George & Friends Dog Training Portland, Oregon

Caitlin Truitt a month ago

I cannot say enough good things about Risa and George & Friends. When I adopted my rescue pit bull, she had recently lost her left eye and was coming from a pretty rough past. She was sweet as could be, but had severe separation anxiety, was reactive toward other dogs, pulled on the leash, and was easily triggered by sudden movements or loud noises. Finding Risa changed everything. She was wonderful with my pup from the first session. She's warm, patient, and genuinely intuitive with dogs, and she was great at walking me through the process step-by-step. She caught some seemingly small things that made a huge difference, starting with the equipment I had been using (harness, leash, etc.), which hadn't been doing us any favors. Simple fixes I never would have thought of on my own. I really appreciated that she used positive reinforcement and emphasized the idea of building leadership (rather than establishing “dominance”). Another thing that really set her apart is that she didn't only treat the behaviors on a surface-level. Not only did she work with me on specific exercises tailored to my dog's needs, but she also saw to the root of what was going on with my dog and addressed tha

Jeff Yeom 3 months ago

Risa taught me so much! She knows how to read dogs. She clearly knows her stuff and teaches you core foundational skills as a pack leader for your dog. She has held me accountable on emotional regulation, normalizing, and is overall strength based to provide tailored trainings. I highly recommend. She’s super sweet too! She even brought our dogs toys 😭. Book her for your next dog no matter what age!

Sally Bones a year ago

We have had only had 4 lessons with Risa and have seen significant improvement in our Great Dane pup. I like her training style and she truly understands dog psychology. You book your lessons online so you can train as often or as little as you like including booking phone calls. Risa communicates well and always responds promptly.

Wendy Rogers 2 years ago

This is our first experience in learning to train a dog and I’m so glad to be guided by Risa during the process. We’ve only had two sessions so far, and I firmly believe it’s more about training me how to read and communicate and “be” with my dog, Norman. Already we have come so far and I’m beyond excited to watch our progress grow! Norman is a 4 year old rescue who came to us with lots of issues he needs help sorting out and Risa’s knowledge and ability to educate us is invaluable. I so appreciate the phone calls with her in between our lessons which help remind me what I may have forgotten or correct me if I’ve gone a little off course, but the encouragement about what we’re getting right means everything. Tell me “yep” and give me a treat! 🤣. I would enthusiastically recommend Risa with George & Friends to anyone seeking help with their furry monster-child! Thank you Risa. I look forward to a long relationship during Norman’s time with us!

Sam S 4 years ago

I can’t say enough good things about Risa! She has completely changed our lives and we have only been working with her for a few months. We came to her with three rescue dogs under 2 years old that all had their own unique set of issues. One has VERY VERY high anxiety, one has tons of energy and anxiety, and the third barks at every noise, person, or dog he sees. When we started seeing Risa, we couldn’t even teach the one with high anxiety to sit on command. After one session we were not only able to get her to sit, but also to come, look, and lay down! She also noticed that one of our dogs was having some weird symptoms that she told us we needed to get checked out because they seemed related to seizures. We took her into the neurologist and it turns out she was having seizures, even though our regular vet had told us it was nothing when we brought up the concerns months before. We got her on anticonvulsants and some of her issues resolved immediately. There is nothing we could ever do thank Risa enough. She really cares for all of her clients (both human and dog!) and goes out of her way to really learn what every dog needs. She also looked at their food, toys, treats, and medici