Testimonials

Professional references can be furnished upon request. Contact me and I will put you in touch with one of my clients.

Zoe and Stella

As newbie parents of a 4 year old rescue pit bull my husband and I needed all the help we could get with Stella. Sweet, affectionate and calm at home, she would be tense on walks, bark aggressively and lunge at other dogs. We were scared we had taken on more than we could handle but were determined to keep her in our family.
Enter Ellen to the rescue!
It turns out that Stella was not the problem…we just needed to learn a few basics about normal dog behaviors and how to relax as she interacted with new doggy friends on the block.
Ellen is knowledgeable, calm and sweet and demonstrated simple techniques that we practiced with her in the office and on supervised walks, soon we were enjoying taking Stella out and watching her socialize without fear.
We can’t thank Ellen enough for her training advice and for reassuring us that we had made a great choice in adding Stella to our family. – Zoe P.

I had a puppy who was extremely anxious. Street noises, people with shopping carts, anything at all would set her off. It got so bad that she would shake & generally freak out
the minute we got downstairs. It was almost to the point where I was thinking about re-homing her. She just wasn’t happy with anything I was doing.

I began to work with Ellen. First she quickly gained Lola’s trust (and mine). We worked outside using her favorite food as reinforcements. We got closer & closer to our favorite park.
Gradually & with enormous patience she managed to turn everything into a game and within a few weeks Lola overcame most of her fears to the point where we could call her happy. Ellen was patient and concerned. It was obvious she knew what she was doing. I know she attends seminars all the time so she’s very knowledgeable. I highly recommend her.

 

Ellen worked with me and my dog Cisco for several weeks. She is a very knowledgeable, very caring trainer who was able to get Cisco’s attention and cooperation immediately (no small feat). Her techniques are gentle, yet very effective, and she was very tuned into me and my dog. She was wonderful at correcting things I was doing to confuse or impede my dog’s learning, and my dog (and I) have continued to use the wonderful training methods and behaviors she taught us.
She is a dedicated, caring and excellent dog trainer. – Carole F.

Carole’s Chihuahua Cisco hated putting on his harness so much, she was afraid to put it on him. He bit her several times, so she avoided walking him, and let him use his wee wee pad instead. We began training by starting from scratch with a different harness, and giving him his favorite food every time he went near it. We never put it on him, just let him get closer and closer every day. Eventually, he would make the choice to put his head into the harness, and do it happily, because he had decided that the harness was a good thing. After we finished training, I saw Carole walking Cisco occasionally. It was a great feeling knowing that she was able to put the harness on him, without fear, and take her happy dog for a walk. –Ellen

“Hi my name is Wallace and I’m a 7 month old Havanese. Ellen is my special friend who is helping me and my mommy and daddy with my separation anxiety and teaching me good behaviors. She is so much fun and is very good at getting my attention but more importantly helping my mommy and daddy who are first time puppy owners and a little overwhelmed by my anxiety.

Ellen has taught us basic commands and tips to help me be a nicely behaved city doggie and work up to spending time alone. She also has lots of great recommendations on toys for me and even went to the vet with me and my mommy. I was overwhelmed by puppy class and could not concentrate in a group setting – working with Ellen at my apartment is way more fun!! Did I mention that I get treats?

Any doggie who needs help with training should ask their parents to see Ellen!! Anyone who has questions is welcome to reach out to my mommy who can tell them how awesome Ellen is.” — Kristi B.

“It was Graceful Canine that catapulted me into the world of dog training in the first place. I met Ellen at the dog park shortly after moving to Manhattan and she offered Ace and me private lessons as a way to help us survive our first dark, cold, New York City winter. She gave us a wonderful introduction to clicker training and tricks. I saw a light in my dogs’ eyes that I had never seen before. A line of communication had opened between us and immediately I knew I wanted more.”

“I had originally planned on taking my puppy Gimlet to a group training class. With the one-on-one attention, Gimlet and I learned so much in just our first lesson.

“I have to emphasize that I learned a lot myself – Ellen gave me the skills in that first lesson to successfully teach Gimlet basic commands and to work with him on everything she had taught us between our lessons. Ellen took the time to really understand what I wanted to get out of the training lessons and prepared lesson plans designed to address Gimlet’s particular behavior issues; everything was customized, and she even checked in with me between lessons to see how we were doing and to re-cap what we had learned. Gimlet and I wholeheartedly recommend Graceful Canine!” — Minnie