Dog Pause - Truckee, California

Molly Knott

Through a series of Zoom sessions, Dan helped us tremendously with an extremely anxious and challenging new rescue dog. If you think you know a lot about dogs, think again. I am a horse trainer and although I have decades of experience with a variety of animals, Dan provided a great deal of fresh insight and new tools for us to implement. It was very important to us that he utilizes positive reinforcement techniques. After a lot of guidance and work, we now have a calm, happy, and confident member of our pack.

Sarah Pei Chang Zhou

We foster failed an 80 lb girl a couple of years ago, and after a period of decompression, she presented some serious guarding and behavioral issues. We luckily found Dan and Dog Pause, and he changed our lives. With his positive reinforcement training and teaching us how to read our own dog's body language, we've become effectively attentive and Fran has blossomed into a calm and increasingly resilient dog. She used to crouch, lunge, and bark at every dog she found scary – even an 8 lb Pom – and now, she can disengage, check in with me, get a delicious treat and an enthusiastic "Good girl!!" and move on with our walk. She used to guard me against my own partner in the house, and now she knows that he's where great things happen, so I find them hanging out and snuggling somewhere in the house all the time.

I think the most significant change Dan's training has effected is this change in philosophy in the treatment of companion animals. When we're hanging out at the park and other dogs come by with their guardians yelling "no, stop it, don't do x," it's never really that effective. The dog may be jerked around or forced into compliance, but they're at it again soon, because something is more tempting at that moment than the unpleasantness of the correction. But when it's just finding that split moment when they're doing something you DO want, and giving them a treat or praise, I've found that the other dogs tend to repeat these "good" behaviors more often and they catch on quicker than I ever would have expected. Gentleness and reinforcement of behavior that you want really do work, and what I've gotten out of it is a lot of trust and love from this weirdo furball of mine. It beats living with a compliant dog, but one that fears you.

Anyway, I hope anyone who sees this would choose Dan, and I hope your experiences are enriching. He really helped us, and I would wish this type of training for all dogs.

Heiko Mueller

Dan is an amazing trainer. I work with him since 2 years. Which is nice because my dog goes through different stages. He helps me to understand my dog and other dogs. And he teaches me how to teach my dog everything. Thank you for being the best school for my puppy.

Riley Rocket

Dan from Dog Pause understands how dogs learn and knows how to teach humans to communicate so our dogs can hear us. He has worked with us and our labrador retriever puppy since we brought him home. (The photo is Dan with Diesel at 14 weeks) When at just 9 months old the dog was suddenly afraid of the clicker and his leash, Dan helped us reconnect those tools so they have become a positive thing again, not something scary. He has also helped us with leash manners (it's about turning the dog's attention to me even before beginning to work on the perfect heel position). I've watched tons of YouTube videos and attended puppy kindergarten, but the time we spent with Dan was where the foundation for success has been laid out. Dog Pause and Dan (along with his sidekick Roo) are highly recommended!

Mitchell Milner

Dan is a wonderful dog trainer. He has been very helpful in helping us understand "dog". He is phenomenal at what he does and loves what he does . He's been respectful and has gone above and beyond for us. We love that he has included our kids in the training process as well. Oh and Calvin loves him too!

Sleiman Masri

Dan is so knowledgeable and explains everything in an easy to understand way. Our dogs love him and are already improving. Couldn’t recommend more.

Madison S

We started working with Dan shortly after adopting our first dog. He was awesome - taught us how to communicate with our dog and use positive reinforcement/clicker training to build a great relationship from the ground up. Everything from how to walk on the leash to car rides and excessive barking in the yard, he has really helped us build a great foundation. Our pup also might like Dan more than she likes us - always SO excited for him to come over and "play"! Thanks Dan 🙂

Christina Landini

Dan was wonderful! He came over and helped us with our husky. He was not only informative, but out husky really loved him! Our family notices a big behavioral difference in Sansa which is incredible. If you need an amazing dog trainer, I highly recommend Dan!