Poodles to Pit Bulls Dog Training & Dog Walking

I’ve worked with Ettel with two different dogs, and I could not recommend her enough. She is patient, kind, experienced, knowledgeable, and all around would never want to work with someone else.

I worked with Ettel in 2022 after my happy, robust, cocky pup suddenly turned nervous and prone to fights. Ettel gave me a lot of reassurance and helped me understand the reasons for the changes I was seeing in Ziggy. Most importantly she gave me a lot of guidance and a LOT of homework to do with my dog. I did the homework diligently and we got my dog to a much healthier state of mind. Today hes thriving, Im thriving, were thriving together. I cant recommend Ettel enough if you love your dog a whole bunch but youre struggling to understand them. Ettel brings years of experience and professional training with her. I would 100% hands down work with her again in a heartbeat.

Ettel is absolutely top-notch. She helped me a while back when I moved back to the city with my dog and experienced some behavioral regressions. I was so scared about what my dogs behavior might mean about giving her a full and happy life, and whether she could be left alone or trusted with other dogs. Working with Ettel was amazing; she put me at ease, she helped me be realistic about what was and wasnt possible, and she truly understood how my love for my dog made her behavioral changes so scary. With time and attention and tons of tailored advice and training, my sweet husky was back to her old self again, and I had become a more patient, skilled, and understanding dog owner. I learned that so much of what had been difficult about my dogs behavior was that I didnt know how to read what she was communicating, but Ettel speaks fluent dog, and she knew exactly what to show me to watch out for. She also helped me learn how to meet my dog on her own terms while also ensuring obedience, calm, and plenty of love and cuddles. Ettel didnt needlessly schedule sessions or suggest I participate in any unnecessary services--she was honest about what was needed and what wasnt, and when my dog graduated she was the first to say that we were ready to move on from her expert care and guidance. But a few years later, when my boyfriend moved here with his dog and I knew wed need to teach them how to adjust together, I knew exactly who to call. Ettel came over for multiple sessions to help me train my dog to get used to another dog in our apartment, to help me look out for signs of stress and triggers, and she always, always, always helped me stay positive about our progress.Ettel knows not only whats right for a dog, but whats right for the dogs owner. Sometimes I felt like she was more of a couples therapist for me and my dog! Everything she did only helped me grow, and helped my sweet dog gain confidence and joy in our lives together. I cant recommend her highly enough.

Ettel was great! Our dog was having aggression problems and would become scared with people. There were two incidents where he bit, and others where he seemed afraid and wanted to bite but luckily he was not able to. We were considering trying to find him a new home. We looked up trainers that had experience with dogs like ours and that’s how we found Ettel. When we first met Ettel we discussed our problems and concerns with her. It wasn’t until the last five minutes that she met our dog. Our dog wanted to attack her when we brought him out, it was not pretty. We had six sessions with Ettel. At each session Ettel not only taught our dog she taught us. She helped us understand what his triggers were and signs that he was uncomfortable. She helped us understand that importance of choice for him. At our third session our dog was happy to see Ettel and was super friendly with her. We now know the correct way of introducing our dog to people. On walks our dog would hurd us and with Ettel‘ s help we now understand that he was showing us his anxiety through this herding. We are happy to say, that since our second session with Ettel our dog has not herded us. Not only was Ettel great with our dog she was great with us. She gave us the confidence we needed to help our dog. We would recommend Ettel to anyone.

Ettel is a knowledgeable, highly experienced trainer who gave us the right tools to help our adopted Boston Terrier with several behavioral issues. Not only is Ettel super professional, she is kind and patient and clearly has a lot of love for dogs. Her assessment of our dog was thorough and accurate and her explanation of the training exercises was clear and easy to follow with a bit of practice. Our dog has made great progress with a separation anxiety issue and he no longer pulls on his leash but walks calmly by my side.Our biggest challenge has been leash reactivity. Ettel gave us several methods for helping our dog through his fear of other dogs while on-leash and weve incorporated all of these techniques. By giving us more than one way to help him through these anxious moments, we were ready to try different techniques for different situations. It helped me be more confident and feel better equipped to stay calm and make my dog feel safe and confident, too.Weve also used Ettels boarding service and our dog loves staying with her! He gets so excited when he sees her car coming to pick him up. The pick up/drop off service she provides is so convenient and helps take some of the stress out of travel and boarding. She also sends photos and updates during his stay, which helps us feel connected even if were far away.

Ettel is truly a find! I had worked with several other trainers in the past and Ettel is in a league of her own. First of all, she has an obvious love for dogs and really gets and appreciates my dogs unique personality. As a result, she has helped me understand my dog and read her signals so much better, which has been a complete game changer (and I was already fairly versed in dogs and dog body language before I started working with Ettel). For example, in our first session, she pointed out that my dog didnt actually seem to like being petted on most of her body, which I hadnt picked up on, but which I quickly saw to be true once she pointed it out. Ettel is very mindful of getting dogs consent and buy-in for anything people are asking them to do and it is so refreshing. In my experience, even so-called force free or positive trainers sometimes resort to pushing or pulling a dog around when they dont catch on or cooperate. That is 100% NOT Ettel. She finds ways to get your dog to WANT to do what you are asking. This is not only much safer, in my opinion, but also so much more fun for human and dog alike!Ettel is extremely safety conscious and thoughtful about how she works with you and your dog. She is very responsive and flexible in her work with two- and four-legged clients, focusing sessions on the areas you want and need to work on rather than adhering to some rigid notion of what dog behavior should be. For example, I dont really mind my dog pulling on leash a bit, so we didnt spend time working on heel just for the sake of it, as I have with other trainers.Ettel is also very knowledgeable about dogs, dog behavior, and many related topics and shes very adept at thinking on her feet. Because she knows her stuff so thoroughly, shes really to flexibly tailor techniques and teachings to you and your dog. If my dog (or I!) wasnt catching on one way, she would shift gears and figure out another way to make things more intuitive or natural for us. She also helped us to put in place several routines that have solved or prevented issues I hadnt even considered. For example, she trained me to reward my dog every time she checked in with me on walks. To be honest, I thought it was a bit much at first, but then the warm weather came, and the first time a scooter went whizzing by and my dog prepared to chase, then instinctively paused and checked in with me instead, I was amazed and really grateful for Ettels foresight. This is one example of many in which an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and after having my dog for 18 months, I can really see so many ways in which the routines and skills Ettel has given us have made a huge difference.Ettel has helped me to give my dog the structure and clear communication she needs so she knows what to expect from me and what I expect from her. My dog is SO much more relaxed, calm, and confident as a result. So in a nutshell, Ettel is worth every penny. She has improved my quality of life, my dogs, and our relationship immensely. She is easy to work with: respectful, punctual, patient, accessible. I cannot recommend her highly enough!

We hired Ettel after we adopted a rescue dog, and quickly realized that the dog, while sweet as can be, had behavioral issues that made her difficult for first time dog owners like us. Ettel was not only smart, effective and kind in her training style, but went above and beyond in helping us when we went through a particularly rough patch with the dog. Her love of animals and empathy for the humans that own them is unparalleled and we are so lucky to have worked with her.

As a rescue, having a trusted trainer is essential. Ettels passion for dog behavior is evident in how she makes training sessions positive and tailors them to each dogs needs. We are incredibly lucky to work with her and thankful for everything shes done to help our dogs find loving homes!

It is impossible to overstate the success me and my dog have had with Ettels training. My 2 year old mixed breed was afraid of many things, mostly people, and the result was a lot of scary barking and lunging at people. After working with Ettel his behavior has improved so much, and it isnt scary or difficult to walk him anymore. If you need help with a challenging dog, Ettel is the trainer you want.

Ettel has helped us come so far with our rescue doodle Cosmo! Cosmo’s fear reactivity really started coming out when she turned 1, along with other issues like not wanting to leave the house, and being a bad walker when we did leave.Ettel walked us through how to document what we were seeing and how to bring it to our vet to ask about medication. We worked on Cosmo’s reactivity as well as walking, along with tons of other things like being able to be in a different room than Cosmo without her stressing out; enrichment games to play to keep her busy and happy and tire her out; and letting us groom her. Cosmo is doing so well now and we have Ettel to thank! We can go on walks without her pulling and she will be nice to strangers that we want to introduce her to. We also learned how to set boundaries and not let anyone just run up and touch her.I also feel like Ettel is my and Cosmo’s therapist, giving me space to talk about how Cosmo’s issues were affecting us as well as being gentle and realistic with her recommendations so that we could actually implement them in our lives. It was really hard initially to accept that my sweet rescue puppy was growing up to show these problems, so I really needed someone to talk to about it and empathize. Thank you Ettel!!

We adopted our dog 5 years ago, who came to us with major socialization issues with house guests and the city environment. As first time dog owners, we felt helpless in tackling these problems, but Ettel worked with us to train confidence and obedience. We went from having a dog that would bark at everyone who entered the home and was too afraid to leave the stoop to one that loves people and going on walks! I cant recommend Ettel enough.

Ettel helped us with training our very anxious and neurotic dog, and we really benefited from her expertise and guidance! She understood our dog and our needs and offered practical support. Highly recommend, especially if you have a fearful/reactive pup!

We adopted our adult rescue dog, Penny, in July, and quickly discovered that she had some issues that were beyond our capability to address -- mainly separation anxiety, freezing up on walks, and a compulsive tendency to eat whatever she found on the street. Over the course of six sessions, Ettel provided us with techniques and guidance that resulted in major, in some cases immediate, improvements in Pennys behavior. Not only was she effective, but she was incredibly kind and generous with both us and our dog. She didnt just give us instructions, she explained the principles of positive reinforcement and helped us understand the reasons behind Pennys behaviors. Thanks to her, we are better dog owners, and Penny is much healthier and happier. Do not hesitate to reach out to Ettel, even if your dogs issues seem intractable -- it will be well worth it!

Excellent service, extremely personable and they were most importantly able to work around my busy schedule.I cannot recommend them enough!

My husband and I were recommended to Ettel at Poodles to Pitbulls after we had hired several dog trainers to help our small shitzu/terrier/poodle mix adjust to life with our newborn baby. We had had a number of issues after bringing our baby girl home and the run of the mill dog trainer keen to help us have our dog sit better on cue was just not cutting the mustard. We needed help, badly, and so with hope (and a little desperation) in our hearts, we called Ettel after hearing from our local pet shop that she was “magical.” Boy were they right. Ettel set us straight, helped us make a plan to keep everyone in the house safe and happy and demonstrated such an incredible knowledge of dog behavior that I was floored. She helped us when we really needed it, gave us back our sense of peace and I am so grateful to her. Because of her work with us and our dog, we were able to keep our dog, foster a beautiful relationship between our dog and our daughter and, well, live happily ever after. She is incredible and the real deal. Hire her. You’ll be thrilled you did.

Ettel is absolutely changing our dogs anxiety (and ours too)!

We started working with Ettel a few months ago and it has felt like therapy for us and our two dogs. They both have very different needs and Ettel has helped us make so much progress with both of them. One of them really struggles with stranger danger and now we know how to set her up for success and having people over is so much easier than before. Our other guy has some big resource guarding behaviors and just in the short time we have been working on it already feels like something we can actually work through instead of having to manage and worry about it his entire life. Ettel is incredibly professional, kind, and wants to do what is best for everyone in your home. Cannot recommend highly enough!

If youre in Astoria or LIC and need a dog walker - especially if you have a reactive dog - reach out to Kayla. I co-foster a very sweet but leash-reactive dog, and there was a weekend when both sets of fosters were going to be out of town. I reached out to shelter volunteers, and they recommended Kayla. We met in advance, and from the jump, our foster felt right at home with her (pulling toys out of her bin, flinging them around her apartment while we laughed about how cute he was). I cant emphasize enough how relieved we were knowing he was in her caring hands. Ive had to drop off fosters temporarily during a trip and it was so painful - I was glued to my phone worried about them. I was considering cancelling until we met Kayla. Within minutes of dropping him off, Kayla was sending us photos of him with toys and cuddling her. He knew he was in a good place. And it meant the world to us to know he was with someone safe and understanding.In short: message Kayla. Shell love and care about your dogs like theyre her own, even and especially if they have reactive tendencies (because shes parented her own reactive dogs)