At the End of Your Leash

Having had dogs and been involved in rescue my entire adult life I have experienced quite a few group training classes, in-​home training programs and even board and train programs. Some were fine (just fine), one was terrible, but At The End of Your Leash is the only one I would return to or recommend to others. This review is based on a group training class. A few things that I think set ATEOYL apart from others are: you are not just attending a class, you are joining a community of support. The format and structure of the class sets your dog up for success from the minute they exit the car. The classes typically consist of a whole team of experts — 2 trainers plus 2 additional training staff. The trainers are firm with high expectations for the dogs and owners, but caring as well. They cover all of the items from the AKC Canine Good Citizen test, conduct the test and send in all of the paperwork for the owner. I saw so many dogs who seemed a bit unruly on the first day make huge transformations into calmer more balanced dogs. I also like that once the 6 week program is finished you aren’t just sent on your way to fall back into bad habits. ATEOYL offers weekly Maintenance and Socialization classes which you can sign up for whenever you like. I’ve never heard of anywhere else offering supervised off-​leash (if/​when your dog is ready to be off-​leash) socialization and I think this experience is invaluable for any dog. Thank you Jen for creating such a unique training community.

If you have an unruly pet, you need to go let Jennifer & her crew teach you how to fix that! The whole staff ATEOYL are just awesome, friends can’t believe our rescue is the same dog! Want private lessons? They can accommodate you. Want you dog to be socialized? They can make that happen! You get so much more than «sit», «stay», your pet will thank you for going to see Jennifer… At The End Of Your Leash!!!

I had my first dog since he was 10 weeks old and he was perfect. He needed little to no training so I wasn’t used to being a pack leader. His loss was rough on me but I decided to adopt a new dog. Hurley was found as a stray and was a senior dog estimated to be about 8 years old. In my naivety I assumed he was going to be just as relaxed with little to no effort on my part. Boy was I wrong! After a couple months of fighting with other dogs, escape attempt, peeing in the house and all around unruly behavior he needed help but most importantly I needed help. That’s when Jen and At The End of Your Leash came into our lives. During the 6 week course Jen, Brandon, and the other trainers not only helped Hurley but helped me become a true pack leader. In as little as 6 weeks my old man terror passed and became a ACA Canine Good Citizen! The best thing about At The End of Your Leash is not the initial 6 week course but the lifetime continuous support. We didn’t fix all of Hurley’s issues in 6 weeks but training is a lifetime commitment. His canine wellness and my pack leader skills have to be worked on daily and I know that if I have any question or need additional support At The End of Your Leash will be there to help.

Brought my anxious, timid pup here for some help to boost his confidence and improve his behavior. This was the best decision we could’ve made. Six weeks later and he passed his course, and, although he still has a ways to go, his overall personality has changed for the better. Jen and her team made the training so easy and seamless, not to mention, they are there every step of the way. Thank you, ATEOYL!

I discovered Jen on Meet-​Up where I was a member of several other groups. I was very interested in a group called So Cal Pack Leaders, because I knew that could only be a reference to a Cesar Milan-​style approach to training and living with dogs. I contacted Jen about some of the activities that I saw posted and she explained that it would be more useful if my current dog-​project and I attended her basic obedience class first. I was more than happy to do that and I started the basic course on Nov. 7, 2015 I have been involved with obedience training my dogs since the 1970’s. I have worked with probably as many as 20 different trainers, all using mostly a positive reinforcement model, except for the very first one, back in 1973. I want to say that Jen and ATEOYL is the shining star of understanding dog behavior and psychology and communication and is unsurpassed at being able to teach that same understanding to others. It is all about getting owners/​masters to recognize that to live with a dog successfully, there has to be a pack leader and that pack leader has to be YOU! She then shows you many ways of doing this without ever having to choke, drag, hit or otherwise punish a dog. It is entirely based on understanding the sociality of dogs and how human concepts like «respect» translate into dog… Jen is patient, she is thorough, she is motivated to see all her clients succeed. You only had to watch her with her big Rottweiler (RIP Lucius 11−26−15) to know that this woman really, really understands dogs! I am looking forward to attending some of the Pack to Basics sessions where the dogs are allowed to operate as a pack, without interference from humans. That type of socialization training is invaluable in making a dog a well mannered, balanced member of the pack. I will be working with Jen for many years to come. A couple of reviewers have mentioned her prices. I would just like to point out that when you break it down into a per hr basis, you are paying exactly what a very moderate priced training course would cost!

Our puppy went from a crazed biting baby boy with razor teeth to a truly mellow little guy in only 3 days. Seriously, she explained exactly what to do and we followed her advice to the letter. Our lives are back to normal! We love you Jen.
We have not since raised our voice, hit the dog or «spoken to him» as if he’s a person. We use, upon her advice, one word commands and are now starting to simply use our hand.
This is one smart pooch and he had us on our heels for 3 weeks before we spoke to Jen. She’s a miracle worker.

We were desperate for help and it was hard to find because our dog Waffles is a senior. Most said he was too old for anxiety and socialization training. But Jen never hesitated. She’s my own dog whisperer she gave me several options at different time and price points to for my needs! Here we are Practicing our down! Long down! Lake side with distractions ! Water, children, dogs, boats, wind ! Yesterday we did it sitting outside of Von’s waiting for Dad, as cars and shopping carts rushed by. He’s doing so good slowly building confidence and independence. And me too lol! All this thanks to all I am learning from @thejenfreilich and her team @attheendofyourleash

We met Jen 5 years ago when we got our first dog, a Fox Terrier. I found Jen by her website and she has become a life-​long friend and trainer. This was our first dog and she helped us through the puppy stage by coming to our house and making sure everything was set up to start our puppy off right. She gave us basic obedience tips then as well.
After that we took one-​on-​one training class. Now I can tell you my dog is hyper, very much a terrier and loves anything that moves. She shows her affection by jumping, whining, and barking which we wanted to ward off before the birth of our baby. Jen is a miracle worker and helped us get our dog in shape. Our dog has been a perfect companion since our daughter’s birth and has never once showed aggression towards her.
Now we are not perfect people we are lazy and do not practice or always reinforce the training that we learned. Jen has NEVER made harsh comments to us, nor have I ever seen her ever mistreat any dog. She always tells you the truth based on your dog, you, and what’s in the best interest of your dog. I’ve been wanting to get a second dog for a long time. However, she told me I should focus on my training of our terrier before adding a second dog into the mix. Is this what I want to hear? Heck no! Is it what I needed to hear? Absolutely! She knows that we still have work to do (I have work to do) my my terrier before adding in a second dog to train. She is always focused on keeping the dogs safe and what is in their best interest. If you’re seeing Jen because you want your dog to be the best they can be you will be ecstatic by the end result. If you’re seeing Jen and you want to be treated like a customer at a retail store then I would go to PetCo for training. If you want lifelong support, with someone who most likely cares as much if not more about your dog then you do, then ATEYL is the place to go.
Besides her training classes she also offers many other services and hosts educational events such as animal CPR, rattlesnake aversion training, meet ups, and boarding. Jen is the ONLY person we trust to board our dog with when we go on vacation. I can’t tell you what an amazing person Jen is. She has built a community of support to make you and your dog the best you can be.

A few years ago we brought our furry baby, Pip, to ATEOYL.
We were literally at the end of our rope.
Our little Pip, a Terrier was human and dog aggressive.
For such a little dog, Pip was difficult on walks. He pulled and controlled the walks. He controlled the house!
We were embarrassed and frustrated.
We felt like the neighbors with THAT dog.
I learned from Jen, that not providing rules and boundaries for Pip and not providing daily walks was creating a nervous and over the top anxious Terrier.
It was awesome to see Pip just being a dog; not anxious or fearful and socialize with all types of dogs.
I also learned the importance of proper nutrition for Pip.
I am grateful for the education and tools my family received from
Jen at ATEOYL.

Please read the other 1 star review before mine. I was lucky not to attend Jens «End of leash» program. I spoke to her on the phone and was concerned about the price being so high for 5 training classes, oh and all day video that we watch together.
I told her my breed of dog and how old she was.
She then told me (valley girl voice) «Umm can I be honest and people know me for my honesty, but I don’t think you can afford that dog if you cant afford my class.»
I have never been talk to like that, and was amazed and shocked and her very low social skills she had. I do appreciate honesty in all aspects, but Jen doesn’t seem to have a «filter» I guess you can say. Just by talking with her on the phone and reading the other 1 star review, I knew I would not like her class or get along with her as a person. Perhaps «At the end of your leash» should be at its end of its leash. #dontwhipyourdog

Long overdue, but I wanted to write this review.
I found Jen and Brandon on Unilocal a little over a year ago when I realized I had no idea how to train my puppy, Lilly. I found Lilly at a rescue with her two sisters. She’d been rescued from a backyard breeder and spent the first few weeks of her life completely separated from her mother, so she had a lot of anxiety, especially when it came to being away from me.
During the program, I learned a number of things that I was doing to create a neurotic dog, ranging from my daily routine to my own body language whenever I interacted with Lilly. Lilly went from a clingy, anxious, scared little dog to substantially calmer in just the few weeks of the program. I could finally leave the house for a few hours and Lilly wouldn’t freak out and defecate everywhere.
I highly recommend this program if you want to socialize your dog to be the kind of dog you don’t have to worry about. My biggest concern was stopping Lilly’s anxiety and associated behaviors and the training worked. If I get another dog, I would enroll it in this program immediately. IMO, this course is absolutely essential if you have a dog that weighs as much as you do or can easily overpower or outrun you, as you learn how to command respect from your dog without abusing it or scaring it.

I have had the pleasure of first meeting Jen as a client with my dog and now being able to spend time with her as a behaviorist/​trainer. Jen is amazing and I am so thankful and grateful to have her as an alie and someone to look to for help. Her many years of experience, her expertise, versatility, wide range of training techniques, and knowledge are unlike any other trainer you are going to find. She is a clients life saver and a trainers best resource for guidance in everything from trouble shooting to courses to better your own training skills to full blown shadow programs. I recently had the honor of attending a business class that was beyond my expectations. Packed full with over 20 years experience of valuable information that was supposed to be a 5 hour course. Everyone loves learning from Jen so much we kept her a bit over the 5 hours.
If you are looking for a trainer to help you and your dog… stop looking, call Jen! You will truly learn how to communicate with your dog and be able to bring balance into your home once and for all.
If you are a trainer I suggest keeping your eyes open for some of the best seminars, courses, and workshops around.

If it weren’t for Jen my dog (TANK) would probably no longer be on this earth! Tank has seen several different trainers, all «highly» recommended. Not one of them did anything like what Jen has done for us.
Jen taught me that I was the problem, not so much my dog. As «BUCK» says «your dog is a reflection of you in the mirror» so take that and run with it. Run to Jens facility and learn to be in CONTROL of you and your dog, to be the leader your dog needs and really yearns for. Tank looks at me in a whole new light now. I have grown to love him more and more every day as he learns all that I am learning, his life is becoming whole as is mine with him.
I enjoy walking my dog now, I enjoy training my dog more than ever. I will forever be grateful for Jens insight and knowledge that has been bestowed upon me and so will Tank. Money has always been an issue for me, but at this point I had already been robbed, this is so not that kind of trainer!

I’ve been going to Jen for over a year now and have never seen overly harsh treatment of the animals. The results speak for themselves, as she has had more aggressive large breed dogs turn into a success story than I can remember. When I first arrived, I had two pit bulls — one had killed my neighbors dog and was hyper aggressive, with an extremely touchy prey drive. Within 5 minutes of taking the leash Jen had my dog properly heeling and listening to her every word — and with a few weeks of dedicated training from myself I achieved the same results.
If it weren’t for that first visit with Jen, I can’t honestly say whether or not I would have had to put my dog down. If you want a trainer who is no nonsense and cares more about your animal’s overall well being — rather than kissing your butt and making sure you walk away feeling your ego was satisfied for the day — Jen is the trainer you want.
If you’re looking for someone to tell you you’re doing everything the right way, and that your dog somehow is just this misunderstood person — try PetsMart.
This is serious training for dedicated people who want the best for their dogs, it is designed around teaching the owner proper technique so that they can come away from Jen with an understanding on how to train, care for, and bond with their dog in a productive manner — and will leave you with the skills necessary to accomplish a well balanced animal in all dogs to come in the future.
Highly recommended is an understatement, you owe it to yourself and your companion to invest some time and training in At The End of Your Leash — I know it saved my dogs life.

My husband and I have two boxer dogs who had some major issues… one was very dog aggressive and the other dog (we adopted him) came with some major separation anxiety. We had done obedience classes, rally classes, agility classes, Frisbee classes, you name it, if there was a class we signed up. Nothing changed their state of mind, the anxiety didn’t go away nor did the aggression. We thought, maybe they need more exercise… So, we bought a mountain bike and ran them miles and miles every day… the anxiety did not go away nor did the aggression.
I had heard about Jen from somebody at PetSmart (she had taken her boxer to Jen), I put the phone number in my phone and left it at that… we continued doing «our» method. We finally gave up, we quit walking the dogs because dealing with possible dog fights was too stressful and we considered getting rid of Bruno because the constant barking and whimpering was too much for us. We decided to give training ONE MORE CHANCE.
I’m so glad we did… They explained that we were creating unbalanced super athletes and that my husband and I were doing nothing to create calm and balanced dogs. At first we were skeptical but decided to put 100% trust in Jen and Brandon. Within 24 hours, the whimpering and barking had subsided substantially. Today, five sessions later, the whimpering has stopped completely and he now barks when it is appropriate. Our other boxer was able to sit three feet away from huge Rottweiler without going into the red zone.
Jen and Brandon use Cesar Millan’s methods (she has been trained by his affiliates and has attended many of Cesar’s seminars) and as you have seen from the show, it works (FYI, it takes a lot more than what you see in a 45 minute show). I can’t emphasis enough how awesome Jen and Brandon are and how grateful my husband and I are to have calm balanced dogs. It has been a total transformation for all of us.

My poor rating for Jenn and her services is based on her aggressive/​abrupt style with the dogs and lack of customer service skills when meeting me in person. I was looking forward to attending one of Jenn’s off-​leash dog socials, which she organizes through
. She did not take any time to meet my dog or explain to me her style of ‘managing’ her off-​leash social session, which includes utilizing a shortened lunging whip (used for training horses) to hit the dogs on the back with in order to ‘release anxiety’ to prevent «tension» (fights) between dogs. We can agree to disagree on this ‘training’ style, but when I requested that I would like to watch how she implements the use of the whip during the session, she curtly replied, «No, you WILL participate and walk with the group.» Being at that I was new, I really wanted to observe the system she had in place. I was appalled at her demand, and said I wanted to watch. I was not ready to subject my dog to that environment. Jenn completely failed to see that I was hesitant with her style of dog interaction/​correction. She seemed insulted that I did not buy into her methodologies and quickly dismissed me and my dog from the area, saying I could stand in the far corner, OUTSIDE the social ring, by her dog kennels if I wasn’t going to participate. At that time, I decided to leave being as that Jenn did not seem to want to be bothered with explaining any of her techniques to me. Upon leaving, I expressed a loud thank you to her, but she did not acknowledge me, though she saw me leaving. As a business woman, I would have at least expected her to want to make sure I left with a good impression. Shockingly, this was not the case, as she seemed to care less that I was leaving with such a poor experience.
My dog is certified therapy dog with TDI as well as an AKC Good Citizen and was not trained with her methods of physical reprimand, and would have done well with being hit with the whip. Jenn might have a way with training certain types of dogs, but her people/​customer service skills leave a lot to be desired.

Jenn is wonderful and Brandon is great. My husband and I understand our dog so much better. Just watching Brandon work with Shyann and seeing her respond was worth the hour+ drive to Riverside from HB. Can’t wait for the next training session!

Apparently things like Unilocal and Craigslist aren’t as popular in the IE as they are in the Bay Area – I’m the first person to review Jen? What? I know she has probably trained TONS of dogs and owners! Jen is an experienced, knowledgeable, no nonsense trainer. She performs doggy miracles! But keep in mind that a HUGE part of that miracle is YOU learning as well and following through with what you’ve learned. We came to Jen after having an issue with our nervous, fearful dog and learned so much. We will be forever grateful that we found her. She even hooked me up with a trainer she knew in the Bay Area so we’d have someone nearby if needed. I definitely recommend Jen!