Birgit with Chloe

I believe when it comes to dog training, we need very honest and helpful reviews in order to find that right trainer who matches our personality, point of view and expectations but foremost to match our dog's personality and needs. You need to decide if you are willing to fully commit to invest not just your money but also your time in the training sessions and beyond, meaning training on a daily basis for the rest of the dog's life.

There is a misconception about dog training. Some people just want the bad behavior or problem of their dogs fixed and expect that from a dog trainer be done, so they can keep going on with their daily lives. I made that big mistake when I got my first dog man, many years ago. After problems arose, I had her trained by a professional dog trainer for 4 weeks without my presence or possibility of me to learn how to handle my dog. At the end of that expensive training, I had a perfectly trained dog, listening to every command, demonstrated by the dog trainer, also presented me with a video of the training to take home. After 2 weeks being back home my dog was back to her previous behavior issues...
My lesson learnt was you should never let your dog be trained or "fixed" by a trainer and think you don't have to put any work into it.
This time I was looking for a trainer who teaches and trains my reactive dog the humane way, who is not intimidating my dog with shouting, leash jerking or any other kind of verbal and physical forceful manipulation and dominance. I needed a trainer who was willing to be super patient and take small steps for however long it will take and do all that in one-on-one sessions, not group training because my dog is also fearful of most other dogs. My dog was sitting in a rescue shelter for many years before I adopted her. She is a reactive dog, meaning she reacts to everything what makes her anxious and fearful like loud noises, fireworks, wind, smells, barking dogs, vehicle noises etc. It got to the point where she refused to go on walks or outside the house at all, except the backyard and sometimes not even that.
In Megan I found that trainer, we clicked right from the initial interview session. Megan is such a wonderful, compassionate human being and she has patience beyond I have ever seen. Megan is very calm and approaches the dog training in a humane, treat based way which made my dog having fun doing the training sessions. She has taught me how to correct "our issues" by taking very small steps, repeating those on a daily basis, progressing in a snail speed in the beginning and there was never anything rushed. She explained the why, what and how of everything we did, making sure that I understood perfectly how to do the training before we moved on to the next session. Every session was customized to my dog's needs. Megan gave me all kinds of tools, suggesting ways and new approaches when something didn't quite work. She always emailed me detailed reviews of the training session, follow up's, homework assignments or links to literature to read, videos to watch. I can't praise her enough for what she has done for me and my dog!
Having a strong bond with my dog, that bond has formed even tighter now. It has transformed not only my dog but also myself.

If you are in need of a good honest, reliable dog trainer and you are confused by the many choices out there, I can just highly recommend Megan. She is very skilled and knowledgeable, and she owns a reactive dog herself, which gives her a perfect understanding of your needs, frustrations, helplessness and worries, she is going through everything herself on a daily basis.

1000 Thanks to Megan and I hope that this review will be helpful to somebody else.