Reviews

My husband & I learned so much about our standard poodle’s behavior in our first training session with Karen. Karen provided the science-based foundational information we were craving, put it into layman’s terms, and then helped us formulate a solid plan of building blocks to help our poodle gain the trust, confidence, and focus he needs. We transitioned from feelings of defeat and frustration (after trying other training methods), to feelings of understanding and optimism after just one hour. We feel much better equipped to help our poodle through this training approach!

Karen was amazing at communicating effectively both to our dog and us pet parents. Almost immediately she had our dog following her every suggestion, quickly gaining his trust and obedience through positive techniques. We learned more in two hours than in weeks of reading and practice. Karen is the real deal and I’d recommend her to anyone with a canine friend, new or old.

Karen is an amazingly patient teacher who will help you understand and learn how to read your dog. I have a rescue pup who has extreme separation anxiety and has a history of fear biting / herding inappropriately. Karen came into my home for some intensive behavioral consultation and worked with both Bella and I. She gave me a ton of resources and checked in regularly to see how we were doing. I cannot recommend Karen highly enough – she is gentle, patient and willing to work with you on your schedule.

Excellent trainer who immediately gained the confidence and trust of my dog. I was amazed at how quickly she was able to teach him desired behaviors designed to alleviate his anxious reactive behavior. I was also provided with lots of written resources to help me continue the process with my dog.

Without Karen, we wouldn’t have figured out that our miniature chocolate Cockapoo was suffering from anxiety. Karen you have helped us discover Franklin’s needs, and you have helped us be the best dog parents that we can be! Franklin adores you! We can’t thank you enough for having an amazing listening ear, and for helping us strengthen our bond with Franklin. Thank you for helping us achieve many of his training goals! He’s the best pup and he gets so many compliments on how good he is! All thanks to you!

Exceptional teacher and very in tune with the pets, their people, and their needs.

Karen is the best dog trainer that I’ve ever worked with. She’s amazingly knowledgeable and experienced and you will learn as much, if not more, than your pet! After her hands-on lessons, she equips you to further practice the skills you need for success with feedback, videos, and readings tailored to your situation. Her approach is kind, gentle, patient, and compassionate with both dog and owner and she consistently goes above and beyond to support you in shaping your pet’s behavior and meeting their needs. I’m thankful that I had a chance to work with Karen and highly recommend her work.

Karen DiCostanzo is an incredible trainer focused on sustainable solutions to improve both our dog’s quality of life and ours. Before contacting her, we were afraid our only viable and safe option for our family was to rehome our loving but nervous dog who had nipped our toddler. She reframed struggles with a strengths-based perspective, helping us recognize what our dog was trying to communicate with his behavior and body language that we were misunderstanding (or missing completely!). Having her as a resource to process bumps in the road was invaluable and has given us a renewed sense of confidence and MANY more tools in our belt. Karen was also instrumental in helping us figure out the right approach with medications. Our nervous pup showed relaxed body language within minutes of arriving at a recent vet appointment – while we know we put in the work, none of this progress would have been possible with Karen.

Without Karen, I truly believe we would’ve been unable to keep our sweet, but very fearful and human/dog reactive rescue dog. Karen was the third trainer we tried, and the only one able to approach our dog (first session, no less!) at all. Her detailed instructions, plentiful resources, and willingness to always answer questions ensured we made tangible progress every session. We are so grateful we met Karen!

Karen has been SO great! We recently rescued our dog and he has been
showing some signs of aggression and severe anxiety. With one visit from Karen we have already made great strides. She has been willing to communicate with us outside of the session as well. Very pleased with Matters of the Canine Kind!

Karen is extremely knowledgeable and knows how to put it into practice! I
appreciate that she came to my home and was very flexible in helping my very fearful pup. I am excited and hopeful because I can see that my dog is
responding! I am so glad I called Karen.

Karen immediately started training my husband and I from the minute she stepped in the door. She blew us away with her ability to immediately understand what our puppy was communicating. We learned how to better understand what was going on with our puppy and how to better meet his needs. We learned SO MUCH in our first appointment! I feel so much more clear and confident about how to create a deeper bond with my puppy and how to help him be the best dog he can be! We are excited to do more work with Karen in the future. This is an extremely valuable investment in our relationship with our dog.

After just one session with Karen, I was amazed at the difference in my dog. She is already friendlier with people, less fearful of other dogs, and more relaxed at home and when out and about.

Many told us we should return our puppy to the breeder as he was a hot mess. It wasn’t always easy, but with Karen’s guidance we have seen great success. With her by our side, Sir Winston even passed his Canine Good Citizen test! We highly recommend Karen to anyone who needs help with their dogs–she’s amazing! Thanks for all the guidance, Karen.