Scatter Creek Kennels & Training Services

Jessica is a fantastic trainer. She is very friendly and patient when working with my young Shepherd husky mix and teaching my husband and I how to continue practicing what was taught.
We have also used the boarding services- my dog is always excited to to visit. I highly recommend Scatter Creek Kennels.

We went to three different trainers for Gunter, our Corgi/Jack Russell mix. They were the only ones able to reach him. Gunter was starting to get in bad habits and get aggressive. Jessica, our trainer, nipped that in the bud and turned this dog around! Without her efforts, we would have had to put our dog down. Now he is the best trained and well mannered dog that we have ever owned. Highly recommended!

Jessica Wynn was the perfect match for my Golden Retriever Murphy. She is very experienced with Golden Retrievers, calm, patient and makes the training look easy. Despite trying to do my best I needed a professional to help. Murphy was very possessive of items and would jump and nip at people when he would get excited. Jessica was able to work with him on his anxiety that was causing some of his bad behaviors. I can’t believe how quickly he responded to me once he was home. His progress is amazing.

Today 6/11/21 I took my 16 week old puppy to Scatter Creek for a consultation with Jim. My puppy has been aggressive towards our other pets and myself when I try to intervene. I’m also having difficult time with potty training. Jim was great at advising me how to handle these situations. I haven’t mastered it yet but using the technique Jim taught me this morning has already made a huge difference in how my puppy interacts with myself and my other pets. I will be bringing my puppy back to Jim in a month for formal training. *side note Jim was highly recommended to me by a friend. I did read the reviews on google and Yelp prior to bringing my puppy to Scatter Creek and I admit I was slightly skeptical and a little uneasy...that being said my friends referral outweighed the bad reviews and I am not disappointed in my decision to give Scatter Creek a chance. Jim is great!

Jim definitely can read dogs. He delivered exactly what we were looking for, which was guidance on how to read our young Shepards body language and to best develop a plan to help her move past her fear and "dysfunctional"coping (avoidance), which we were rightly concerned could lead to biting or aggressiveness.
Jim shared some great concepts and training solutions and got right to his assessment of her.
He is a bit unconventional in his approach but was spot on in his assessment. Helped my husband and I have a greater understanding of how to guide and train our young dog and helped her move out of her comfort zone so she could learn as well. We arrived with a fearful dog who would not get in the car on her own and left an hour and a half later with a dog who was willing to jump in, following Jims guidance of us. We also are applying his suggestions to keep moving forward with her and are glad we found him! His rates were very reasonable. Thanks Jim!

Jim is a miracle worker! He’s trained my Black Lab and my German Shepard, both times I had fantastic results that last long term. Jim loves dogs and in my experience builds a bond with them within a few seconds so they trust and listen to him. Jim is NOT your touchy feely give the dog a treat for looking at you type of trainer, he is a world class obedience trainer. Jim uses effective techniques and tools that do NOT harm the dog but require them to obey so the training is successful. Prior to seeing Jim at scatter creek, my lab would take off (chasing rabbits, playing with the neighbors dog, etc) and refuse to listen. I would have to chaise her over my 25 acres to get her back to the house. I was afraid that she would get hit by a car or similar and my inability to control her meant I couldn’t protect her. One week with Jim and she would keep her eyes focused on me and obey without a second thought regardless of other animals around her. Now 8 years later she’s 10 and still obeys me like she left training yesterday. My German Shepard is a fantastic dog that has a true desire to serve me and loves being at my side (opposite of my lab, she’s selfish and likes doing her own thing). However, my Shepard is number 2 and very jealous of the lab (#1), so she would get very aggressive toward the lab and bite/attack her a couple times a month. It started as a nip here and a little bite there. Finally it ended an an all out dog fight. I was forced to make a decision, either I get her help to stop or she had to go. I didn’t hesitate to call Jim after my success with my lab. One week with Jim and it’s been two years now without a single nip or bite from my Shepard towards her housemate. Jim saved my pup from leaving our family by helping us get her aggression understood and under control. The bottom line is if you want a fun date with your “fur baby” call someone else, if you want results CALL JIM!

For those reading reviews I would love to post our perspective from working with Scatter Creek Kennels and Jim as a trainer.

Plain and simple the training Jim uses works. We had worked with three other "professional" dog trainers with no success. I will say working with our dog we had to be pretty extreme but my dogs behavior was also pretty extreme, he was aggressive to people and to other animals. Jim in just three short sessions has taught us how to handle our dog and what to expect from him. I am thrilled to say, Scout can now walk on a loose leash, has a great recall, does extended downs, and heels. We still have work to do but our life has changed so much and for the better. Jim gave us hope for our aggressive dog, he is a pleasure to work with and the results speak for themselves.

If your looking for a highly skilled, knowledgeable and upfront no excuses honest dog trainer than Jim is definitely your guy!!! From the moment we stepped out of the car Jim was nothing but honest with us from the first step to the last. I highly respect Jim for that, I needed someone that I could trust myself and my dog Bear. He has the confidence to guide anyone through the most stressful situations his confidence and honesty helped calm some of the worst anxiety not only I had but my dog had.

We were at a cross roads with our dog Bear he is such an amazing dog but unfortunately due to getting attacked by another dog at the park Bear has become very aggressive towards other dogs and we came to a point that taking him out had become a liability to himself and other animals.

So we took a shot and gave Jim a try he had trained my neighbors Rottweiler and had done an amazing job! From the first phone encounter to us taking our first steps out of the car Jim never sugar coated anything he was 100% transparent with us.

After our first lesson with Jim and Darcy we for the first time in a long time see light at the end of the tunnel for Bear. I have not seen since Bear got attacked by another dog get as close to him as I did yesterday without him going into a frenzy. Jim is the leader Bear and I both needed in this situation. I would highly recommend Jim and Darcy hands down to anyone looking for a transparent, honest, skilled, knowledgeable dog trainer.

We will continue our training with Jim and Darcy and will bring any future dogs we may own to Scatter Creek. Thanks again Jim and Darcy for giving Bear a future!!!!

Thanks a million Jim and Darcy!!!! Bear and I appreciate all you've given us beyond words!!

We love them. Our dog has extreme anxiety and aggressive towards other dogs. We tried 2 different trainers and spent a ton of money with no results. We heard about Jim & his experience and ability to work with difficult dogs. We can now comfortably walk our dog at the park which is nothing short of a miracle. He is no nonsense which is what we needed. The prices are very reasonable and we know our dog is safe when we board her. Darcy and Jim are great. We will continue to go to them as our exclusive trainer and boarder

My family and I have taken three dogs to Scatter Creek for training over the past 20 years. I highly recommend Scatter Creek.

Jim, the owner/trainer, is very good at what he does. My first session lasted an hour and my dobermann and I have already learned a lot and she is a lot calmer already.

I'm very encouraged by Jim's instruction style and I have a feeling that in just a couple sessions I'll have all the tools I need to create a better life for my dobie, me and everyone around us.

Thanks, Jim!

We boarded our dog for 2 nights and 3 days, despite the bad reviews that we found. In every interaction, we found the staff to be extremely kind, polite and courteous. When I left a message asking the holiday drop-off hours, my call was returned promptly. Additionally we decided to pick up earlier than scheduled and found them to be very accommodating. I'd say this was exactly the service I would expect from kennel. Their prices are excellent! They are not open 24 hours a day for drop-off and pick-up but our dog was fed, watered, cared for and safe. That is what we need from a kennel.

It's only been one day since we took our dog to Jim and I have to say we may be writing back later. With that being said our feeling's at the moment are were ecstatic!!! In the last 24 hours. Our 6 year old dog who has been totally uncontrollable running out the door and refusing to come back, defecating and urinating all over the house, barking incessantly, just to mention a few things is now actually responding to what Jim showed us in a one hour session. Applying the same techniques on our 14 month little baby dog I have to say she is acting like she never needed any training at all. At first we didn't believe it was possible. But seriously he made it so simple for us to understand, at first we thought it might be a little course and gruff treatment but ultimately the proof is in the pudding and its 24 hours later and out little dog babies still actually love us. For the moment our deepest thanks and gratitude go out to Jim, respectfully we hope his dog training method will keep on working for us, if it don't I will let everyone on here know so I will write back in a few months to keep everyone informed of the long term effects of what we learned from Jim.

After dealing with another local boarding place and them charging us an arm and a leg for petty things I decided to try another place and called Scatter Creek Kennels. It was literally 24 hours notice due to an emergency and Scatter Creek were great. They were so kind and accommodating and so much cheaper than other places. I have found my new go to place!

The owner is extremely knowledgeable in the training of our dog, Sophie,. She has become more calm and will listen to us when walking she will obey and not run.. We are very very happy with the results of our meeting with John.

Jim is an excellent trainer. If you follow his instructions your dog will have awesome changes in personality.

Jim is one of the most knowledgeable trainers (dogs and humans) you will find in the country. Highly recommend Scatter Creek.

Jim, the owner/trainer is a no nonsense person, he tells it like it is without sugar coating the facts. He has shown me my mistakes and his guidance has done wonders for me and my dog.

They took great care of our dog Togo and we were very impressed. Thank you! 5 stars

We boarded our dog here for a week. They are excellent! We will be bringing our dogs here again.