogs, but even more she is great with us! I have learned so much and I feel very comfortable calling, texting or emailing Amelia if i have any questions at all she is great!

Amelia, you are awesome. You say it like it is and enforce a very clear owner — pet boundary. I’ve taken all of your advice to heart and truly appreciate your motive to find methods that work for a dog’s specific personality. I still have a somewhat long way to go with Milo, but I definitely feel like he’s making progress

Amelia entered my life several years ago as a helper bee in my pet sitting service. I loved her from the moment I met her! She is mature way beyond her years and I have trusted her with my clients with no worries what so ever.
I have referred her training services to a large share of my clientele and they all rave about her. As their pet sitter/​dog walker, I get to see the results first hand. Many a miracle has been made due to Amelia’s abilities. On top of that a finer and more lovely person does not exist!

It’s hard to imagine a dog out there who would not respond to Amelia’s talents. This is someone who clearly loves dogs! She’s warm and friendly and doesn’t bring a shred of the dominance model to what she does. I know we give our dog mixed signals (still ignorant and still learning), but when Amelia asks him to do something, he’s not confused. In fact, it’s a joy to see him respond – the light bulb goes on, there’s communication, etc.

Amelia exceeded my expectations with her dog training abilities. We have TWO PUPPIES, and they play fight all the time. It was initially very difficult to get them to pay attention to us, but now they are so obedient! She has really touched our lives. Our puppies really stressed us out before but now we finally know what is normal, what is not okay, and what to do about it.
She address all kinds of issues: behavioral (for us, biting on hands and feet, chewing on things they weren’t supposed to be chewing), basic commands like leave it and stay, and even grooming tips.
Best of all I feel like I can call her anytime. She is very thorough at answering questions, and addressing all your concerns!

Amelia is a wonderful trainer. I have a year old puggle and we have been working with her since he was around 5 months old. She was always very professional, punctual, and very friendly. She was very flexible in terms of locations; we would meet at my house and various public places. She was willing to change up each session; making it specific to Brody. I felt that she really cared about his success.
More than training Brody, she trained me. She was able to quickly and clearly explain Brody’s behavior and always bring out the best in him. Patience of a saint. Within the first 15 minutes of our first session, she had him listening and laying down (which we could NOT teach to Brody). I find myself constantly recommending Amelia to others in need!
I consider Amelia a friend now and Brody is always looking forward to her next visit.

i have personally known amelia going on 4 years now. initially we met at work, and when i wanted to pursue my own career in dog traning, she was my mentor. for a job like this, you must be able to work with humans, not only dogs, and she exceeded my expectations as a teacher and trainer. when she was over and done with whipping my butt into shape, i myself got a lot of wonderful clients who came back time and time again to receive services from me. but i know in my heart that without amelia, i never would have been as good as i was.
prior to the training to become a trainer from amelia, she trained my dog from puppy classes to canine good citizen. now, i have an english bulldog that at times can be quite stubborn and extremely goofy… not at all your best student. however, for amelia, it was a piece of cake. she tapped into my dog in a way i never knew was possible, and she taught me how to do the same. she learned so much more than i ever thought a dog could, and still after nearly 3 years, continues to thrive with her learning.
what amelia teaches you and your dog is far more than just a lesson learned, but a true relationship with your canine companion. she helps you understand your pet, and for your pet to understand you, and that is a true gift. on top of it all she is EXTREMELY reliable, and perfectly priced. and did i mention she dog walks and dog sits too?! lets just say, she’s the complete package. very warm hearted, and treats your dog like her own, (let me tell you, her baby you see in that photo, is sooo spoiled!).
in a nutshell: i recommend amelia to anyone and everyone who wants to develop a long lasting and loving relationship with their pet, and for anyone who is looking for that perfect dog sitter or walker whos going to love your pet as much as she loves her own. if i could give her more than five stars… i would! =)