Happy Dog Happy Owner

My Standard Poodle and I attended Lara’s agility class. We had a great experience and learned a lot. I came from the «non-​treat» style of training so I had to learn a different method. (Which is explained in the registration paperwork.) Actually, most of the training is geared toward the handler to be able to teach the dog. We had fun and I would have taken more classes, unfortunately I moved out of the state. I would recommend Lara and her classes to anyone ready to learn and have fun with their dog. Thank you Lara for such a great experience!

I found Lara on google after I did a search for agility and san diego. Then I saw she also offered obedience (yay! I needed that before we could do agility) and the Unilocal reviews were great. Thought we would give her a try. Glad we did. She is really friendly and patient with us and our dog.
Our fluffy large adult dog seemed somewhat trained to sit and walked on a leash nicely when we got him a few months ago, but we had no clue what else he knew. As it was the holiday season, I was out of luck for enrolling in a class, but we managed to get an at-​home private lesson a few weeks before the group classes began.
The home lesson was great because she got to see our dog in his element. It was an hour. Our dog is usually reserved yet polite with new people, but he was instantly super friendly with her. She helped us with things that were outside the realm of of sit and stay, but more about him focusing on us. Our dog had also started getting grumpy around other dogs after a few random meetings with dogs who had jumped/​tried to dominate him. She gave us a few tips on how to deal with good interactions, how to see when he was starting to stress out and how to decline dog interactions.
Our group obedience class was on a Sunday. There are 6 dogs to a class. I was so nervous about that. Dog was excited to see other dogs and Lara pointed out when he started stressing out. It was like an on the spot evaluation. Super helpful! She sees things about our dog and our interaction that we don’t notice. Then it all makes sense why he is responding to us in certain ways. Somehow my super sniffer dog becomes focused and mellow in class.
Obedience classes are in a parking lot between two buildings in the point loma/​ocean beach area. You’d think it wouldn’t work, but it does. There is a street right off the lot, with people, car and dogs going by. The learning area is pretty secluded though. There are a few restaurants, a coffee place and a 7 – 11 on this street.
We sit in chairs in a largish circle far enough away from each other to not have the dogs interact unwillingly. Sometimes, when our dog is extremely excited, we kinda move a little further away so he can calm down. Some of the dogs in the class are puppies and they just seem to love each other. Puppies really seem to learn things fast. Its a good group. The other people there are very friendly and supportive.
Being between the two buildings in the morning can get chilly, but by the 11am class it can get a bit of sun. There is a parking area set into the building where all the dogs and people can fit comfortably if there happens to be rain. The plane noise is noticeable overhead, but Lara takes a pause from talking during those times.
All classes are an hour and it seems like all the dogs love learning. Maybe I am wrong, but they seem to watch the other dogs and learn what to do as they watch. They all really excel in this environment. My dog benefits from just hanging in a controlled environment around the other dogs.
Lara gives the instruction and you practice it with the dog as she walks around and gives tips for your particular dog. In other classes, each dog might take their turn. Our dog behaves quite well in class and moderately well outside of class. It all depends on how much training we have done outside of class that week. He has really improved in all aspects of behavior since we started the classes.
There are several levels of obedience offered. Advanced AKC classes called Canine Good Citizen, Community Canine, and Urban Canine Good Citizen are also offered. We are going to check out agility after we get the basics of obedience down. She offers a class to see if your dog has any interest in agility before you spend all the monies on a multiple week class.
On the same day as the class, Lara sends out an email with a refresher of what was learned that day and what should be practiced. That is really helpful, because we can get so focused on the next command, that we might have forgotten the last one. She also includes pdfs of exactly what to do. This is helpful now and in the future when we might have slacked off on a particular command.
The little graduation cap they get to wear in the photo taken at the end of the last class makes them look so smart and adorable!

Lara is just amazing. After extensively researching our options for dog trainers in the area, we took our rescue puppy to her Obedience I class. Our puppy has massive people anxiety (she was found in a box in Tijuana) and Lara was patient with us and with our puppy, always encouraging us, even when the sleep deprivation that comes with raising a puppy meant we were frustrated and tired and not at our best.
After every session, she emails the group to provide an overview of what was covered, along with PDFs with even more information. Her communication is top-​notch, and I always look forward to her review emails so we can be sure we don’t forget anything.
We just had her visit our home for a behavior session to see if there was more we could be doing to get our pup more comfortable around people, and are looking forward to Obedience II this month, and hopefully agility training some day soon. I am enormously grateful to Lara for helping us set our puppy up for success. This is money well-​spent, and I couldn’t be more satisfied.

if you have a large working dog such as the German shepherd, this is not the class for you. also DO NOT pay with check or cash at the start of the first visit, as she will not reimburse you if you are not happy with her class or the way that you are being treated. I’m out $ 100 for an agility class that we barely got to participate in. Lara is not comfortable with large dogs other than labs or golden retrievers, and does not know how to handle a working dog in the class environment. Her way of handling a dog who is not already perfectly trained, is to move you as far away from the group as possible. she also did not allow me to use our leash training in class so I had no tools except her treat bribes to prevent a large working dog from wanting to «work». For the first class I was put in a far corner with the sun in my eyes and could not see the class. For the second class I came early and sat in the middle in order to be included, but was given an exercise to use with my dog which was not only ineffective, but distracted us from the entire class, and within one hour my nonfooddriven dog was trained to beg for treats like a lab. for the third class she placed us around the corner out of sight at the back gate by her smelly trash cans. seriously! It was clear that the other participants in the class were getting preferential treatment, they had taken prior classes with her before, all with small dogs. Don’t consider this persons classes unless your dog is small and perfectly trained already — in which you wouldn’t need it anyway! — or you feel like being humiliated and throwing away money and time with no result.

There aren’t enough stars for Lara. She has proven to be incredibly knowledgeable and caring beyond any expectations. I engaged her to train Katie, a pit bull I rescued from Carson Animal Care Center, and Lara not only put in the work and got results, but has shown amazing followup. She’s easy to communicate with and incredibly caring. I recommend her more than highly.

My dog Andy has been doing private agility training with Lara and it amazes me how quickly she has learned the obstacles. Andy is high energy and since she has been doing the training she is so much more focused and well behaved. She loves the training and gets so excited in the car ride on the way there. Lara has an uncanny ability to understand what your dog is thinking and to troubleshoot when issues come up. She makes the training so much fun for both of us. I recommend her highly! If you are looking for a kind, patient and intelligent trainer who really is able to understand things from the point of view of your dog Lara is the best! I never thought that Andy would be able to do things that she has learned. She brings out the best in your pup!

Lara is a very patient person, who loves watching you and your dog learn. She always has great tips and a fabulous attitude toward training. Her classes have various levels of human and canine intelligence. She keeps everyone engaged, limits class sizes and fosters a caring, positive atmosphere to learn in. i have completed entry level obedience and Fiona is really growing to be a great dog. We are trying agility, Lara makes it really easy to continue courses and is very interested in you and your dog having fun!

We got a private session for our English Bulldog, Boleyn. Lara is very knowledgeable and gave us so much important information on little behavior issues Boleyn is displaying. Boleyn likes to eat everything off the ground and Lara taught us the leave it and drop it. Bo is learning fast and we would not have been able to do it without Lara’s help.

I just completed Lara’s Beginner Dog Obedience Class and I have to say I was surprised how much my little puppy Blondi had learned. Lara is a very patient dog trainer and really focuses on rewarding the positive behavior. In addition, Lara has a gentle way about her that the dogs really seem to respond to. The classes are very affordable and Lara always sends a follow up email with a summary of the class and training exercises to work on with your dog. I would highly recommend the beginner class to anyone looking for a dog trainer. You won’t be disappointed!

Being that this was our first lesson with our 8-​year-​old dog, we didn’t know what to expect for Boris. Lara was very patient with my girlfriend and me (especially me) but didn’t need to be patient with Boris because he responded immediately to Lara’s hints for action. Turns out, Boris is much smarter than I thought, and I was surprised and humbled to realize that my ideas for training may not coincide with Boris’.
Lara is thorough in her explanations and helped us to understand why we make some of the mistakes that we do while trying to train Boris ourselves. The use of props and training tools was helpful but I was especially inspired at how quickly Boris could be weaned off of them. And her obvious love of dogs and for training dogs made for a truly happy time for all. For these and may other reasons, I’m grateful to Lara and Happy Dog Happy Owner.
Suffice it to say that between myself, my girlfriend and Boris, I learned the most, which in turn has helped us succeed when we work with Boris at home. We’re looking forward to another session and I highly recommend Happy Dog Happy Owner for an educational, inspiring, and fun training session… for dogs as well as owners.