The Polite Pups Experience

Donna is not only an amazing person to be around, she is amazing at what she does and my two pups absolutely loved her.

We have been fortunate to be working with Donna since our pup was 10 weeks and with her help, guidance and encouragement Otis has grown into a confident, levelheaded dog - I suspect her calm demeanour rubbed off on him!

I absolutely loved working with Donna for dog training!

She was knowledgeable and wonderful with our new puppy Zelda. I wanted to create a strong foundation for our puppy to become the best dog she can be. Donna was instrumental in starting this foundation with the positive reinforcement training approach.

I was relieved the moment I spoke to Donna on the phone. I appreciated Donna’s straightforward and honest approach – she told me that she would ‘train’ me to train my pooch, and that’s all I needed to know. I was ready to learn. She also said she would use treats and rewards, no physical punishment like a flick on the nose or wrap on the bum, which aligns 100% with my ethics and world view.

You can not go wrong by engaging Donna Barrett to help you with your dog. Donna clearly explained her objectives and how her lessons matched the stages of puppy development. Donna also showed us how Tessa's reactions to new or different situations could give us clues to her personality. She has helped us to develop good practices when working with a puppy, and has given us lots of tips and techniques to help keep Tessa happy.

Donna was an absolute pleasure to work with! Her knowledge, passion, experience and wisdom were such valuable resources for our family and puppy, Dolly. Positive reinforcement training, coupled with Donna's genuine approach and experience have not only encouraged Dolly to develop into a positive canine citizen, this experience has also developed us into positive canine owners!

Donna definitely understands how to relate to pooches and jumped right in at teaching us how to relate to Jack. We were continually provided explanations on what dog body language to watch for, in fact we received cue cards at every session as a reference to what we had learned. Donna's approach was timely each week with the progression we were seeing with Jack. Donna made herself available at any time for our questions and concerns by sending her off a quick note.

As we only had a dog when I was a teenager, and knowing what breed we would get, we instantly knew we needed to do training, especially since my husband has never had a dog and we have young daughter who needed it too.

Let me just start by saying Donna with Polite Pups is so wonderful, and so professional.

We learned so much from Donna regarding Mochas breeds. Donna went above and beyond her role by including literature for us to read with information on Mochas breeds and bringing a variety of brain games explaining how these items could be used for puzzles and mental stimulation for Mocha.

Due to mine and my husband’s (at times) demanding schedules, it became apparent that we would require someone to stop by and look after our dog. It was hard to think of putting Jet in someone else’s care, but along came Donna.

Donna has been an invaluable resource for me and my family, not only with her training sessions but her overall support with animal husbandry and dog psychology

We contacted Donna when Milo was just a young puppy - we were working with him on our own but were feeling concerned about him jumping up on our young daughter. Donna came to us for a meet and greet and we knew right away we needed her help! She is kind, genuine, and passionate about her work. I have already, and will continue to recommend Donna’s services to all of my friends and family!

We have known Donna Barrett for almost a year now. She helped us with our special fur baby. When we got him, he had been through a lot in his early life and experienced some trauma. He was orally fixated on walks, anxious of other dogs, and impulsive. But, with Donna’s guiding hand, our little guy has come so far; in just one year he has been transformed.

Donna is an exceptional dog walker because she doesn’t just take our Duck Toller, Stella, for a walk. As an experienced dog trainer, Donna knows how important it is to exercise a dog’s mind as much as their body. She plans a variety of mind puzzles and challenges for Stella that she incorporates into the walks and also knows how to properly address any unwanted behaviours while out and about.

Donna at Polite Pups Training has been walking our fur baby (and Corgi) Notley for about a year and a half now. I cannot recommend this company and Donna enough.

Corgis are herding dogs that need work to keep their minds busy as well as their bodies. I have had dogs for more than 30 years and walked Notley daily myself. However, I got ill a year and a half ago and was virtually unable to walk and needed Donna to walk Notley for me. By hiring Donna, Notley was still able to get his needed exercise. I have gained some mobility back and can once again walk Notley, but still I can’t give him the long walks with the speed that Donna does. So even now I continue to have Donna walk him to supplement the exercise I can give him.

I am recently retired and happily have lots of time to spend with my two-year old terrier, but while I was still working, Donna was instrumental in providing both exercise and training for Rio.

Rio loved her “Donna days” and so did I. Donna does not just walk your dog. She closely observes your dog and provides your pet with an enriched physical, mental and sensory experience.

Our family contacted Donna from Polite Pups when we started seeing some troubling behaviour from our one-year old rescue dog, Max. Max was being aggressive with food as well as barking and lunging at other dogs when walking. Walks were very stressful for us all and we stopped walking him altogether.

With Donna’s help through weekly training sessions over a few weeks, our family learned strategies to deal with Max’s aggression around food.