Pawsitive Difference Coeur D'Alene, Washington

My parents put TWO of their dogs through this joke of a "training" facility. Their first dog was put there mainly for his reactivity to other dogs. The only thing he returned home with was the semi ability to "place" (stay in one spot until told otherwise). He is still reactive and dog aggressive. My parents other dog was a major project. They were reluctant to put her through their "program" bc they weren't sure they would be able to help and didn't want to spend the enormous amount of money if this was the case. They were told over and over that they 100% could help. Fast forward a few weeks in to her board and train - nearly half the staff leaves. No one is working with the dogs. We later come to find out the many skeletons under the floorboards of Darcy and her her "operations." We were told by a (now ex employee) that her dog was not worked with whatsoever by the trainer who was allegedly supposed to be working with her. They also promised to keep the dog because she had made little to no improvement while she was there (I wonder why). The owner Darcy then retracts her offer and kicks my moms dog out of the program! Then denies any promises she made. I have the recording of the conversation for anyone who is curious. Do not waste your money here. They are a bunch of con artists parading as "dog trainers" and stealing your money.

We took our 18 month old doodle to them for a 4 month board and train and are very pleased with the results! He is sooo much easier to walk now, he will fetch and return the ball without me having to catch him, sits at the door, places and all in all is so much more.pleasant to be with. Love our dood so much! Thanks for helping with him! Absolutely recommend them!

I highly recommend Pawsitive Difference! Revi (our Catahoula Leopard Dog) is our third dog, and one we hope will become a great adventure dog. We intend on taking her on most of our travels so we need a very well behaved, well rounded, social, and solid dog who listens to us because she will spend much of her life OFF LEASH while mountain biking, backcountry skiing, backpacking, etc. Because we have such high expectations we decided to look into professional help. I thought we knew a little bit already about training having two previous adventure dogs, but Revi seems to have a level of intelligence (read defiant and independent) above my two previous dogs. I'm so glad we looked for help and found Pawsitive Difference. Darcey, Rick, and staff have been so great! They are obviously passionate about the work they do and it shows. Revi took to them right away and started showing off her intelligence immediately. Darcey made quick work during our training sessions teaching US to work with Revi on sit, stay, touch, place, wait, leave it, off, kennel, heel, shake, roll over, come, fetch, and more. Fast forward and we now take Revi on daily leash walks, runs, mountain biking, out to eat with us at dog friendly establishments, and last week on her first backcounty skiing tour. I would recommend that you look no more and get started with Pawsitive Difference. Thanks Darcey!

What an exceptional trainer. My Lab pup took to Darcey so well and within only a few hours she had him behaving like a real gentleman. She had him loving his training and wanting more. I highly recommend Pawsitive Difference for anyone who has a canine companion. They are truly a pawsitive difference????

Darcey has trained our 4 dogs. She is thorough and professional. She is patient with owner and with the dog. I highly recommend her to anyone that is in need of dog training. I have worked with her other trainers as well and they have all been great.

Amazing trainer's an excellent experience

During the isolation Covid caused our 14 month old Belgian Mallinois to become excessively protective and aggressive. He went from a social pet to a wary unfriendly companion. I met with the owners and was encouraged by their approach. We went with the 4 week program and we are delighted with the result. We have a lively friend and protector that is obedient and social. I highly recommend Pawsitive Difference. I have taken him back for a friendly visit and he loved it. He loves Darcy, Rick and staff. So I know he was well treated. We are experienced owners having cared for over 50 rescue dogs. We were worried about our Mal and now we have the best companion you could ask for.

I waited 3 months for a promised follow up after a 6 week board and train costing $3500. 90% of what was discussed at the beginning was NOT worked on. They told me my dog would go on car rides and field trips to Home Depot and when I picked him up I was told by the trainer that he did none of those. They told me he would work with their helper dog to learn better dog manners. Was also told this didn’t happen. In one update they said he’s working through his aggression with other dogs- if he was never with their helper dog, how’d that happen? It’s pretty hard for a dog to work through dog reactivity without having a dog to work with. They even told me when I picked him up that their notes said he just whines in the car and thats why they didnt work on it at all. I specifically said at the assessment that he whines, barks, and is jumping around in the car. The only change I’ve noticed is he walks better on a leash and that’s mainly because of the prong collar they provided. Without the prong collar his walking is exactly the same as before. He still pulls and lunges. He is also still very inconsistent with basic commands like sit and lie down and has 0 concept of stay. One of the main purposes of his stay was to solidify his basics along with car rides and dog manners The contract also said I would be updated AT LEAST once a week. I was contacted 3-4 times total-one time being them asking for 2 more weeks and more $. I’ve kept up with the booklet of training materials they gave me but it’s like my dog has never been told to do many of these things before. The website describes the board and train like this "This training option has become a client favorite. When you choose this option, your dog will come to our home and be treated like one of the family. Your pup will learn so many things such as Basic Obedience Training, Socialization skills, Proper interaction with other dogs, field trips to dog friendly stores, dog parks (with your approval of course), how to properly meet and greet people and dogs in public, Fit & Fun, house manners, clicker & focus training and introduction to target training and more." AS WELL AS "Guarantee on all training"

First off, our trainer, Laney, was very nice and had a lot of knowledge, although I don’t believe she was very prepared. We have two puppies that needed some training so we signed them up for private lessons for $1,450 for both of them. That was for five classes, the first one was 90 minutes and the others were 60 minutes. If we had signed up one puppy, we would have received all of the time for one puppy for $725. As it was, we paid double for two puppies but each puppy only received 45 and 30 minutes, respectively, of training per class. Christmas week, we forgot about our class. After the fourth class, we called to reschedule the fifth class and we were told that we could not reschedule the class unless we paid the full cost for another class. Given the fact that we essentially overpaid for the previous four classes, Pawsitive should have rescheduled the fifth class without further payment. I would never recommend this company for dog training. It is a rip off!

I love this place! We currently have our puppy Murphy here for their Board and Train program and last week was his fourth week and we got to see his progress. Let me tell you, he was a good boy just a ton of energy (he is a yellow lab after all) but now he is a managable good boy and I am excited to see his progress. My daughter is moving up here in about a week or so and she has an unruly puppy and she will be come here for training!

I took my 6 month old German Shepard here and it was so amazing! Darcey responded so quickly from the beginning! We signed him up for a two week board and training at first! My pup however had extreme separation anxiety, so the first few days were not that great for him! However since those few days did not go well, Darcey then asked us if it would be okay to extend his stay for a couple more weeks! My main struggle with this was money but money was that last of her Darceys worries. She simply wanted to see a great change in my dog and wanted what was best for him. Oakley then stayed for 4 weeks and kept improving by the day! Oakley was very impulsive, had a lot of behavioral issues and a lot of fear. Darcey did nothing but help him through every step and my dog is now so much better! I can not thank her enough for what she has done! Darcey and her team are so incredible and very family oriented! Highly recommend!

They've been amazing so far and we haven't even dropped her dogs off yet excellent customer service assessment went so well make sure that our dogs were comfortable for the assessment Watch Dogs watched how I interacted with my dog which was really important because I was part of the problem and now I get to be part of the solution my dog and myself are both going to learn new skills

We have an amazing pit bull/lap mix named Oliver. Oliver has always been a good dog, but he had trouble controlling his energy/excitement around others. He didn't listen well to my wife and displayed some concerning behaviors with her. He also was hit-and-miss with how he'd behave around other dogs. Because of our first baby on the way, my wife was concerned with Oliver's behavior and needed to see considerable change in him in order to feel comfortable having a baby at home. So I went looking for trainers to help and Pawsitive Difference was first on the list. We did not need to look any further. Darcey responded to my extensive email very quickly. Darcey and Rick came to our home free of charge to meet my wife and Oliver and present us with our options. After an in-depth discussion, they had a great plan in place to help Oliver and my wife and I knew immediately that we wanted to work with them. It was very clear that Darcey and Rick were excellent in their craft and knew they could provide the solution we needed. They were also incredibly friendly, caring and supportive. They have the "it factor" and we trusted them immediately. It was recommended that Oliver go through boarding training with Darcey and Rick for two weeks as well as receive in-home training after. Oliver had a major knee surgery beforehand as well. In short...Oliver was treated like a king and all his physical needs as well as my own needs were met with excellence. I had no stress in leaving Oliver with them and they communicated often. It was as good as the situation could possibly be. Once I picked Oliver up and brought him home, the progress was very clear. Oliver was a very different dog; very calm, patient, disciplined, and obedient. We still have more work to do, and I am very excited to see how Oliver responds. If you are looking for effective dog training, look no further, you found the right people.

Our dog, Norman, is very friendly, but struggled with impulsive behaviors in exciting environments. It was important to me and my boyfriend that Norman could handle stimulating situations and that we could support him. Though we tried working with Norman a lot on our own, we felt it best to find a program which could help us better foster positive behaviors. I reached out to Darcey after researching various dog training programs in the area and being impressed with the amount of experience Darcey and her team advertise and the amazing reviews I read; it is clear that these accolades are well deserved, as our entire experience with Pawsitive Difference has been more than we could have asked for. It was important to me and my boyfriend that Norman be trained using positive reinforcement, so we were thrilled when Darcey assured us that her training programs are designed with positive reinforcement and for long term success. Darcey was so good about thoroughly communicating with me and answering so many questions before we committed to working with her. When we did commit, she continued to offer support and answer questions before Norman was dropped off for his 3 week board and train program. While Norman was in training, it was so nice that Darcey encouraged my boyfriend and I to be part of the process and let us interact with Norman and learn how to work with him (we wouldn’t have been able to go for 3 weeks without seeing him). Further, Darcey was extremely communicative during the 3 weeks and regularly provided thorough written updates. Norman was extremely well taken care off during his program! Of course, the training was fantastic, but he was also given so much love and we truly believe Darcey and Rick treated Norman like he was their own pet, which made being away from him much easier. We also love that Darcey and Rick let Norman have a relationship with their grandson while he was being trained (we wanted to make sure Norman knew how to control his excitement with kids). It was so special to see their bond! We can’t say enough good things about Pawsitive Difference; we feel very fortunate to have found them! Every day we talk about how proud we are of Norman. We feel comfortable continuing his training because of our work with Darcey and Rick. We are now taking Norman with us on more of our outings, knowing and feeling comfortable that we all have the skills to navigate stimulating situations. We recommend Pawsitive Difference with no hesitations!

Darcy and Rick have really helped our dog beau hes a 9 month mix breed we went from barely being able to walk him to now having him by my side and not leash pulling at all. We did a 2 week board and train aswell as a few one on one sessions !!???? we plan on continuing using them in the future and they are both very knowledgeable and friendly