Reviews

I am writing to recommend Debra Gates, the owner of Best Furiends, as a dog trainer.

Dee is my aunt, however, in addition to working with her myself to train my dog Stella, I have also witnessed her working with my daughter on her dog Blaze and one of my best friends on her dog Wicket, and how well behaved their service dogs Ruger and Astra are. and I’ve seen the impact she has made on the dogs themselves as well as the lives they live. I have nothing but positive things to say about Dee’s training style, her methods, and her advice and I personally believe that she made an amazing choice at becoming a dog trainer.

I have always known Dee to be of sound character, being compassionate, creative, flexible, honest, optimistic, persistent, and having a great sense of ambition. Over the course of many years, I have witnessed tremendous growth in Dee’s adaptability, communication, leadership, organization, teamwork, and problem solving. I am certain these cultivated skills help her in training dogs and owners alike, and her kindness and ability to be firm when necessary help immensely in making sure that people are successful in hard cases, like my daughter and her dog Blaze who was a heeler from a puppy mill who had zero manners when we first got him.

Dee doesn’t just train dogs. She goes above and beyond by training dogs with their owners as a team. She helps overcome unique challenges as they arise, she recommends foods that keep the pup happy and healthy, routines and other necessary things based on the needs of the owner, the breed of the dog, and other important things she learns throughout the course of training such as behaviors, likes and dislikes the pair has, their habits and things that motivate the team, including favorite toys versus treats. She prefers to train dogs so that they respect you and choose to listen to commands you give them because they want to, not because you bribe them to.

My mother recently had adopted a mixed rescue dog that she was struggling with training following a recent health emergency affecting her speech, simple commands and potty training at the forefront of issues she was experiencing. After searching most of the providers in the greater Kingman Area, we were referred to Dee and Walter and couldn’t be happier after finding them.

I was in town helping my mother following a stroke and was a rock in a hard place and needed immediate training services or would have been forced to rehome my mother’s fur baby. After doing a introductory call with Dee, she took the seriousness of our needs to heart and came over that night to do an orientation to make sure I felt comfortable hiring them to help my mother. I was blown away with the orientation and personal service they provided. Especially the willingness to explain their ideologies on training and why they did what they did. They emphasized that it was the owner’s responsibility to work at it with the pet. This was something we really enjoyed and agreed with.

After completing the first phase of the program that they recommended, we’ve seen a world of improvement and will be using them for any additional training that’s needed. Before Dee and Walter were in the picture, my mother’s caregivers were scared and timid around our fur baby. After just the first few training sessions we saw a significant change that gave us hope that my elderly mother could give her fur baby the life she wanted and the piece of mind that my mother would be safe with her fur baby.

I highly recommend Best Fur Friends to anyone looking for a more personal hands on approach for training and behavioral modification with your fur baby. I’m beyond thankful we chose them and can’t emphasize enough how wonderful they are, and at the end of the day, results are what matter, and they’re willing and able to get you where you need to be.

A note of gratitude to Best Fur-iends K-9 Training. We opted for the specialized one-on-one training in our home without the distraction of other dogs or the stress of being away for classes. The team assessed correctly and handled everything with ease and very professionally. A well trained dog is such a joy! Our puppy loved learning this way, thank you.