Jennifer and Dynamite Doggies! have helped hundreds of dogs feel safer and happier in the world.
EMAIL US TODAY! dynamite.doggies@gmail.com
Client Testimonials
“I worked with Jennifer over the course of a few months shortly after I adopted my German Shorthaired Pointer named Berlin, who was having fear-based issues with children and other strangers. Jennifer comes with a hefty knowledge bank as well as a practical way of applying that knowledge. Her recommendations and feedback, and her sensible but thorough training regimen helped me make great strides with Berlin. Soon he displayed no fear around kids, and his fear around strangers has greatly diminished. You will have to work to apply Jennifer’s recommendations, but the payoff will be rewarding. I highly recommend Jennifer to anyone with a ‘problem’ dog, or even a dog with a small problem.”— Phillip & Berlin |
“Jennifer Joyce helped our human-shy dog become a more “social” dog. Howdy is so much more comfortable with people and has even made some human friends at our dog park. She no longer runs far away whenever people are walking nearby. We strongly recommend Jennifer to anyone who has tried other professional trainers and who have been disappointed in the results. Thanks again Jennifer!”— Brenda and Mike Gaspar |
“Jennifer is an extremely talented, patient doggy empath. She has helped us with countless doggie issues, even from across the country, by consultation on the web. We have a slightly neurotic ACD/Border Collie mix (oh my) that, without her, would probably be a raving lunatic right now. If you are going to hire a trainer for any issue your dog has (or you think they might have), this is the one to get. You won’t be disappointed.”— Erica, Chris & Jack |
“We hired Jennifer to help our Chihuahua become more confident around people. Jennifer came in and totally transformed our dog. It was like magic. She made us see that with love and patience, Mia was not a lost cause. The approach that Jennifer uses, has helped us to make Mia a more rounded little girl around people. Having visitors over no longer stresses all of us out, including Mia. We can’t tell you how much we love this woman.”— Statia, Doug, Mia & Grommit |
“Jennifer has been helping us with our min-pin/terrier shelter dog Jedi since December 2008. He had issues barking at everything that moved – cars, people and especially dogs (and we live near Dolores Park so walking him was a nightmare!). We hired Jennifer over 10 or so other trainers because before she would even let us hire her she sent a full questionnaire to learn more about Jedi and his issues, so she could think about if she could help us or not. Then told me a little about what her approach would be – before we even gave her a check or set a date to meet!She came in and helped us calm him down at home, which gave him more confidence on walks. She walked with us and showed us all sorts of techniques to help Jedi while on the walks as well. I’ve never had any problem scheduling with Jennifer, and her cancellation policy is very reasonable, so I have no complaints about billing or logistics. We had to reschedule one of our sessions, and we weren’t sure if that would be difficult or not since we had paid half-way in advance, but Jennifer reorganized her schedule to make it happen as soon as possible after the canceled date.We love working with her so much we hired her to walk Jedi during the week so that he can get his energy out while getting reinforced in his new, better behavior. Jennifer emails us after each walk and tells us how he did, what worked and any recommendations she has for us to keep up his training. She also helped us find a great boarding situation. She’s in it to help dogs and help owners – She clearly LOVES her job and it shows in the results.”— Sarah, Nico & Jedi |
“Jennifer has been so wonderful for our golden retriever, Mochi. What started out as training has turned into weekly dog walking groups. Jennifer has a true talent and we have been lucky to benefit from that every week. Jennifer is very professional and we love all the pictures she posts daily of Mochi playing. These photos allow us to see our dog out having a great time and provide a little break in our hectic days. Jennifer has been great for both Mochi and us. We know she is in good hands with Jennifer!”— Cecilia, Brad & Mochi |
“Jennifer definitely deserves all the wet, wiggly kisses she gets from our dog, Murray. He is an Australian Cattle Dog rescued from the SPCA who was having a hard time acclimating to all the skaters and noise of Ocean Beach/SF. Jennifer has a great handle on what herding dogs are thinking and what makes them tick, which is really necessary for any trainer to work with our lovingly neurotic dogs. Jennifer patiently helped us figure out what was working for our dog and what we could do to help him and is always so great about giving us feedback.We started with 1:1 training with Jennifer to work on Murray’s stranger (and other) fears in San Francisco, during the summer. In October we moved to Foster City for the doggie to have a calmer environment, and Jennifer was gracious enough to do our last visit down here on the peninsula. We’ve always been excited about joining her Fort Funston group, but we’ll have to wait until we’re back in SF.Thanks, Jennifer, for all you’ve done with Murray. If anyone out there has a herding dog (or other breeds) who needs help, don’t hesitate to call Jennifer!”— Jennifer, Greg & Murray |
“Jennifer lives and breathes (but of course, doesn’t eat) doggies. Top notch!”— Katy Hensley |
“Jennifer has been lending her training expertise to our shelter for over 9 months now, and I couldn’t imagine working with anyone else. She is extremely sensitive to needs of both the dogs and the foster parents. She is a great trainer. The dogs she works with love her, even/especially our shy or fearful dogs, which speaks enough about her abilities right there. I also hear great feedback from foster parents, about what an excellent trainer she is. My foster program wouldn’t be as successful without her. This is one awesome chick, and I highly recommend her!”— Shelley Smith, Foster Coordinator Pets Unlimited |
“We had an amazing dog walker who fired us after five years because, well, our dog went totally nuts. It wasn’t so much that she fired us as she had to make sure that the dogs in her care were safe. And with our pooch jumping over fences and taking off through the streets of San Francisco, well… Anyway, we took our dog to a behaviorist, which was a ginormous waste of money. Then, the old amazing dog walker referred us to Jennifer and, wow. Our minds were blown.Mingus is a boxer/aussie mix. He has TONS of energy, some typical herding breed characteristics, and some rescue dog fear issues going on too. Jennifer came over, talked to us for a while, and then met Mingus. They were instant buds. She totally got him and knew how to help us help him. Jennifer gave us a lot of tools to work with and has provided ongoing support. I can’t recommend her services highly enough.”— Sarah, Seth & Mingus |
“I have known and worked with Jennifer for a long time and she is highly professional, reliable, funny, responsive, compassionate and smart.One of the things that has especially impressed me about Jennifer professionally is that she is FIERCELY committed to bettering human/dog relationships with her patience, perceptive read on dog behavior and gifts as a teacher. I would absolutely entrust any dog with Jennifer – knowing that she would care for them thoughtfully and respectfully!!”— Pamela Wyman of dogEvolve |
“Like Victoria Stilwell without the dominatrix outfit, Jennifer is clear, and empathic with dogs and owners alike. My mouthy rat terrier/blue heeler mutt has been transformed from an anxious, bitey, leash pulling adolescent to a sweet, confident dog responsive to recall and able to be taken down a busy street on leash without worries he will be freaked out by things or leap up at strangers walking fast or jogging. We still have things to work on, but thanks to Jennifer I feel confident that the problems have solutions.”—Jo Ellen, Stan & Kato |
“We found Jennifer’s name on a SPCA referral list, shortly after adopting our 7 month old Aussie mix, Davis. We called her because the list said she worked with herding dogs in the city. That’s just what we had! We were told Davis was “shy” but had no idea that her shyness meant a strong fear of strangers and new places. We hired Jennifer as a trainer to help us socialize Davis.Jennifer gave us many useful and practical suggestions for socialization with people, places and dogs. To this day, we use her suggestions on a regular basis and Davis continues to get more comfortable with new people and new environments.We also hired Jennifer to walk Davis and witnessed Jennifer commit to building trust with Davis (no small feat!) In the span of a few weeks Davis went from barking and growling at Jennifer (her fear response) to running to the door with tail wagging when Jennifer arrived. Having seen Davis with Jennifer out at Fort Funston, it’s clear that she cares deeply for the animals in her group and Davis is incredibly bonded to her. As first time dog owners, it’s been important to us to be able to rely on Jennifer’s expertise, her translation of dog body language and behavior, and her sincere commitment to Davis and the many animals she walks and trains. We all feel so lucky to have found her!”—Mary, Dusty & Davis |
“Jennifer has been taking my beagle, Speck on his daily walks for close to 5 years now and all I can say is she is FANTASTIC! Jennifer is dependable, friendly, safety conscious, with a great understanding of the dogs in her care.Also, as a trainer, she’s given me many good tips to help with my anxiety-riddled, shelter-rescued little guy. I won’t say he’s not crazy now but it’s a manageable kind. I can’t say enough good things. I highly recommend her!”—Nicole, Ed & Speck |
“Although I only had a few private training sessions with Jennifer, I would highly recommend her services. She is a very professional, knowledgeable and thorough trainer. She worked with me and my two small dogs with mostly on-leash and walking issues. I learned a lot from our sessions. She explained things very clearly, and we did a lot of practice out around the neighborhood, which really helped me internalize and cement the new techniques.”— Jennifer, Bruno & Lola |
“Recently I needed to enter the world of hiring a dog walker, since my three little kids are preventing our dogs from getting virtually any off-leash romp time until the time when all three are in school. But seeing many dog walkers out and about during the day (while most of you are at work, your home lives are monitored by us stay-at-home moms and retirees!) I have seen enough dog walking scenarios that were extremely disturbing to me… dogs being kicked, screamed at, ignored, and toted around by a few extremely checked-out folks… that I was honestly hesitant to navigate the process of sorting the kick-butt dog walkers from the dog-butt-kicking bad dog walkers.Thank god I bookmarked Jennifer’s site a year ago when I saw a posting on craigslist, because this month I finally contacted her and have been working with her on getting Winky up to speed and ready to be in her off-leash dog walking group. My ears perked up when I read that her preference and passion is for walking and training herding dogs (we have two corgis) and it was clear even before I met her that she really cares about the dogs’ safety and emotional well-being.I adore her. She is an experienced private trainer, SFSPCA schooled, and specializes in sensitive dogs (corgis, anyone?), and shy/fearful/aggressive dogs as well. So, not only is she a kick-ass dog walker, but since she is a trainer, it feels like you are getting a lot of bang for your walking buck. And being a herding dog lover herself, she knows why my corgis do what they do and need what they need.We met with her for some private work, and was the first dog trainer we have encountered whose (gentle and intuitive) methods are working for Winky. We hadn’t realized how much her previous puppy classes had trained *us* in ways that were freaking her out. Jennifer not only wasn’t phased by Winky’s fearfulness of the clicker we had tried to use but recognized it for the noise sensitivity it was, rather than dismissing it as “that freaky Winky’s oddness” as we had, and immediately recommended that we switch to clicking the end of a retractable ballpoint pen instead, which is much quieter but gets the job done, and TA DAAA problem solved!Jennifer has been taking our dog out for almost 5 years now for his daily walks. Every day the little guy heads off to Fort Funston for a few hours and then comes back happy and tired. He loves it! He gets so excited when he hears Jennifer coming up the stairs. He doesn’t even look back when he’s headed out the door. We are so grateful to have Jennifer as our dog walker and we completely trust her with our dog and home.She also provides great training advice. Plus, she takes care of our cat when we are out of town. She’s the best!”—Cindy, Rod & Johnny |
“Jennifer is very serious when it comes to the safety and well being of any dog in her care. She has over ten years experience as a dog walker and is a very qualified trainer. I’m proud to work for her.”—John Strine, Dog Walker, Dynamite Doggies! |
“I’ve seen Jennifer with her charges and she’s amazing at training dogs and clients alike. She cares deeply about her work, truly loves dogs, and always gives her all. I’d highly recommend her to any and all of my friends who have dogs. (And I have!)”—Jenny Eng, Owner, Mosspink Design |