words of praise from clients

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Cynthia was fantastic with our dog Sasha. We got Sasha from a shelter and she was a couple years old. Very sweet dog but with highly reactive, difficult behaviors. It turned out we were way over our heads. Sasha was barking all the time around our house, even when we put her in a kennel. On walks, she pulled constantly and when she saw another dog she became crazed, barking and pulling to the point where we couldn't control her. Our 6-year old son loved Sasha but we felt we were going to have to find her a new home.

Fortunately we decided to try Bingo Dog Training's boarding school with Cynthia. Over the course of ten days, Cynthia taught Sasha how to be quiet on command, ignore other dogs on walks, and do many other basic commands (including playing fetch). Her program was very customized to our needs and very effective. We now have a dog that's relaxed and quiet around the house, listens to us when we tell her to be quiet, and able to go on walks without a hassle or outburst. All of this has made a huge difference and given Sasha a solid foundation. We are relieved and grateful for Cynthia's help and expertise.   

 Cynthia is a competent and amazing dog trainer; thoughtful, knowledgable with an important quality for me; she is light-hearted but purposeful with her training techniques. Tara, our Standard Poodle pup was about 4 months old when we took her to boarding school. We took her again at 6 months to help all of us settle into consistent training. My husband and I are 'vintage' dog owners. Tara is our third Standard pup and we were very clear this time around that we needed expert help with this puppy, who has a VERY big spark, as Cynthia told us:)
We highly recommend Bingo Dog Training. You and your dog will benefit in more ways that I can share in this testimonial.

Woof! Peg, Matt & Tara (now, 8 mo. old.) 

 I can’t say enough wonderful things about my experiences having my dogs train with Cynthia. I have had three dogs train with her, and it has made every difference in my relationships with my dogs, and the happiness of my dogs. If you are looking to have your dog understand and obey the basic and necessary commands, or to understand more complicated and personalized commands, I highly recommend Bingo! Each of my dogs is so different from the other, and Cynthia was easily able to find a way to best work with each pup. I’m so grateful for her knowledge and expertise. 

We enrolled in Cynthia’s Basic class shortly after adopting our first puppy, and our entire family learned a great deal. Cynthia clearly knows her stuff, and she shares her expertise in a manner that is both professional and fun. Cynthia explained things very well, and every session was very useful and well organized. We appreciated how well Cynthia managed and facilitated the interaction of dogs with different temperaments and issues. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience; our children — and our puppy — looked forward to going to class each week. We will continue to take Cynthia’s classes and recommend her to others.

—Julie Aronson

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Some dog trainers are terrific with people. Some dog trainers have an amazing understanding of dogs, and what motivates them. Sadly, not many dog trainers possess both of these qualities.

Cynthia Edgerly does. How do I know? Because I have taken 3 classes from her with my dog Mazie, and she is the best! This is my third dog, and I have used other trainers in the past, but none had the excellent communication skills, patience, knowledge and experience that Cynthia has. She communicates clearly, breaks things down into manageable tasks, gives invaluable feedback, and makes training fun! Her handouts and web site contain enormous amounts of useful information, and I find myself referring back to them months after a class has ended.

Thanks, Bingo Dog Training! We’ll be back for more!

—Caroline ***

My name is Liz Bullard and my dog is Ernie. I found Ernie at the Scotts Valley Animal Shelter and took him home April of this year. Ernie is a sweet dog but from the start I had problems with him guarding objects and occasionally growling at me, children and some adults. I was able to enroll Ernie in Cynthia’s Level I class and also hired her for one private lesson to help with his challenging behaviors.

Cynthia showed me how to handle Ernie. Between the private lesson and the Level I class, I feel more confident working with Ernie. He can now “happily” leave objects that he used to guard. Cynthia also showed me how to handle his growling behavior. He still is a bit distrustful of some people but because of how I manage his environment, his growling rarely occurs.

By-the-way, Ernie loves Cynthia. On Thursday evenings when we drive into Santa Cruz for class and make that last turn into the parking lot, Ernie immediately knows where he is and becomes very excited. He doesn’t calm down until he is able greet Cynthia and give her a ton of kisses. I feel very fortunate to have found Cynthia and to have learned so much from her in a short period of time.

—Sincerely Liz

I took Teddy for boarding and training and can’t say enough great things about Cynthia! She communicated often about his progress and all the fun things he was able to do. When I picked up Teddy he was a new man! What I really appreciated was that Cynthia took the time to train me so I could keep up the work with Teddy at home. We are so grateful for her help. I would highly recommend Bingo Dog Training. 

 My husband and I recently rescued a terrier pup, who is very sweet and happy at heart, but truly came to us with some major behavioral issues. He'd get into a hysterical barking/whining frenzy every single time we saw a dog or another person while out for a walk. It read like aggression, and we weren't sure how to proceed, as other dog owners would avoid us at all cost because our dog's reaction would get their dogs crazy too. To help with this, we sent our pup off to Cynthia for two week of her "Board and Train" program. Cut to now--we have him back home post Cynthia's brilliant training, and our dog is happier and better behaved than ever! We've had him home just a few days and have been able to walk him without incident at Pleasure Point, Rio Del Mar, and have even taken him with us to get coffee at our favorite spots in town. He can now walk past and meet dogs on leash, totally fine! She worked miracles with our pup -- really helping him understand the "leave it" command, which helps him stay calm and cool when seeing other dogs and people. Something beautiful about Cynthia's style is that you can really trust that she treats the pups well while they're boarded with her. (I always worried about that with other board and train programs -- some seemed so harsh.) Cynthia's methods are tried and true. She knows her stuff, and thanks to her, we're going to be able to have so much more fun with our little rescue dude! Thank you Cynthia! You're a genius! 

Before we even brought our puppy Lucille home, we were inquiring with local trainers about someone who did boarding school. We weren’t new dogs owners, but we had never been puppy parents and we were so overwhelmed. We wanted to be sure that we got Lucille started on the right foot with the best training and socialization, and Cynthia was highly recommended. Upon picking Lucille up from two weeks at boarding school, Cynthia spent a great deal of time giving us an overview of everything that was worked on, and she taught my husband and I how to continue with the training. We were in awe of how much was accomplished and how easy it was to continue working with Lucille once we got home. A few months later, we took a vacation and Lucille stayed for another 3 weeks. The peace of mind we had while we were gone was priceles! Lucille was happy, safe, learning a lot, very well cared for, and having the time of her life! I really can’t say enough about how wonderful Cynthia is. She is kind, caring, extremely knowledgeable, and Lucille absolutely loves her! I highly, highly recommend Cynthia’s boarding school! 

 I had a wonderful experience with Cynthia, and I’m looking forward to working with her again!

Cynthia demonstrates the skills needed to be a great teacher – communication, clarity of content delivery, and patience. Being a teacher myself, I was very pleased with the way Cynthia structured and provided her class with a detailed timeline of what content was going to be covered when, a manual which provided thorough detail of each skill covered, and “homework” – a packet with a weekly checklist of what skills to practice at home before the next week. All of these resources, when actually used by the student, does create a positive learning experience. Cynthia was very quick to respond to my emails, and she was very understanding of my position of a frustrated and discouraged owner. She was always very encouraging and honest with me in a very graceful manner.

I reached out to Cynthia when I was desperate for some guidance on how to manage my 2 year old Chihuahua mix, Bambi, a very sweet yet reactive and pushy pup. I was no longer able to take her to the dog park, to social gatherings, or walk peacefully outside because she was barking and lunging at every living thing around her. I’m not exaggerating. She was literally barking at everything – other people, dogs, cars, skateboarders, bikers… EVERYTHING! I became so discouraged and overwhelmed that I was dreading our walks. I was desperate for any guidance to help me help my pup be a good canine citizen again. Somewhere between the day I got her as a 7 month rescue pup and the day I couldn’t take her reactivity anymore, Bambi had experienced something that lead her to develop her inappropriate behaviors.

Cynthia and I worked together to better understand where Bambi was at the beginning of our training. I had signed up for a package deal, which included 3 hrs. of private consultation, and a 6 week course. Our first consultation took place in my apartment, where Cynthia met Bambi and did an extensive assessment, which consisted of a thorough interview of my history with Bambi, and several exercises to see how Bambi would respond to different movements and sounds. By the end of the night, Cynthia had given me a few exercises to begin working with Bambi, and she also encouraged me to contact her anytime. This 2 hour consultation gave me hope and reassurance that I had found a trainer that Bambi and I can work with.

During the 2 weeks before our 6 week group class session began, I had emailed her several times with more questions, and she always responded to me within a day, if not the very same day. I really appreciated her speedy response, and it helped me to continue to be hopeful and not give up on Bambi.

The group sessions were also delivered effectively. Given that Bambi had negative behavior issues with other dogs and people, Cynthia gave me directions on where to position Bambi and myself to ensure safety for the rest of the class participants throughout the entire session. Every time Bambi was reactive to something during the class, Cynthia explained to me what was happening with Bambi and how I can interfere or even prevent the behavior from happening. She taught me a lot about a dog’s posture and behavior, which helped me build my own confidence for knowing what to expect and do when I’m out on a walk with Bambi by myself. For our final hour of consultation, Cynthia took Bambi and I for a walk around the neighborhood, and showed me how to respond to Bambi’s reactive behavior. This was SO helpful, and I was able to apply what she taught me during our walks the very next day.

Fast forward 6 weeks, and Bambi and I are now walking peacefully around our neighborhood again, and I even have been able to take her to the dog park after over a year of not being able to go to one. I know this is just the beginning of a long journey, but Cynthia has helped it to be an enjoyable one thus far. I truly feel I am a better Mom for Bambi, and I believe our bond has gotten even stronger.

Thank you Cynthia! You’ll be seeing me and Bambi again soon!

—*Lemi*