Garvin's Divine Dog Training

Karen is certainly out there. We hired her for a consultation due to our dogs aggressive/erratic behaviors. Diet - she wanted us to feed them a variety of fruits and vegetables, just like a person gets.Digging holes - save the poop for several days/weeks and then fill in each hole with the dog poop. (Instead of discouraging digging, we actually had concentrated poop all over the place now. The dogs went crazy for it.)Clawing a hole through the drywall in our garage, right next to the doggie door. - Karen said the dogs were digging a portal to another place/dimension.Family time - dogs are not allowed on the carpeted areas so Karen suggested that we insert a couple screw eyes into our living room wall so that the dogs could be tied up and closer to us.All of this for $100. Actually, a wasted $100.

A poor business person. Karyn came out to the house to interview the two dogs and the one being a puppy. She spent about two hours or less. She said there would not be a charge at this time because she did not spend quality time. We signed up for her special training rate, which we had to pay in advance.Karryn said she would contact us to set up a training schedule to coincide with our time frame. She got into a car accident and would have to get back with us at a later date. After numerous phone calls/emails and FIVE months later and a thread to contact our attorney, Karyn finally answers our email. She wanted to set up training. We said no thanks. How can we trust her? Just send our deposit money back. Karyn did return our deposit money less the two hours of No Charge Cost from the initial visit.

We adopted our little terrier from Hope Animal Shelter and within a week decided it would be a good thing to have Ziggy meet Karyn Garvin. We'd heard good things from friends and decided on a one-on-one session. What a great decision for all of us!Karyn spent a great deal of time observing and talking to us about Ziggy. I remember one of her first comments: "You've got yourself a watchdog." With that, we now understand the task before us and have realistic expectations of what our life with Ziggy will be. Towards the end of the session she demonstrated how to teach him to sit, stand, and go around. Then she asked my partner and I to do the same thing with Ziggy so we could continue this training at home.One of our friends asked if Karyn was a "dog whisperer" and I answered, "Yes, she is!" I was amazed at how kind and respectful yet firm she was in relating to Ziggy. She contacted us a few days after our visit to see how things were going. We appreciated that follow-up.We plan on going back again for another session with Karyn in a couple months. While she also offers classes, having this time with her and our dog alone feels the best for us.We look forward to returning and learning how to make our life with Ziggy the best it can be.

Karyn came to our house to help us with our adorable but rambunctious and somewhat naughty (destructive) 2 year old lab mix. She started by asking a lot of questions to really understand all our issues and their magnitude. Then she took them one by one and offered suggestions for how to deal with each issue, also explaining relevant issues about a dog's innate (and learned) behavior. She also gave us a copy of a book she just published, her third.I had heard wonderful things about her, and now that I've met her, I can say there is probably no one in Tucson with more experience with dog training and animal behavior. She had a calm, low key presence and I am most anxious to start using her training techniques. One of the most reassuring things is that she was very clear that he is not a bad dog; he is just a dog. As the humans we have to take responsibility for letting him know what is acceptable and what isn't. And Karyn has given us the tools to know how to do that. I will report back how things are going in a few weeks!

Karyn is making a huge difference in the lives of our two little dogs, and our lives as well. Our newly adopted 2-year-old guy seemed to be having trouble adjusting and displayed what we thought were fear-based behaviors. Not only were those behaviors quickly gone, thanks to Karyn, but so were our 5-year-old guy's worst anxious habits, which we'd assumed we couldn't do anything about.Both of our dogs love "going to school." They've learned so many skills from Karyn over the past couple of months, but the most important change we've seen is an overall increase in security and well-being, especially in our new buddy. He went from a hypervigilant pacer who woke up at night barking in fear to a sweet cuddlebug who trusts us completely. We're all so much more relaxed now, and practicing what we learn in class has become a daily bonding routine at our house!

She knows dogs but be ready for a HARD SELL. When I did not buy her $1,000.00 + package, she became angry and told me I owed her $50... just to come in and have my dog "evaluated". BEWARE.

My dog Schotzi came to Karyn's as a 5 month old puppy for Boarding and Training. After his training was complete he went home. After a few weeks there were major changes in his family and he needed a new home. I was able to adopt him and that made me very happy. Now almost 5 years later he is still the dog of my dreams. He is an obedience demonstration dog and a certified Therapy dog. He makes my everyday better just being able to be with him. I am so thankful to Karyn and her staff for bringing Schotzi and I together. I have seen Karyn work with many dogs. She is truly "Tucson's Dog Whisperer" She just has an amazing ability to understand and work with dogs. I highly recommend her.

Karen has met with me and our two dogs twice. She has solved 2 years long problems. We are looking forward to continuing to work with her. She wears a mask and is cognizant of safety during this pandemic. She communicates respectfully with the humans in my family and is insightful about our fur family. If you want your dog(s) to bring more joy to your family, work with Karen.

Just had an hour and a half session with Karyn. WOW! We have three dogs sadly in need of training and she spent time to get to know us and pinpointed what we could do. We learned more about our dogs, our training needs, and ourselves than we thought was possible. She listened. She took notes. She demonstrated. I am totally impressed how she was able to vocalize some of my fears and concerns. She didn't say she had THE answer...she gave us options on what we could try. I am so excited to start this training. She is very personable and very knowledgeable about dog services in Tucson. I will definitely recommend her to friends and family. Andie & Rudi Graessle

Hands-down the best dog trainer I've come across, and I've been around dogs my whole life. Highly recommend Karyn's integrated approach. Her knowledge and love for the dogs' well-being is overwhelmingly apparent. She can teach the dogs (and you) just about anything from agility training to service training. She's smart, attentive and incredibly caring. In under a year-and-a-half, our 90lb puppy is hiking/camping off leash (e-collar of course) and rolling left and right for just about any treat. He's been left uncrated alone in the house since about 6 months. Do yourself, and your dog, a favor and get in touch with Karyn. I'm sure glad we did.