Testimonials
Read what clients say about working with Rikke.
After years of trying to DIY training on my own, the best decision I ever made was working with Rikke. She was so knowledgeable, supportive, and kind, we made more progress in a few months with her than we did in years working on my own.
My dog Bruce has some serious behavioral issues and is afraid of just about everything. Rikke helped us work through both the immediate management of some stressful situations, and created long term change that’s opened up his world and made his sense of safety sky rocket. We can’t recommend her enough!
My dog Bruce has some serious behavioral issues and is afraid of just about everything. Rikke helped us work through both the immediate management of some stressful situations, and created long term change that’s opened up his world and made his sense of safety sky rocket. We can’t recommend her enough!
Kaitlin C & Bruce, Virtual behavior clients.
Rikke “gets” us and “gets” our dog, Leo. We find Rikke to be exceptionally adaptive, meeting us where we are each session. She’s a wealth of knowledge and offers a place to talk through our struggles and help us with a seemingly endless toolbox of ideas. We enjoy our time with her and learn so much. She gives us just what we can take in each session. She offers great insight, feedback and offers us positive reinforcement, as we do our dog! She’s helped us understand how Leo sees the world, far beyond simply understanding how dogs and humans communicate differently.
Matt D and Tracey P and Leo, virtual behavior training clients.
Rikke changed our lives. Chicken-the-dog had been experiencing noise-related agoraphobia in our New York City neighborhood. She had become so fearful of our block that she often wouldn’t leave the house to relieve herself for more than 24 hours. We struggled with this for almost a year before contacting RIkke and my days were dark (not to mention Chicken’s days!). It was the most emotionally challenging experience I’ve been through. With Rikke, I felt so supported, understood, reassured, and affirmed that it brought me to tears. She listened to me and my concerns and let me ask all the questions I needed to. Together, we came up with a plan.
Rikke was our behavior consultant but she also became like a therapist, cheerleader, friend, and mom/auntie figure to me. She pulled me out of my dark days. She showed up every single week (rain or shine, if Chicken was up for it!), ready to support me in doing the work and she LOVED and understood Chicken as much as I did—well, she probably understood her much more than I did. Rikke has a wonderful personality and I looked forward to working with her every week- she's full of spunk, stories, and humor. She is wildly generous. Eventually, we made progress. We got to the point where Chicken would voluntarily leave the house and we were able to go for walks again. As weeks went by, we saw Chicken grow more and more comfortable, resilient, and able to bounce back until she was able to calmly observe a ten minute procession of obscenely loud dirt bikes and ATVs! This time, I cried tears of joy.
Rikke was our behavior consultant but she also became like a therapist, cheerleader, friend, and mom/auntie figure to me. She pulled me out of my dark days. She showed up every single week (rain or shine, if Chicken was up for it!), ready to support me in doing the work and she LOVED and understood Chicken as much as I did—well, she probably understood her much more than I did. Rikke has a wonderful personality and I looked forward to working with her every week- she's full of spunk, stories, and humor. She is wildly generous. Eventually, we made progress. We got to the point where Chicken would voluntarily leave the house and we were able to go for walks again. As weeks went by, we saw Chicken grow more and more comfortable, resilient, and able to bounce back until she was able to calmly observe a ten minute procession of obscenely loud dirt bikes and ATVs! This time, I cried tears of joy.
Megan Neal
It would be impossible to overstate how much our training sessions with Rikke have improved our lives, and that of our anxious dog, Rufus. We were nervous for so many reasons when we first started our sessions, but Rikke put us at ease and empowered us to become trainers ourselves. With her guidance, we were able to help our reactive, anxious dog to find new outlets for his energy by keeping his mind engaged. Her insightful and professional approach to fear-free behavior training has allowed us to establish a whole new level of communication and trust with our pup that I barely dreamed was possible. Thank you so much, Rikke!
Jacqueline C, Tucker L and Rufus, virtual behavior training clients.
When my husband and I met Rikke, we were desperate. Our terrier mix, Doodle, had started exhibiting increasingly complex and serious behavioral issues—anxiety, overstimulation, leash reactivity, and hyperarousal that would lead to biting.
We had worked with a trainer prior to finding Rikke, but Doodle's behavior was only getting worse. With Rikke's help, in combination with medication, Doodle has learned coping skills to manage his stress and is able to communicate his boundaries. In turn, he has become more confident and more resilient—he no longer feels the need to resort to biting to communicate his needs. Rikke is an incredible problem solver who can come up with an out-of-the box solution for any situation you throw at her—and we threw many her way. She was able to help us find training techniques, routines and regimens that really worked for us.
I like to think that Rikke is part trainer, part cheerleader, part therapist. In addition to helping our dog manage his emotions, she helped us as owners feel more calm and in control. I no longer feel panic walking down the street, nor do I feel a sense of helplessness on the rare occasions that Doodle is having a challenging day. The bond that we've built with our dog through this training process has been incredible. Helping Doodle to grow into a happy, affectionate, curious dog has been one of the most rewarding experiences. I recommend Rikke to everyone I know--we are so grateful to her.
We had worked with a trainer prior to finding Rikke, but Doodle's behavior was only getting worse. With Rikke's help, in combination with medication, Doodle has learned coping skills to manage his stress and is able to communicate his boundaries. In turn, he has become more confident and more resilient—he no longer feels the need to resort to biting to communicate his needs. Rikke is an incredible problem solver who can come up with an out-of-the box solution for any situation you throw at her—and we threw many her way. She was able to help us find training techniques, routines and regimens that really worked for us.
I like to think that Rikke is part trainer, part cheerleader, part therapist. In addition to helping our dog manage his emotions, she helped us as owners feel more calm and in control. I no longer feel panic walking down the street, nor do I feel a sense of helplessness on the rare occasions that Doodle is having a challenging day. The bond that we've built with our dog through this training process has been incredible. Helping Doodle to grow into a happy, affectionate, curious dog has been one of the most rewarding experiences. I recommend Rikke to everyone I know--we are so grateful to her.
Alana, Adam, and Doodle, virtual behavior training clients.
