Kasper is our 2.5 year old Labradoodle. He is a wonderful dog! However, I was struggling with some things — attention on walks, dropping objects he should not have, overly enthusiastic greetings of other dogs, and calmly behaving in new places. After working with Sophie for the past few months, I am thrilled to say that Kasper and I have made huge strides! I have been so impressed by Sophie's approach. During our first session, she interviewed me and watched Kasper, to get to know us before she even started to do anything with us. Sophie then developed a thoughtful plan to help me train Kasper to correct the behaviors we wanted to work on. Sophie uses only positive training techniques. She understands Kasper and helps me reward him in ways that are meaningful to him. She is incredibly patient and will demonstrate the various lessons until I really understand them. Plus, Kasper adores her and thinks she is the absolute best, which she is! I truly believe that she has helped transform my dog's behavior in a great way. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a skilled and compassionate dog trainer!

Working with Sophie and muzzle training my dog, Remi, has been such a gift. As a low rider and owner of a sensitive tummy, Remi enjoys eating anything she can reach on the ground and isn't always willing to give it up and in turn, will get sick. Introducing the muzzle to our walks has relieved stress, kept Remi safe and healthy, and has made it easier for new people to come and look after her as well. Sophie's patience and cooperative care approach made the muzzle transition seamless and now it's just a cool accessory Remi gets to wear outside.

The separation anxiety program really works! Sophie goes above and beyond to make a customized work plan to help address your dog's needs and continuously adjusts it depending on your progress. My dog was having accidents and would show other signs of distress when he was left home alone, and I'm happy to say we can now leave him for several hours and he is able to relax and even sleep! Although I felt a little silly doing some of the initial exercises and our progress was not always constant, it's clear that these exercises work and can help desensitize your dog to triggers. Sophie also provides a thorough continuation plan to work on once the program is finished to ensure continued success. Thank you so much, Sophie!

My dog, Bob, panicked whenever I left, even if he was home with my boyfriend. I knew this could turn into a serious problem, so I enrolled in Sophie's 8-week intensive separation anxiety program in February 2025, when Bob was about 7 months old. At the end of the 8 weeks, Bob could handle up to 14 minutes and 30 seconds alone. Sophie's support and guidance kept me motivated to continue. She taught me how to recognize Bob's stress signals and how to safely increase his alone time at the right pace. Nine months after starting with Sophie, Bob aced his 1-hour separation training and even took a nap the whole time! Thank you, Sophie, for setting us up for success and helping me truly understand separation anxiety so I could continue training confidently on my own!

Sophie was so incredibly helpful when I got my new puppy. I was struggling with training and had the puppy blues. Sophie came in and was not only helpful as a trainer but also just as a friend who assured me that I was not going crazy and that puppies are just hard work! She has given me a ton of helpful tips that I use daily. She also is fear-free certified and works at the dog's pace. She always makes sure that your dog is comfortable and happy while training. Would absolutely recommend Sophie!

At the time we reached out to Sophie, Willow was unable to be left for even 1 second without panicking. She whined, scratched at the door, barked. Sophie was very professional and supportive as we worked through Willow's separation anxiety. She provided an app for us to use for exercises and tracked our progress daily and provided feedback. Now, after just two months working with Sophie, we were able to attend a family event and leave Willow alone for 3 hours! We checked in via webcam about every 15 minutes, and every time we did, she was asleep in her bed — just the way we left her. No panic. No whining. No barking. We have our life back. Thanks Sophie!

Sophie is amazing and a magician with dogs! She cares so deeply about all dogs and it shows! She was able to work with us to help our pup, who would experience anxiety at times, to a confident pup that is excited to go out and explore and live his best life. She also taught him how to drop in less than a minute — my wife and I are still speechless about that. I recommend Sophie to anyone I know with a dog that wants to make sure their pup is living their best life!

We loved working with Sophie! Sophie helped us train our Chow Chow to be better behaved when guests come to our house. We were really impressed by how patiently and diligently Sophie interviewed us at the first meeting to get to know our dog before she even started to do anything with her. If some approaches turned out to not be too effective, Sophie creatively thought of better ones, drawing on her experience of training her own Chow Chow mix. The training techniques we implemented have helped us achieve our goals with our dog, making us proud owners of a well-behaved dog. Sophie led us to a fresh start with our dog, which we had hoped would happen when we first read the name of her company!

Sophie is just the best! Our sweet Bernese mountain dog puppy, Brunello, not only loved Sophie from the minute he met her but she helped train the pup SO well, giving great pointers in our earliest days with him that will last a lifetime! We could not recommend Sophie enough — her puppy program was just amazing and so is she! Truly the kindest, most genuine human and not to mention dog whisperer around! We are so grateful for finding Sophie!

It was very useful and fun working with Sophie! She had lots of great ideas to help us and our dog Stella, and we felt confident after lessons to go and try things out on our own! Thank you Sophie!

I knew I had made a good choice contacting sophie for helping to train our dog when she started the first session by having us go for a walk around the neighborhood. It emphasized to me that she was focused on how my dog would react in his natural environment (walking the streets of our neighborhood and encountering the people and dogs that we see every day). Our training exercises still start small and controlled and work our way up to bigger scenarios, but it gave me confidence that Sophie would be incorporating the needs of my day-to-day life with my dog into the training exercises she would prescribe. We've been working with her for a couple years now and I’ve been very happy!

We are first-time dog owners and hired Sophie at Fresh Start Canine Behavior to help us train our puppy. Sophie was awesome! Sophie knows dogs and knows people. She is patient, kind, prompt, and wise beyond her years. She had many great ideas to make our puppy's days and nights better. Highly recommended!

Sophie has been amazing! She is always positive and patient, training the grown-ups and kids in our family as well as our little pup! She is extremely knowledgeable and insightful. We get so many compliments on our puppy's behavior thanks to all we have learned from her.

Sophie at Fresh Start Canine Behavior is terrific! She has been extremely helpful in teaching us how best to manage our leash aggressive dog. She is easy going, she really listened to our concerns and delivered a plan that met our needs and has been effective! In a short time, we have already seen improvement with our pup! We look forward to continuing training with her!

I have a very smart, very sensitive large dog who spent the first four years of his life in a much quieter city. Since moving to the east coast, he developed some anxiety and leash reactivity came back due to some loud barkers in the neighborhood. Walks were getting worse where he would get spooked over everything or be on constant alert. I met with Sophie. She was incredibly understanding of my dog and his needs. Even just three sessions helped tremendously. Walks are enjoyable again. He is no longer "on alert." He is far more engaged with us and looks to us for a cue when there is a trigger dog. He can pass by and ignore dogs again, and he can settle after getting spooked by a loud noise. Even storms are less of an issue — now he just wants to be near us. I wish I could give her ten stars for how much she helped us.

The best! I have had 4 dogs and thought I knew the basics of dog training but Sophie added so many tools to our tool kit for training our yellow lab puppy. She brings so much calm, positive energy that the dogs respond to quickly, and the sessions were fun for humans and canines — it didn't feel like "training" as I've experienced it before. We are so impressed by her and grateful that we're taking away very tactical easy things to work on with our rambunctious guy. Highly recommend.

Sophie at Fresh Start Canine Behavior changed my dog's life! My dog Penny used to be so scared on the walk and whenever strangers came over, she was never relaxed enough to play very much and wouldn't even eat treats outside the house. Sophie taught me everything I needed to know about having a nervous dog from the ground up. She was kind and patient with me and my dog, she was flexible with what me and Penny were capable of, and in such a short period of time not only improved Penny's life but gave me the tools to keep on improving it outside our lessons. I wish I could give more than five stars!

Sophie is amazing and very encouraging. I love how she is able to understand and cater towards environments that work for my dog as he is very anxious. As a first time dog parent I have learned so much from Sophie. My dog has shown great improvement with the positive reinforcement methods. I'd highly recommend Sophie as a trainer!

Sophie is great! She came over to meet with us and our three children before we went to pick up our puppy. She told us what to expect, gave us suggestions for how to pick a puppy from the litter, and helped the kids get prepared to welcome our new furry friend. Then she returned each week after we got our pup and helped us with socializing, basic obedience, and answered all of our many questions about puppy life. She is always prompt, responsive, and helpful. She worked well with children, adults, and of course dogs! We are very grateful for Sophie and definitely recommend her to others!

We don't know where we'd be without Sophie! We got Ella when she was 12 weeks and while we thought we were prepared, we quickly realized we needed help. Sophie is so encouraging and direct and her positive reinforcement makes every training session a blast for both us and Ella. Ella has made tremendous progress since we started and we feel so much more equipped thanks to Sophie's personal attention and coaching. We started off doing virtual lessons focused on basic commands and have since moved on to in-person outside training focused on leash walking and coming when called.

Put simply, Sophie is great at her job! After our first consultation, she created a thorough report for us based on our goals and behaviors which we want to see. This report has been so helpful in terms of tracking our progress and serving as a reference source. At each session, Sophie has consistently demonstrated feedback in the moment which is both helpful and tailored towards Franklin. She's a pleasure to be around and will share a laugh with you over the quirks of your furry friend! Above all, Sophie bases her training on positive reinforcement, which is a good change of pace from other training facilities and trainers in the Boston area.

Sophie is super professional, extremely detailed, and very clear. Had a really helpful intake and it was so nice to have all of the takeaways written up in such a clear way. My dog is already far less anxious because of a recommendation Sophie made, before the training has even started

Sophie is an expert trainer, and helped so much with training our Golden Retriever puppy. She has been instrumental in helping our dog become calm & confident, and she is always responsive and supportive. Would 100% recommend her to anyone looking for an excellent dog trainer.

Sophie is super professional, extremely detailed, and very clear. Had a really helpful intake and it was so nice to have all of the takeaways written up in such a clear way. My dog is already far less anxious because of a recommendation Sophie made, before the training has even started

When we started training with Sophie we had an adorable 6 month old Blue Heeler mix that barked for attention, barked and chased people when they walked by the house, jumped up on everyone, pulled on the leash, and went crazy when people came to the door. After only 3 training sessions, Blue no longer reacts when people walk by the house. She calmly watches as they go by. While coming when called is a work in progress, she is so much better and seemingly runs to us with enthusiasm and a smile. Sophie's approach is gentle, patient and rewards using positive reinforcement. I look forward to our visits with Sophie knowing that another hour spent with her will result in behavioral changes that will make our lives together calmer, easier and more enjoyable.

Although we had some basics down, we decided to work with a trainer, connected with Sophie and we have not looked back since! Sophie's positive manner with dogs, her problem solving approach, and personal attention have been invaluable. We have learned about so many ways to deal with problem behaviors like excessive barking, appropriate socialization expectations with other dogs, and so many puppy manners that have helped us have a respectful pup. I can't say enough how much her expertise has helped us have a productive and joyful experience with our dog!

Today was graduation day with Miss Sophie. In just a few short months I learned: sit, down, touch, leave it, drop it, stay, and many, many more commands. Most importantly I now know where to pee, and where not to! Most of my meetings were via Zoom and only 5 were in person. Miss Sophie is a miracle worker.

We started working with Sophie as part of her virtual puppy program for our 13 week old Lab Lola. Sophie uses her own dog to demonstrate and gives very clear directions so that you know exactly what you are supposed to be doing and can continue working in the comfort of your own home between sessions. We have loved training with Sophie and she's made us feel very confident in our abilities to train and handle our pup. After finishing the puppy program our dog Lola knows Sit, Down, Stay, Come, Roll Over, Paw, Bed, Crate and we are well equipped to handle behavioral issues like barking, biting, teething and jumping. If you are getting a puppy or have just gotten one, we HIGHLY recommend training with Sophie!

Sophie's training has been hugely helpful for our pup Keira and for us. Keira was struggling with reactive behavior after being bit by another dog, and we were feeling so overwhelmed. But Sophie gave us clear instruction, helping us feel more confident, and followed up to check on progress between sessions. Keira used to not be able to walk past another dog without reacting and now she can approach, sniff, and even wags her tail — and it's all thanks to Sophie's help!

We are so grateful to have found Sophie shortly after bringing home our new puppy, Clover. Having done our research (including the infamous "Top 10 Reasons NOT to Get a Toller") we knew we were going to have our share of challenges. Sophie's ability to gently transform the zoomies into productive training time is simply astounding. Clover bonded with Sophie from the very first "sit." She is professional, patient, knowledgeable, and gave useful feedback every step of the way. Clover is doing exceptionally well and we couldn't be happier as puppy parents. Thank you!

Our newest rescue, a hound mix we call Sugar, lived 8 months in a pack with her siblings, is very people-shy, and was not at all acquainted with a leash. She spent her first week with us hiding in an overgrown shrub. With Sophie's help, Sugar will now accompany us on walks, snuggle on the couch, and eat with gusto at mealtime without being hand fed. Sugar is not treat-motivated, which knocks out the obvious training strategies. Sophie's patience and ingenuity are remarkable! Together, we are working on simple behaviors, and making consistent progress with our very shy girl.

I rescued a 20 pound terrier mix reported to be 2 years old, but when she arrived she was more like a 7 or 8 month old. I inherited a handful — a jumper and a chewer. Sophie was terrific. After just a few sessions, heeling had improved dramatically and we'd mastered sit and down. Knowledgeable, calm, direct, Sophie taught us basic commands with only positive reinforcement. She tailored sessions to our needs. Sophie is approachable, warm-hearted, and just great at what she does. All her techniques are clear, manageable, and effective. And my dog adores her!

I want to write to tell you how grateful I am for Sophie's Puppy course. Her course was what I knew I wanted and what I didn't know I needed: informative, practical, compassionate approach, supportive, kind, low-stress, fun, and MOST of all very successful. Sophie welcomed us and our 2 Goldendoodles, always taking care that the boys and the other dogs were safe and having fun. More compliments on both Julius and Caesar's behavior from family, friends and strangers than you can imagine! I love the way Sophie is able to break down complicated behavior principles into everyday examples and strategies. Sophie coaches her human students to be more successful dog caregivers and clearly loves watching people and dogs learn together.

Sophie is terrific. She knows multiple ways to address problems and breaks skill-building into sequences that change behavior. She’s delightful to work with and obviously loves animals

Sophie was great to talk to over video call, so calm and encouraging that we knew we were on to a good thing. But she really shone when she came to visit us in person. We only had one in-person session with her, but the way she interacted with our extremely anxious rescue puppy was incredible. She knew exactly what to do and, importantly, what not to do around a nervous dog. Sophie gave us some great tips and we saw improvements immediately!

Sophie was amazing! We did the puppy package for my first dog Milo. We learned so much from Sophie and Milo improved throughout the course. I really enjoyed the positive reinforcement Sophie used and Milo loved learning new tricks each time. I highly recommend Sophie's dog training!