Synergy Behavior Solutions Portland, Washington

Synergy has been incredibly helpful in navigating training my challenging pup. While at first I found their prices high, I wish I had gone there sooner because they are so knowledgeable and helpful.

Synergy is worth every single penny. We were first time dog owners when we adopted our dog 3 years ago and didn’t know what we were doing despite reading books and watching plenty of YouTube videos. The folks at synergy helped us better understand dog behavior and also how to go about training in a way that breaks things down step by step. Our dog never liked vet visits, getting his nails clipped, or even meeting new people (he’s a heeler mix), but synergy helped us SO much with these things. Our dog is totally cool with meeting new people now, and we can clip his nails no problem. He still doesn’t like the going to the vet but he’s come a long way and will at least take treats while we’re there.

Absolute scam and waste of money. I went into this vocal about my intent to get our sessions covered my pet insurance. It has been over three months of my insurance requesting additional information with radio silence on Synergy’s side. When I reached out personally for more information, I was given a receipt with one sentence on it talking about the issues we were solving. Absolutely not sufficient for insurance. Was that all that was noted?? I’m out hundreds of dollars and have not heard anything from Synergy since our initial Skype conversation. It’s unprofessional at best

Synergy Behavior Solutions exceeded our expectations and we honestly can't imagine what our relationship with our dog would be like without their guidance. When we first reached out to Synergy, our dog had debilitating anxiety and very little socialization. They did an excellent job balancing medical and behavioral interventions. Dr. Valli was very kind and thoroughly explained the medications and any potential effects. We also worked with Lorena for behavioral training. Lorena took the time to understand our dog, his needs and his comfort level. We took a slow, positive approach to training that helped us connect with our dog and build a base level of trust. Five months later and our dog is thriving! We still have things to work on but they are much smaller in magnitude and I feel we have the tools to continue working with him on our own. Thank you Synergy!!!

We cannot say enough good things about Synergy Behavioral Solutions!!! We reached out because our dog demonstrated fearful aggression and we were desperate for help. We received excellent professional care from top to bottom. Dr. Valli oversaw the care and ensured Scout was taken care of medically. An important change to meds and also a food change have made a huge difference in Scout’s irritability. Grace kept us well informed of all plans and appointments. Finally, Lorena was a miracle worker in helping us better understand and work with Scout. She had an endless list of ideas and solutions. A friend recently commented that she was glad we had Scout in training because we “ don’t want Scout to always be a “Nervous Nellie.” My response was that because of Synergy , with Lorena’s guidance, we better understand Scout’s needs and have come to understand her better. She is who she is and now we know how to give her a calmer, stress free life. We cannot recommend this business enough!!! Thank you Synergy!!!!

No line! I live Chick-fil-A

Edit: I’ve added two stars back because Dr. Valli did follow up with me following the posting of this review. She was super validating and professional in her response and took extra time to check in with me about my experience and how to best address my concerns. She was able to connect me with options within my budget and offer creative solutions. She said she would follow up with the other staff I interacted with. I would suggest when utilizing their services be vocal about what you’ve already tried and your budget. I think they’ll give you advice that’s realistic for you when they know that information. —- Original review: I honestly feel like this is a scam. An evaluation is close to $400 and the vet and trainer didn’t really ask to see me interact with my pet or encourage any interaction so it’s hard to believe they really got a comprehensive look at his behaviors. They also really only suggested things I’ve already tried and then pushed products of their own that was MORE costs. Like it starts with a $25 training video, then graduated up to $650 for a few training sessions. The trainer only recommended I teach my pet to “station” and that would justify the $650-$1010 training costs. That wasn’t even part of his problem behaviors or address my concerns. Then they told me they would send a summary out to me that day. A full business week has since passed and I haven’t received that summary. When I emailed politely just mentioning it had been about a week since my evaluation and just asking when I could expect to receive it, I got a passive aggressive email back. The customer coordinator phrased it in a way that made me feel like the appointment I paid nearly $400 for was a burden and a huge inconvenience on the team. Walking away from this experience, I feel like, “okay, if me and my pet are such a burden from the one email I sent and the one appointment we had, I guess we don’t need to continue services.” Still waiting on my summary and contacting my vet who referred us to let them know our experience. I do not recommend.

This training facility is amazing! All the staff has been incredible, especially our amazing trainer Sara. Everyone there is so knowledgeable, kind, and accommodating. They helped us train our high energy and very reactive 90 lb dog to be able to go to the vet, go to a pet boarding facility and be able to meet new people again. The training has been alot of work but I would 10/10 reccomend this place to anyone who is in need of dog training and/or advice.

My wife and I have been clients for 6 months now. We have been extremely pleased with our entire experience there, from the initial evaluation process with Dr. Valli through group educational classes, individual training sessions with three different members of their training staff and participation in webinar lectures and active training sessions using Zoom. All of the trainers are exceptional. They are patient, friendly, and extremely informative. You can tell that they truly love animals. They are helping us better understand our reactive little Sheltie. We are making progress with some complex issues with our little guy. I also need to mention Scott and the other quality individuals who manage the business, handle the phone calls, schedule the sessions and coordinate the comings and goings of the pets and pet parents. Hats off to them for quickly adapting to this whole Covid thing. The Zoom sessions work really well.

I am very proud of the progress my 1 year old corgi dog, Nemo, has made with Synergy Behavior Solutions. His daily life (and ours) is much less stressful and far more enjoyable. Dr. Valli, our trainer Lorena, and Grace have given Nemo tools (like medication and training games) to help his anxiety, hyper-vigilance, and reactivity. We are extremely grateful for these behavior improvements in Nemo. We are happy to continue working with every wonderful team member at Synergy; they are all stellar.

I have been taking my dog to Synergy for a few years now. I cannot say enough good things about them. My dog has gone from an anxious, reactive dog to a happy, outgoing pup! Their trainers are amazing and my dog LOVES working with them. They have taught us so many good skills! Their online training and classes have been really helpful.

When I decided to rescue my sweet boys, my goal was to find fairly “broken” dogs and help rehabilitate them. I didn’t want to find the perfect happy dog that would easily get adopted, I went for the dog that was about to be put down for sever separation anxiety - my Rhodesian Ridgeback/boxer/pibble mix, Koda. My next rescue was the runt of the litter off the streets that was terrified of just about everything and extremely terrified of humans...a shiba inu mix who bonded with Koda. So now at this point, I have a 1 yr old and a 3 month old that are bonded and while I thought I had a clue on how to help them, the next couple years would prove to be way more challenging than I thought, and path after path that we tried with training helped a little, but not nearly the drastic changes I was hoping for, and both my boys were still fairly “broken” and not enjoying life as they should. That was until we heard of Lorena with Synergy and all the amazing new thinking and training techniques they are doing. I first watched Lorena’s Live video about the wild pups class they were putting on and from that moment on, our lives have changed for the better! While I’m only a couple months into this new training, the results I’ve seen have been like none other! My dogs don’t care when we leave the house, they aren’t stressing, their recall has increased tons, their body awareness is increasing, they are finally learning to choose to be calm and to leave stressful situations, they play more and already we can see that they are enjoying life more than ever before. They listen, they engage, and they are finally going to be able to live a happy balanced life! Lorena, I truly cannot thank you enough! Your knowledge and skill base on how humans and dogs think and behave is incredible and I’m very much looking forward to continuing down this path! Huge thanks and palms pressed for sharing this info online and with the world!

I just had my first experience with Synergy, participating in a webinar about calmness for canines, (not to mention their people. ) The webinar was well-organized and professional. The presenter, Lorena, was friendly, open, animated and non-judgmental. She responded quickly to questions and comments. I’m really starting to understand what the world is like from my dog’s point of view.

We were recommended to Synergy Behavior Solutions after struggling at the vet clinic (and in the community) with our dog's fear turned fear aggression. We worked with Dr. Valli and 3 different training offerings (private sessions, Reactive Rover-Dog Directed, Reactive Rover-Human Directed). The trainings worked synergistically with the recommended pharmacology to help our dog increase his overall comfortability and to begin look to us humans to provide him with support in the face of challenging stimuli. The team at Synergy Behavior Solutions is fabulous in ALL ways: well organized, caring, effective at teaching and coaching (canine and human)--they are community builders!

We just wrapped up Synergy's online Walk With Me and Reactive Rover classes with Lorena. We learned a lot and really enjoyed Lorena's game-focused approach to training and have been happy to see progress in our dog, Lucy. In the past, we have used a couple different trainers but we were either uncomfortable with their methods or didn't feel like they answered our questions. Lorena's classes filled in all the holes which was so great. We're sad not to have our weekly classes anymore but hope to train more with Lorena in the future!

We have had great results working with the Dr and trainers at Synergy. My crazy anxious reactive dog and I trained together which is essential. All positive reinforcement training.

Great facility, friendly staff, and extremely patient. If you adopted a furbaby and they are having any behavioral problems, give these folks a try. Even though you don't know what happened to them before they came to live with you, they can give you solid tips and strategies to make them calmer and happier.

We just finished our training package for our husky puppy. The team at Synergy was so supportive and went above and beyond to help me learn how to be good puppy momma to a puppy who my trainer in a loving way called "a sensitive snowflake". Synergy has helped me understand my puppy, so I can help her be her best. I am so thankful that my vet referred me to this team.

Great staff, very understanding with my dogs concerns.

Katelin is an amazing trainer! You can tell she truly loves what she does.

We adopted sweet Lloyd a little over one year ago. This boy had fear aggression to so many things. Walks were very challenging because he appeared to other dog walkers as a vicious out-of-control dog if another dog came into his view, or normal street noises startled him. Walks were a pulling charge to attack any fear to make it go away. If we had not adopted this boy, he surly would have been put down due to his aggressive fears. We started with some individual assessment sessions with Dr. Valli and then moved into individual (no other dogs) training sessions with Scott. Here we learned how to help Lloyd manage his fears by not letting him reach his trigger level for an aggressive reaction and we learned how to be vigilant to anything that could be a trigger for him. All this was done with reward based positive reinforcement training and lots of love. We have just completed the beginner level of a Reactive Rover class with three other dogs in the class and Lloyd did wonderfully. We realize that the class setting is in a controlled environment but Lloyd has carried his newly learned skills to the outside world and now enjoys his walks and doesn't charge to the next fear to make it go away, anymore. He continues to improve daily with his fears and walks are mostly taken with pleasure and ease. He is ready to move into the next level of training with Synergy or can take the same class to reinforce more thoroughly what he has already learned. We will always be indebted to Synergy Behavioral Solutions for what they have done for Lloyd and us.

We took our young puppy to see Dr. Valli for separation anxiety issues. The visit was an truly eye opening experience. Dr. Valli and her team are amazing at teaching dogs in a way that is friendly, loving, and builds trust via positive reinforcement. We were treated with absolutely no judgement, only helpful advice, medical treatment, and great overall support. If you have any pet issues, I would highly recommend Synergy!

If I could leave a zero I would. Took my dog to this person because she jumped up, was enthusiastic, protective, and mouthy (everything had to go into her mouth). Apparently these are textbook characteristics of Airedale mix breeds. The "doctor" was immediately apprehensive, insisted we buy a muzzle, and suggested we have her put down. I did my own research and realized that the bright white teeth and boisterous behavior, not to mention her enormous paws that she hadn't grown into, indicated *she was still a puppy*. This "behavioral specialist" couldn't tell the difference between a puppy and a grown dog, and couldn't identify puppy behaviors. My dog is now a happy, well-adjusted, friendly beastie. Had I listened to this quack she would have been pushing daisies. Beware of dog behavior specialist! Edit: Generic response from owner denying culpability. I stand by my review. They deny that they would have suggested she be "put down" when that was the exact phrase used with me. All the rest of their response is specious whargarbl.

Forward thinking and progressive dog training happens here. Fun and engaging solutions to the most challenging dog behavior problems. Both my dogs have benefited greatly from Synergy. Highly recommend.

I've been taking my dog Waffles to Dr. Valli and Scott (Synergy's awesome trainer) for a year now and the only thing I wish is that I had visited them sooner! The respect, care, and attention that my dog receives there is unmatched. Dr. Valli's compassion, bedside manner, and knowledge for animals with behavioral issues is the stuff of dreams. I wish she was my dog's regular vet! I've worked in the veterinary industry for 10 years now and finding a vet who really takes the time to get to know your dog and respect his needs, is current on the medical research, and takes the time to listen and educate kindly and thoroughly is practically unheard of. Their training classes are structured in such a way to produce results and success. And Scott has a wealth of knowledge on how to make any dog's life easier, less scary, and more fun. The last behaviorist I saw told me my dog might be a lost cause and maybe would have to be euthanized. Synergy gave him a chance and gave me hope. And Dr. Valli and Scott gave me the tools and resources to be able to help him live a life that wasn't constantly based on his fear of his surroundings. Because of them, I learned to understand my dog's world from his point of view and I learned to love him and accept him despite the behavior he sometimes can't help. And because of them, my dog is happier and wags his tail more - something he never used to do. I even recently decided to pursue my veterinary technician specialty license in animal behavior - I love what they do that much! If you think your pet needs help, don't wait until the problem goes away on its own or with age - it likely will only get worse. Do the right thing. Get him/her help. Take it from someone who's dog went from "lost cause" to manageable. Synergy is money and time well spent! They make mine and Waffles' life so much easier.

Expert help for problem dogs.

Synergy helped us with our two overly energetic french bulldogs. Things are so much calmer I can't express how much it has helped our day to day lives. I highly recommend and will definitely be calling if we need help in the future.