TESTIMONIALS
High Hopes Dog Training is amazing. Hope is truly a dog whisperer. She helped me be the best for my dog while she taught us both so much! Our dog, Paxton, came to Hope as a 12-week-old puppy. We had a goal of him becoming a therapy dog. One year later and we have achieved our goal which never would have happened without Hope. I cannot say enough about how professional, caring, and fun the High Hopes team is!
Natalie Klawonn
Mom of Paxton, Leonberger
All I can say is… Bravo to you Hope! Your training sessions have had an enormous effect on me and, of course, little Molly. Raising a puppy is no easy task. You and your dog training skills have made the formation of our “new” family an extremely rewarding experience. We all knew Molly was a bright puppy, but you brought her “smarts” to the surface and allowed us to reap all the benefits of a well-trained puppy. Not only is she learning to be a well-rounded little dog, but each and every day we learn more and more from her! It truly is a team effort and all the players are loving it. Molly has so much fun on her training days, and from the look on your face when she “shows off”, you’re having a good time, too! As you know, running a dog rescue and adoption group exposes me to numerous behavioral issues with all breeds of dogs. One of the biggest obstacles in our adoption process is finding adopters willing to overlook some of the “baggage” that our rescue dogs may have. Many of these animals have been neglected and abused. Some of them become timid, while others mistrust humans all-together. Just knowing that you are there with all your knowledge and patience gives me, the new adopters, and the dogs confidence, comfort, and of course…hope.
Ken Latera
Owner of Fur Crazy Pet Salon, Rescue Volunteer, & Dad of Molly, Silky Terrier
Emily is the sweetest, and my dog Walter loves her! We started with private lessons. Emily came to our home to do the training, which allowed Walter to feel more comfortable and confident while learning how to be a good boy. We worked our way up from extremely dog reactive to walking alongside a trainer dog without incident. 5 stars! Thank you, Emily!
Stevie Phillips
Mom of Walter, Boxer mix
Maggie and I started with High Hopes Puppy Kindergarten. We enjoyed it so much that we continued with the Beginner and Intermediate Classes. Last month we completed the Canine Good Citizen class. We have really enjoyed working with Hope and Sandy. They were super supportive and extremely knowledgeable trainers. Our experience with High Hopes was very positive, and we recommend their services highly.
Mary Alcoke
Mom of Maggie, Golden Retriever
This is our second High Hopes class. Our dog loves coming to school and learning. The instructors, Hope and Sandy, are fabulous.
Intermediate Obedience & Problem-Solving participant
I highly recommend working with this group for your dog training needs! My dog, Curly Fry, and I worked with Emily in private lessons with her “helper dogs” to work on his excitement and leash reactivity around other dogs. Emily was incredibly knowledgeable and patient. She helped Curly learn to stay calm when encountering other dogs on walks and not pull and lunge on the leash towards them. Curly adores Emily, and now I can walk him peacefully without being anxious about encountering other dogs on our walks. They use only positive techniques (no choke collars or electric shocks), and my dog learned a lot of great skills. He’s a very smart dog but not treat motivated and being an 8-year-old rescue dog, I was worried about teaching this “old dog some new tricks”. Emily was able to try different training techniques and commands with him to find what worked in order for us to reach our training goals.
Angela Renna
Mom of Curly Fry, Pit Bull/Boxer mix
We LOVE Hope! We did a set of three private in-home lessons with Hope– the changes that we’ve seen in our dogs have been amazing! Our 3-year-old boxer-pit mix Tucker was the main reason we signed up for the lessons. He is extremely protective of my husband and me, barking and lunging at people who come into our house. After the first session, Hope had a plan in place to help him (and us) feel more comfortable with guests coming into the house. While he was the main focus, our black lab-pit mix learned some new tricks, too! If Hope had only corrected Tucker’s aggression to new people we would have been happy, but she also taught our dogs some games to play to get them interacting with new people, taught them to “leave it”, and a bunch of new tricks as well. I would recommend lessons with Hope to anyone. She has seriously worked miracles in our house!
Erin Edmonds
Mom of Tucker, Boxer/Pit mix and Chance, Lab/Pit mix
High Hopes Dog Training helped me so, so much during my first few weeks of the rescue of my paw baby, Bates. They saved our lives, and I would recommend them to the moon and back. They are awesome!
Todd Nash
Dad of Bates, Mixed breed
We thank you for an awesome experience. Hope and Sandy are the BEST!
Puppy Kindergarten participant
Hope is an excellent dog trainer. We purchased private lessons for our Irish/English Setter mix. Our dog, Copper, is very active and high strung, but Hope was able to show us ways to make learning fun for her. She also gave us different ways to keep her attention on what we were doing. Hope was always personable and just did a great job! We highly recommend her!
Ethan Wells
Dad of Copper, Irish Setter/English Setter mix
High Hopes Dog Training is the best! Hope and her entire team are 100% committed to their clients—two-legged and four-legged! Sandy keeps us straight by always providing homework and reminders in a timely and professional manner and is always available to answer questions. The recently-acquired space for their training facility is excellent and really provides continuity in the training process. We have used the expertise of Hope and her team with each of our fur babies for more than a decade. Emily has been an excellent resource and trainer for our newest pup. There is not a better team! Thank you, High Hopes Dog Training.
Cindy Poulton,
Intermediate Obedience & Problem Solving participant
Hope provided private lessons in our home for my elderly mom and pup. It was a great experience! Hope is very professional, knowledgeable, positive, and effective. She is methodical in her approach and provides lesson notes to aide with consistency in training. She gave us insight into our dog’s behavior and information on raising a healthy, happy pet. Hope not only taught us a lot about our dog but about ourselves as well.
Claire Metz
Mom of Abby, Mixed breed
I continue to be impressed by the quality of instruction and attention to behaviors of my puppy. Great class. I always recommend High Hopes to all dog moms and dads I know!
Beginner Obedience & Good Manners participant
Our puppy, Maggie, started with High Hopes in July’17 at the age of 10 months old. We started her in the beginner class because of her age. Even though Maggie was already a very well behaved puppy, we wanted her to learn simple commands so that she would be better behaved in social settings and in public. We were so impressed with the philosophy of positive reinforcement and how easily Maggie learned from that philosophy. She seemed to enjoy being at school and got along well with her “classmates”. Hope and Sandy are all so good with the pups! You can tell they have a genuine love for their students. The class size is perfect in terms of the animal’s socialization and it is very personalized. We highly recommend High Hopes Dog Training for your puppy!!
Lee Cole
Mom of Maggie, Mixed breed
I highly recommend High Hopes Dog Training. I have a hound rescue that I adore, but he was way too much for me to handle. Hope has given me the tools and confidence to take my dog out in public. I tried group training prior to High Hopes, and it did not work for me. I found it difficult to keep my dog focused in a group setting with his strong personality. I loved the one-on-one private training. It provided the setting I needed to allow my dog to thrive in his training.
Mike Johnson
Dad of Buddy, Hound mix
Great class. The instructors, Hope and Sandy, have a wonderful way with dogs. Great to have the demonstrations of how to get the dogs to mind. Loved the tricks, too!
Beginner Obedience & Good Manners participant
I highly recommend Hope Cogen of High Hopes Dog Training to anyone with a fur-baby. I contacted Hope after adopting Ella, an 8-week-old Lab mix who was the cutest of the litter, of course! We had recently lost our 6–year-old Golden Retriever to cancer. I thought getting a puppy would be just what I needed to fill the hole left by the loss of my sweet dog, however, I completely forgot that having a puppy is like having a baby! At this time, I also had a toddler in the house and was in WAY over my head. I called Hope and she immediately set up an appointment with me that week. She gave me a refresher on everything to expect from a puppy. She helped me potty train and crate train Ella and taught me the best ways to solve those bad teething moments. She even helped me puppy-proof my home and teach my daughter how to interact with her new “sister”. Hope’s expertise was exactly what I needed to help get me through those first few months. When I found Hope, I was very desperate and regretted the decision I had made to adopt a new puppy. Hope helped me get over my anxiety and taught me how to HAPPILY balance a puppy, a 3-year-old, and our 10-year-old Golden all at the same time. She is a wonderful and caring dog trainer.
Michelle Mullins-Stephenson
Mom of Ella, Labrador Retriever mix
I can’t say enough great things about Emily and the work she did with us and our pups during in home sessions. Emily is a gifted dog trainer who quickly built rapport with our two VERY energetic Aussiedoodles. We started our training with Emily with one dog, but after some time added a new puppy. Emily was integral in helping our dog adjust to her new brother and giving us skills to work with both of them. Our sessions were individualized based on what we felt was important for our family. Emily was able to give us and our dogs skills from basic obedience, manners in the house, with guests, and during play time as well as manners/obedience both on and off leash. I really appreciated that all of our sessions were followed up with written notes so we could continue to practice exactly what Emily had worked on with us. Our dogs love Emily, and she was a real pleasure to work with. We were amazed by how quickly she was able to train our dogs and truly enjoyed our sessions with Emily. She’s the best!
Jennifer Younger
Mom of Harley, Aussiedoodle
I took my 5 year old Boston Terrier, Little Miss Missy, to High Hopes to get her second Canine Good Citizen Certificate. I had heard awesome things about their training techniques. Ms. Hope is very knowledgeable of each and every dog in her class. She works with each dog and handler to make sure we learned the techniques to be able to pass the CGC test. If we had questions she made sure to answer everyone, even if it meant staying a little later after the class. The classes were a lot of fun for both me and Missy! I highly recommend High Hopes Dog Training to anyone looking for the best dog trainer in the Roanoke Valley. You won’t go wrong with High Hopes!
Debbie Weddle
Mom of Little Miss Missy, Boston Terrier
We adopted a 3 year old Rottweiler from the pound. Overall, she was a great dog but had some quirks having to do with getting over-excited. That made our neighbors nervous, and made me have anxiety about taking her out. With High Hopes private dog training lessons, Hope was successfully able to help us refine her actions and teach her appropriate behaviors. This has made our home a very happy and less anxious place. Thanks for all your help, Hope.
Melissa Laymon
Mom of Cinnamon, Rottweiler
I was very impressed with Hope and Sandy and their loving level of patience with their students. Their methods are very effective and you can tell they love what they do. Myself and my lab, Sally, had a blast in class, and we are looking forward to taking the next steps. Lastly, I’m super impressed with Hope and her huge heart for dogs that need homes! Thanks, guys, for all you do!
Rachel Winter
Mom of Sally, Labrador Retriever
We rescued Layla from a bad home situation 3 years ago when she was 18-months-old. She was very smart and lovable but completely unsocialized and highly reactive. While we had trained her enough to interact well with our family and our other dog, it was hard to take her anywhere or to have people over because she was so reactive. Anything that moved could set Layla off. We began working with Emily earlier this year. Already, I see real improvements in Layla’s behavior. Emily showed us how to redirect Layla’s attention and diminish her reactive responses. We are reinforcing commands and learning new ones. I am able to walk Layla in the park now and not dread it, because I have the tools and training from Emily and High Hopes to manage any situation I encounter with Layla. Layla is still a work in progress, and I am excited to continue working with Emily to get Layla to her full pup potential!
Susan Cannizzo
Mom of Layla
I must admit that at first my husband wasn’t so sure about taking our Great Dane to classes, but he absolutely enjoyed every minute of this class!!!! The trainers are very knowledgeable about every breed of dog that was in the class. We hope to enroll our Dane into another High Hopes class very soon. We definitely recommend any of the High Hopes Dog Training classes to anyone looking for dog training or obedience classes!!!
Samantha Lovern
Mom of Myles, Great Dane
Hope is definitely worth a million dollars! Without Hope, raising and training my first puppy on my own would have been a total nightmare, and I wouldn’t have known where to begin! She’s given us very effective tools in training our dog and teaching us how to be great leaders for our puppy. She’s helped us bring confidence out of our puppy who is very timid. Hope is professional, caring, nurturing, and extremely patient. These are the qualities that make her a great dog trainer. My dog jumps for joy every time Hope walks through the door and is eager to start our session! Thanks a million, Hope!
Ashley Duran
Mom of Kaya, Collie mix
I have taken my dogs to High Hopes for multiple classes (started with Beginner Obedience; now one is currently training with High Hopes to become a therapy dog) and highly recommend them. All of the trainers are highly knowledgeable and effective at helping diverse groups of dogs and people get the most out of valuable class time–and it’s fun! There are very good reasons why local veterinarians recommend High Hopes Dog Training. Hope and Sandy have been great, and I will be back for more classes.
Brian Lang
Dad of Belle and Hershey, Labrador Retrievers
This class has been wonderful. The instructors were amazing and great at their job. I highly recommend!
Puppy Kindergarten participant
We adopted Zeke from our local shelter and immediately enrolled in training with Hope. Without Hope’s advice and guidance we may have considered finding another home for Zeke or returned him to the shelter. Zeke was very fearful of strangers and other dogs and showed that through aggressive behavior, but working with him in training and using tools that Hope provided us with has completely turned this fearful pup around. He made good friends in class and has been doing very well around strangers I couldn’t be happier! We made the right choice with choosing High Hopes Dog Training!
Shannon Boone
Mom of Zeke, Mixed breed
I absolutely recommend High Hopes Dog Training. Everyone is knowledgeable, friendly, professional, and passionate. They really care about helping dogs and their owners. I will continue to use their services. My fur baby, Luna, has learned so much, and the training has helped us bond even more. I can’t wait to see what future training has in store for us. Thank you, High Hopes!!
Margaret Paxton
Mom of Luna, American Staffordshire Terrier
You gave me “hope” that even a 2 1/2 year-old dog can be trained! Within no time, Ziggy was housebroken. We no longer use the crate and my carpet has never been soiled again. Each time you come for additional training, Ziggy and I learn something new. We practice what you preach and IT WORKS. You are an extremely warm and patient person who exudes love and kindness to the dog you work with as well as the owner.
Michele Goodwin
Mom of Ziggy, Beagle
Asher, my 2-year-old huskie/cattle dog/German short hair pointer mix, is a very active dog and a handful. Emily was very knowledgeable and patient with both me and Asher. She made sure she knew what I was looking to accomplish with Asher’s training and did her best to instruct me in achieving those goals.
Johniece Blankenship
We’ve done puppy training, beginner, intermediate, and Canine Good Citizen in group settings under Hope and Sandy and couldn’t be happier. They take a positive reinforcement approach but are also politely no nonsense with the owners. We now have a very happy, well-socialized and well-behaved 10-month old–that also means happy owners! (The training is as much for the owners as it is for the dogs! Today’s parents could learn a lesson from that!) Hope and Sandy are great about recognizing and helping owners to address traits specific to the variety of breeds and individuality of each pet. It is also very clear they love every dog and what they are doing! Note: It’s important to do the homework!
Charlie Watson
Dad of Buc, Labrador Retriever