Matt is a really excellent trainer. He not only trains your dog, but he also trains you to be a better dog handler.

When we first adopted Willie, a pit bull mix with a choppy backstory, we were told that he was great with other dogs. We found out within the first couple days of having him that ‘great’ was not the case. Willie was extremely dog reactive – he’d fixate on other dogs and growl like there was no tomorrow. It got to the point where I was scared to walk him because of how he reacted to other dogs. I started to wonder why he was like this, if it was because of his time in the high kill shelter in Alabama, if it was because he was beaten by one of his fosters, or even if it was me and if I wasn’t the right owner for him.

I started to realize that I needed to stop fixating on why he was like that – I just needed to help him. It wasn’t fair to him to be cooped up because I was afraid to take him outside. I started looking at trainers and quickly got discouraged because many facilities wouldn’t work with aggressive dogs.

And then I found Matt. At our consultation, Willie went berserk when he saw Kane, but that didn’t stop Matt from working with us. We started our private lessons in July and began taking Willie to group lessons in November.

It’s February. I can sit Willie next to another dog without getting nervous. He can focus on me instead of fixating on other dogs. Matt very well may have saved Willie’s life. And not only that, but he gave me the confidence that I needed to work with my dog. For this, Matt, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.