Google reviews from dog owners across Carlsbad, Encinitas, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Escondido and the rest of North County.
WRITE A REVIEWKNOW THE DIFFERENCE
8/15/2025 | 10 min read
Dog Trainer vs Dog Behaviorist: Which Is the Right Fit for YouUnfortunately, behaviorists have become the snake oil salesmen of the dog world. They walk into your home, throw around some pseudo-science jargon, misdiagnose your dog’s issues, then vanish into the night while your pup is still chewing through your drywall....
READ ARTICLEONE PROGRAM COVERS ALL OF THEM
Four things come up in review after review, from Oceanside to Poway. They are not slogans, they are how a Got Sit lesson runs.
No facility, no drop-off, no sending your dog away to learn to respect someone else. Your trainer works in your living room, at your front door and on your block, where the problems happen.
Clients joke that they were the ones being trained, and they are right. You learn the why behind every technique, so the results hold after the program ends.
The free consultation is a working session. Kim or Hunter brings their own trained dog, works with yours on the spot, and you decide with your own eyes.
Weekly one-hour lessons with homework you can actually do, and a trainer you can text with questions in between. Most owners see a change by the second or third lesson.
Three of the Google reviews that explain Got Sit San Diego better than we can. The full set loads above.
Kim and Hunter helped me completely transform my very stubborn frenchies from wild, reactive, leash-pulling, food-obsessed rule breakers into calm, sweet, command-following, nonreactive babies I genuinely didn't know were possible.
Jennifer Santamaria, Google reviewWe decided to commit to the 7-session training program over 7 weeks, with one hour of training each week, and I can honestly say we started seeing a difference after just TWO sessions!
Danielle Boughton, Google reviewKim was incredibly patient with our whole family, not just our dog, and took the time to explain everything in a way that felt easy to understand and actually doable. No judgment, no rushing, just calm guidance and steady encouragement.
Laurie Peterson, Google reviewWHAT WE TRAIN
Once your dog listens to you indoors, it can learn to listen outdoors. Sit, down, stay, place and come are taught in your kitchen and at your front door, then proofed on the sidewalk, the beach and the patio until your dog responds the first time.
The dog that lunges at every dog after a bad park encounter, the rescue that guards its food, the dog that snaps at guests. Your trainer builds a plan for that dog and coaches your end of the leash, because most of the fix is there.
Crate, supervision and a schedule set up around your home and your day, for puppies, adult dogs and rescues who never learned. The accidents stop when the routine is right, and your trainer checks in as they drop off.
Controlled exposure to dogs, people, kids and bikes on real North County sidewalks, with Keiko or Lokai along as the steady example. Clients go from big feelings at the coffee shop to unbothered at the park.
Taught at your front door and on your own route, then proofed on busier walks. Owners say the biggest change was finally knowing what to do with the leash, and most dogs walk better after the first lesson.
Families have started with us at ten weeks and called it the smoothest puppy stage they have had. Potty routine, crate, nipping and the first walk handled at home, then real-world sessions as your puppy grows.
For dogs that have the basics and owners who want more. Distance commands, an out-of-sight place and a recall that works with a dog across the street, proofed on the trails and beaches you actually use.
Jumping on guests, charging the door, counter surfing, chewing and settling on command, fixed using the trainable moments of a normal day. Clients call it a shift in how they handle the dog, not a quick fix.
Service and mobility-assist foundations, therapy-visit manners and property dogs around horses and chickens in Fallbrook and Valley Center. An honest assessment first, then the skills the job needs.
BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOUR BEST FRIEND
CALL OR TEXT US
A TRAINER DRIVES TO YOUR HOME
WEEKLY 1-ON-1 LESSONS
Jeff Adissi, Google review, after training Louie with Kim
Training a Dutch Shepherd to be a happy dog, off-leash around distractions.
Teach your dog this level of emotional balance.
Sidewalks, parks and patios are the classroom once the basics hold at home.
What Got Sit San Diego clients keep telling us
Read our Google reviews and the same story repeats from Oceanside to Poway. A dog that was friendly until a bad encounter at a dog park, and now lunges at every dog on the walk. A rescue that guards its food and panics when you leave. A puppy that treats hands like chew toys. A Lab that drags you down the street. Owners who were starting to wonder if they could keep the dog at all.
Then a trainer came to the house. Kim, who leads the team here, or Hunter, who trains alongside her. They met the dog in its own living room, read what was going on and built a plan for that dog. Lessons ran weekly, about an hour each, with homework in between and a trainer to text when something was not working. Most owners saw a change by the second or third lesson.
The part clients did not expect is that they were the ones being trained. We teach the why behind every technique, because you give the commands every day and we do not. That is the method Marvin Versteeg built in 2007: there are no bad dogs, only bad communication, and your home and the world at large are the classroom.
Call or text (619) 704-9178 or send the form, and a trainer comes out for a free in-home consultation. You see the method work on your own dog before you decide anything.
Training starts inside the house. Once your dog listens to you in the kitchen and at the front door, it can learn to listen on the sidewalk, at the beach and on the patio. So the first lessons happen at home, and the rest happen in the places your dog actually goes, from a quiet Encinitas side street to Carlsbad Village on a Saturday.
The method is balanced and practical: clear leadership, consistent rules, real praise and play as a reward. We do not punish fear and we do not ignore aggression. Reactive dogs start at a distance where they stay calm and close the gap over sessions, and nobody gets thrown into a crowd.
Our trainers bring their own dogs. Kim's Keiko and Hunter's Lokai come along as the steady example your dog can practice around, which clients say worked where the dog park failed. When your dog is ready, your trainer sets up practice exercises at your house with them.
Every program is one plan for one dog. Jumping, barking, chewing, accidents, leash pulling, separation anxiety and aggression are covered together, because they usually share the same root. Your trainer recommends the program after meeting your dog at the free consultation, never over the phone.
We train all breeds, sizes and ages: ten-week-old Shih Tzus, adolescent Weimaraners, eight-year-old dogs their owners thought were too old, and rescues with histories nobody knows. The towns change, from the coast to the I-15 corridor, but the lesson runs the same way everywhere.
IT'S EASY TO GET STARTED
Practical advice from the trainers, written for North County walks.
OUR BLOGOur trainers drive to you. Pick your town for local details, or see every area we serve.
Short answers to what we hear most on the phone. Anything else, ask your trainer during the free in-home consultation.
Yes. A Got Sit trainer drives to your home anywhere in North County, from Oceanside to Poway, meets your dog and works with your dog on the spot so you can see the method before you commit to anything. The trainer also brings one of their own trained dogs, like Kim's Keiko or Hunter's Lokai, to show you the finished result. Then they recommend a program. There is no obligation.
In your home first, then out in the real world. Your living room, your front door and your own street are the classroom. Once your dog listens there, your trainer takes the lessons to Carlsbad sidewalks, Encinitas beaches, Escondido parks and Poway trails. We serve coastal and inland North County plus the I-15 corridor communities of north San Diego city, and the trainer always drives to you.
Jumping on guests, excessive barking, bolting out the door and ignoring recall, destructive chewing, separation anxiety, leash pulling, soiling the house, nipping, counter surfing and aggression or reactivity toward other dogs and people. Your trainer evaluates your dog at the free consultation and builds one program that covers all of it, rather than treating each behavior as a separate project.
There are four. Puppy Roadmap for young dogs, Executive Training for private in-home lessons that graduate into real-world sessions, Aggression Management for fearful, confused or reactive dogs, and Jump Start board and train for owners who want a trainer to build the foundation first. Most programs run six or seven weekly lessons of about an hour, with homework between. Your trainer recommends one after meeting your dog at the free in-home consultation, never over the phone.
Yes. Our trainers work with eight-week-old puppies, adolescent rescues and senior dogs, and with everything from Chihuahuas to Great Danes. Kim's own dog Keiko is a Cattle Dog and Pitbull mix, and Hunter's Lokai is a Border Collie and Golden Retriever mix. There are no bad dogs, only bad communication, and the method is the same whatever the breed.
We do not ask you to drop your dog at a facility for a lesson in a quiet room. Training happens one-on-one where the problems happen: your kitchen, your front door, the walk around your block in Vista or San Marcos, then busier places like Carlsbad Village or the Oceanside harbor. Clients say the part they did not expect was that they were the ones being trained, and that is the point. Local veterinarians, including Twin Oaks Animal Hospital, refer their patients to us.
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