We first met Hilary when we registered our dog Kingsley for a puppy class at our local vet. We were absolutely blown away by how welcoming, fun, safe, educational, and calm her classes were. Every dog loved/felt comfortable being around her. My experience in the past at other over sized classes was chaos and stress, with little to no guidance. She proactively adapted her learning techniques and environment at every class to suit the learning needs of each dog. Everyone got to learn in an environment that worked best for themselves and their new pup. This was especially helpful for our fearful pup who needed extra understanding, and for ourselves who needed extra guidance and support.
It wasn’t long before our timid puppy grew up to be a reactive 120lbs dog, and I can’t imagine having to navigate these challenges without Hilary’s help.
We’ve stayed in touch since day 1. We attended her Fiesty Fido cIasses, individual sessions, and exchanged frequent emails when we were feeling overwhelmed. Hilary understood the unique needs of our guardian breed and gave us the best path forward at every road block along the way.
One of the things we valued most was how she helped us set realistic expectations, work on our own behaviours, meet the needs of our dog, work towards new goals, and overall gave us the tools and support we needed for all of us to thrive. Kingsley is now an even better version of himself as we continue our journey together.
We learned so much working with Hilary, but some key take aways are:
- There are so many ways we can enrich the lives of our dogs outside of going for walks
- How we want/think our dog should behave in certain situations is not always what’s best for them.
- When you get to know your dog and adapt to/understand their unique needs, it all falls into place.
Krista - Lincoln, NB
Hilary is working wonders in training both Foxy and I. She’s so understanding and knowledgeable of the unique challenges we face. She offers a variety of exercises tailored to each individual dog’s temperament. Thanks to her, I’ve cultivated a closer relationship with my favourite sidekick; in understanding her behaviours and triggers. Thank you so much Hilary!
April - Fredericton, NB
Hilary came to the house to help me understand and guide Bo. He was 3 when I adopted him and had no knowledge of his previous experience. I needed to understand him and how he interprets the world so he could be the best boy he wanted to be. Hilary taught me so much about Bogart in just 3 sessions. She’s absolutely wonderful.
Kim - Pepper Creek, NB
Before taking the Feisty Fido class we had come to a low point in our relationship with our dog Charlie, actually resenting him for the stress caused by his barking and aversion to other dogs. Hilary helped us see our problem from our dog’s perspective and gave us practical solutions to his problematic behaviour. The biggest benefit is that we started to really like our dog again which greatly improved the quality of all our lives. This is a great course for people with barking or aggressive dogs!
Scott and Claire - Fredericton, NB
Hilary is an exceptional dog trainer much respected by owners and also loved by dogs. Her methods are practical and fun for the dogs. She is an invaluable trainer who achieves results in a friendly fun way.
Cindy - Fredericton, NB
Hilary is phenomenal at her job, and so incredibly knowledgeable. Our dog Finn is a rehomed rescue who had a history of reactivity to strange mend when we adopted him. When he first came to us, we saw none of these behaviours. After a year, he had a few incidents with strangers and an escalation of reactivity to strange sounds along with some territorial behaviour at home. At that point, we were worried to have people over, and our Ives were constantly interrupted by his reactions to every little sound or person walking by our home. We knew we needed professional help and had reached the limit of our skill sets. Hilary quickly understood our concerns and was able to zero-in on key issues to figure out what had to be done both to help Finn and to educate us on how to best help him. She has strong professionalism and knowledgeability. She is always kind, respectful, and was a true breath of fresh air to our tired household when we met her. Because of her, we’ve made so much progress with Finn. He is now able to be calm around strangers with us knowing how to read his cues and respond appropriately. He continues to make progress in leaps and bounds every day. We not only got our sweet boy back to himself, but we also better understand him and the signals he sends. Our bond with him is stronger than ever and we are so appreciative to have had her help and expertise!
Colleen and Peter - Fredericton, NB
Hilary is a brilliant positive reinforcement dog trainer that clearly has a lot of experience working with "misfit" dogs. Hilary came highly recommended by several professionals in the field (including our vet behaviourists). She has a great understanding of the science and theory around training, and she is able to communicate that very clearly. Hilary also complements this knowledge with years of hands-on experience working with complicated dogs. She has a really good understanding of dog needs and behaviour and is a strong advocate for the emotional welfare of dogs. Hilary has also reinforced how important it is to have a good relationship with our dog, including meeting our dog's emotional needs and building trust with our dog that we will protect her from stressful situations. Our dog has quite complex needs (she’s incredibly anxious, particularly around people and when left alone) and Hilary is up to the challenge. Hilary gives us training activities to work on that are not overwhelming or confusing, and she is available to answer questions as they come up. She's also very familiar with the treatment protocols recommended by our Vet Behaviourists (Dr. Overall and Dr. Squair at the AVC). It has been incredibly stressful to be the parent of a reactive dog, and we would not have made it this far without Hilary. She is incredibly supportive, empathetic, understanding, nonjudgmental, and kind, and has inspired hope when things have felt hopeless. Truly a light in the darkness. On top of all of that greatness, she also has a wonderful sense of humour. All of that to say, I would highly recommend Hilary to anyone who has a “misfit” that they love.