Molly Sechrest
Jan. 30, 2025
I purchased a package from Dog Training Elite New Mexico, which included an Elite trainer coming to my house for an individual session once per week. We started with the basic training course, where my dog mastered commands, such as come, sit, down, heel, off, place, and free. We then progressed to the second part of the course, which consisted of three sessions in a public area. The goal was for my dog to take commands in a setting with distractions like crowds, traffic, and random noise. The third part included two sessions for service dog training, where we returned to my home to learn a special task for a specific disability.
The total package for dog service training consisted of ten individual training sessions with the same trainer, John, in Santa Fe, NM. It also included no-charge options like group classes at local parks and malls, and optional group visits to the Albuquerque International Airport, where we took our dogs through TSA to get accustomed to airport procedures.
Each session with John was outstanding. He came equipped with both formal and intuitive knowledge of how to get a dog to follow commands. John clearly loves dogs and paid individual attention to my four-year-old male miniature poodle, Ruben. A large part of the training involved teaching me how to train my dog, so I was learning alongside Ruben. John entrusted me with the task of working with Ruben for 20-30 minutes every day between weekly sessions, which I mostly did.
The most challenging task was training Ruben to consistently heel on command. After ten weeks, Ruben now heels and adjusts his position if he starts to get ahead or behind when I click his e-collar as a reminder. He heels both off-leash and on-leash. Another challenge was getting him to drop everything and come when I say “come!” Ruben is 99% compliant, sometimes hesitating for 10 or 15 seconds but never more. He sits like a soldier at attention on the “sit” command and is compliant with “down” (lie down) 90% of the time, and 100% after a little encouragement. The other commands have been relatively easy.
Elite provided me with a text number and an email address and have always been responsive to my questions and comments, usually replying within minutes or at most a few hours.
The optional, free group classes have been immensely beneficial. Ruben was initially frightened of large dogs but has progressed extremely well and now takes their presence without fuss. One issue remains: Ruben’s fear of large interiors like malls, big box stores, and airports. However, Ruben recently took his maiden flight from Santa Fe, NM to Tampa, FL and handled it with aplomb 85% of the time. We are still working on it, but he has improved. John assures me that Ruben and I can participate in Elite’s monthly group classes for life. With that and visits to our local mall, I am confident Ruben will overcome this last challenge.
John was an excellent trainer, always sensitive and adaptable to the needs of Ruben and me. We went to coffee shops where Ruben learned the command “under” to go under my chair or the table for proper etiquette at restaurants. Because I was worried about Ruben’s upcoming airplane trip, John made a special excursion to meet downtown and board a local public bus. John gave me lots of pointers as we rode around town. The bus was a much rougher ride than the airplane turned out to be, so the experience was especially helpful. After that, Ruben took the airplane ride with amazing equanimity.
All in all, I hold Elite in deep respect and would recommend them to anyone wanting to take on the challenge of getting their dog to obey basic commands, and if needed, to become a reliable service dog.
