Primal Needs Dog Training & Behavioral Solutions

Feb 10th, 2020

OMG! We just got back from Blair Diamonds Primal Needs Dog Training where we spent 3 days with Blair and our two dogs. Needless to say, we have NEW DOGS. But really, we now have a NEW understanding of our dogs and can communicate with them on their level to get what WE want! We are now continuing our training at home and even though our dogs tried to go back to their neurotic cat chasing aggressive behavior, thanks to what we learned from Blair, we were able to nip that at the bud. I am soooo thankful for Blair and his training. If you are trying to decide which trainer to go to, don't hesitate, Blair is the real deal.. actually, better then the real deal and is indeed a miracle worker.
Sep 25th, 2019

Blair Diamond saved my life with my rescue dog, Wilma. He has changed my relationship with dogs, and there is not a day that I regret investing into my animal. After all, Wilma will not be my only dog, and his lessons will transgress from animal to animal. I adopted Wilma (8 month old pitbull mix) from a local shelter in Sacramento. When she was at the shelter, she showed no signs of animal aggression (she shared a pen with another older dog). When I brought her home, I quickly realized that she was a level 10 aggressive towards all animals and that I might have a potential lawsuit on my hands if I wasn't careful. Wilma was so intense, she nearly broke through a glass window in my home to get to another dog. I lived in midtown Sacramento at the time and I could barely walk her without being fearful that she may bite me or another dog if quarters got too close. She's a very strong dog, so yanking me down a few blocks was an easy task for her. In addition to her aggression towards dogs, Wilma would often jump up and bite me if she couldn't get to the other dog. Essentially, walking her was a f-ing nightmare and I hated my life with her. Inside the house she had very 'puppy' like behavior. She was always biting me too hard and bruising me, jumping on guests and couches... like I said, total nightmare. I reached out to Blair and opted for the weekend session (3 days of training). He has an awesome home in Shasta. The experience is very much like Air BnB. Blair runs you through a 3 week program over the course of three days. Each day is designated to a different skill the dog will learn, with the intention of you leaving and running the three week program at your own home. The first week is a lot of crate training, the second week your dog gets a little more freedom and learns where their 'place' is, and the third week is training your dog off leash. The benefit of visiting Shasta to learn how to create the program yourself, is that your animal looks to you for guidance, rather than the trainer. Blair has an awesome disposition and a passion for his career, which makes his teachings easy to follow and enact on my own. After the three week program that Blair taught me in three days, Wilma's behavior improved 1,000,000%. Here's what you should expect from your dog after training 1. Your dog will walk by your side. 2. You have the ability to teach your dog well behaved mannerisms, like waiting on their bed while company comes to the door. 3. You will have a better relationship and more control over your animal. Wilma is hands down the best trained dog of any of my friends. She will walk by my side in a 'heel' command, as long as I instruct her to. She doesn't bite me anymore. She still shows aggression w/ animals, but it is 1,000,000% manageable. My expectations with her are reasonable, I don't ever expect her to enter a dog park, but I still want to enjoy my walks with her and 'normal' human dog activities. Don't have unreasonable expectations from Blair. If your dog has killed another dog, don't expect that your dog will come out of training looking for other dog friends. Set yourself up for success and think about what behavioral issues are absolutely non-negotiable, and what behaviors do we as humans WISH we could change? I know the price may be a bit of a choker for you.. but ask yourself two things. 1 - If my dog had a broken arm, would I pay a couple grand to fix it? If you answered yes, then there's no reason you wouldn't want to fix your dogs brain if it's broken.. It's just a covered ailment versus an overt one. 2 - If your dog has 10 years left, 3,650 days and you spent $2,650 for training.. then that's less than a dollar a day you just bought yourself the most well trained pooch, ever. Lastly, I'd like to finish up this review by thanking Blair for being there for me after training. He's a man that's true of his word. He told me, "you're dog is in AA, and I'm her sponsor". He's always answered my calls and I went to Shasta in October. Thank you Blair. Here's pics of my pooch. I love her.
Sep 6th, 2020

This review is long overdue as I sent my dog to train with Blair of Primal Needs in January. As we’re now in August, I can say that it was absolutely worth it. I adopted my dog in December last year knowing that she had separation anxiety. I didn’t realize however, that she would keep me hostage at home because if I left, she would howl, bark, tear through the trash, scratch the cabinets, and basically lose her mind with fear. If I tried to crate her, she would get so worked up I’d come home to a bloody mess. After researching for several months on how to handle a dog with separation anxiety, the results I found online were not promising; many sites stated that it was a condition which could not be helped without pharmaceutical therapy. Not wanting to jump straight to meds, I decided to at least give training a shot to see if the behavior could be addressed at all. After reaching out to a handful of trainers in the area, I decided to go with Primal Needs for several reasons. I liked not only the 3-week board and train aspect of it, but more importantly, the weekend training that I could attend to learn how to handle my dog in a direct and personalized manner. Blair taught me that my dog needed to know she was not in charge; A lot of her anxiety had to do with the fact that she thought she had to make the decisions. With an e-collar, very strict rules, and consistency, she started to get the ease and confidence she was missing. Blair was patient during our weekend training and took the time to adapt his training techniques specifically to the personality and needs of my dog and her home environment. She’s now great on the leash, I can take her on hikes off leash, and she responds well to my commands. One aspect that surprised me the most was driving. This was not a specific area that I worked on with her, but I think because of the new stricter rules, and her knowledge that I will make the decisions, she no longer whines and paces the entire time we’re in the car. She can sit quietly, though a few corrections are still required, and I can finally drive safely again. Though my dog doesn’t love her crate (she was not properly crate trained as a puppy), the training with Blair has taught her to at least tolerate it without throwing a fit. I can now leave the house and know that she is safe, I’ve even been able to leave her out of the crate at home alone for several hours without any harm. While I still have more work to do with my dog and her anxiety, I feel like Blair gave me the tools to do so, and my dog the confidence to make it work. I would absolutely without hesitation recommend Primal Needs training to anyone looking to train their dog, and more specifically, a dog with separation anxiety.
Mar 12th, 2020

I really don't even know where to begin with describing how amazing our experience has been with Blair and Primal Needs. I cannot imagine a better experience and result. My wife and I adopted a rescue a few years ago ("Darwin")that has had just about every type of undesirable behavior - pulling on the leash, aggressive around other people and dogs, hyper-territorial, even biting us at times. We couldn't have friends over or guests in our home, because of Darwin's aggression. Walking him was a pain. Going to the vet was a nightmare. Darwin was introducing massive stress, and impacting our life negatively in just about every way possible. By the time we contacted Blair, the situation was so bad that I truly did not have hope that it could be fixed. When Blair showed up with Darwin after their time together, I just could not believe my eyes. Darwin, who has never done anything but pull and tug at the leash on walks for his entire life, was absolutely magneted to Blair's heel and constantly looked to him for direction. Blair was able to understand Darwin's psychology and how to best communicate with him so that he understands our directions. Blair laid out a comprehensive plan for reintroducing Darwin to our home, so that the time he spent with Blair and the mindset Blair established for him are constantly reinforced, and Darwin learns that he no longer runs the house (or our lives). It has been a truly unbelievable transformation. Whereas before, Darwin used his intelligence to manipulate us, Blair "unlocked" his potential, realized how smart and responsive Darwin is (apparently - ha!), and created a system of communication that is smart, simple, and allows us to benefit from how responsive he is! Talk about turning the tables! Now, just a couple weeks later, we are already able to do so much with Darwin that we previously never thought possible. And perhaps even better, in the few scenarios here and there where Darwin still needs to learn/needs corrections, we feel as confident as ever about our ability to clearly communicate to him what he needs to do, in a way that he can clearly understand. He seems happier than ever, and the same goes for myself and my wife! I could easily write another 10 pages but I will leave it at this - bottom line, my wife and I were absolutely overwhelmed in every way with this experience and cannot recommend Primal Needs enough!!!
Aug 23rd, 2019