Testimonials
• Benny • Hector • Willow • Franklin • Phin • Enzo • Skipper • Macy • Petey Elmer • Zero • Annah • Leia • Henry S. • Moon-Pie • Dr. Anthony Guerino DVM • Sable • Bette• Chance and Marty • Milo and Bean • Auggie •Annabelle Doodles • Hershey • Angus, Sabrina, and Ace • Koda • Henry • Stella and Trexler • Regal the Beagle • Bella • Sophie • Clementine • Aspen • Agnus • Oscar • Missy and Bella • Trevor • Ruby


Karen –
I hope you know how much we appreciate you giving us the stepping stones to make Willow such a great dog!!!!
We cannot express enough the high regard we have for Karen and her positive training style, not just with Willow, but for us as owners as well! She was able to explain and demonstrate the positive training methods in easily understood terms for myself and the Lieutenant. We have both had dogs most of our lives, but only knew the kind of “old school” ways to get your dog to behave. Never in our wildest dreams would the word “YES” in a positive tone with a little treat hold so much power. Karen showed us that in any situation with Willow, the more positive we were with our response, the quicker Willow was to correct the behavior she was exhibiting. Karen volunteered her time to help us begin this journey of training the first ever Comfort Dog for the Greenland Police Department. We continue to work on the basics like, sit, stay, down for durations, even using a bell to go outside. Can’t wait to move on to the next level with Karen! Honestly, we were a bit overwhelmed until she came through the door.


Hi Karen,
Alex and I wanted to follow up with you now that it’s been a couple of months since we finished “our training”. ENZO has become such a wonderful addition to our lives in more ways than we could have imagined. We’ve continued our positive reinforcement training with him as a routine part of our daily activities and rarely have him out without his treat pouch strap at our side.
We can’t thank you enough for giving us the foundation for us to develop a healthy, happy, fun loving relationship with our latest member of the family!
Wishing you the best,
Chris and Alex Auty

Thank you Karen!!


Macy has been great. She stayed with Bibbit’s mom while we were in the hospital and then for our first two nights at home so we could get the hang of the newborn routine. She was excited to see us when she finally came home and also excited to meet her new brother.
She was curious but respectful and I think from the onset knew Brody was a new member of the family. She’s been very sweet with him and gives him little licks when we allow but is not super invasive of his space at all. She also doesn’t blink through crying diaper changes or fussy nursing time and more or less appears to be taking all the changes completely in stride!
Thank you again for all your help. It’s been a good transition so far and we couldn’t have done it without you! Attached a few pics below of Brody’s first days in the world.

Karen is extremely knowledgable. She does NOT bully your beloved furry family member or show him who’s boss. She shows you how to understand your dog, and shows your dog how to do what you need him to do. Karen’s methods are kind, gentle and completely

Enter Karen Gordon Betournay of Animal Manners! Right from the start Karen showed us her positive training techniques that seemed like a miracle. Moonpie responded enthusiastically at every turn.
When we bring a dog into our life we believe it is a long term commitment. Spending time with Karen taught us how to reinforce the behaviors we wanted. Karen is such a competent and organized trainer, she made all the difference. She arrived on time for our lessons and was incredibly prepared for each time.
I have worked with many dog trainers in my life and Karen is simply the best. After each session we had fun homework for the entire family to work on between our meetings. This helped us to stay engaged with Moonpie and reinforce the behaviors we were building.
We did have our challenges with Moonpie’s fears, but Karen was able to problem solve every issue.
Today, one year later, with Karen’s guidance, MoonPie is a certified therapy dog! She brings love and compassion to people who are homeless residing at a local shelter.
We highly recommend Karen Betournay, for any canine. Whether you have a new puppy who needs to learn the basics or an adult dog needing some help reinforcing behaviors, Karen is the right choice! We give Karen five stars!!!

“Hello Karen:
Happy New Year to you and your family. Hope you all also had a Merry Christmas. We had a great time with kids and grandkids, and Annah was the center of attention. She has really settled down and is sweeter than ever. She is calm and obedient around everyone who comes to our house. She is in a “Down Stay” near us every night at dinner, and was the same way with a crowd over for Christmas Dinner. She has become so affectionate, knows most of her commands, and is no longer jumping and snapping at us out in the field. In short, we couldn’t be more pleased with her.





Karen is a true professional and master of her craft. I have used her services on three different occasions and the results were simply incredible. Our dog Ruby was able to respond to a variety of commands both verbal and hand commands after just the first session. I would strongly recommend that anyone who is serious about training their dog consult with Karen.
With my highest recommendation,





After only two sessions, I have seen great improvement with Auggie’s behavior around men. While we are still working to adjust the balance, especially at home, he has become less anxious and fearful. And our relationship is becoming more balanced. Thanks so much, Karen! I’m a positive reinforcement proponent for life and will recommend you to any dog owner I run into.

When my clients ever have a question about their puppy’s behavior development, I know that Karen’s expertise will provide the answer. I consider using Animal Manners a valuable asset to my breeding program and my clients are always impressed that I provide this service from such a qualified individual.

Thank you so much for sending us these pictures. You can see how much Hershey adores you by the way he’s looking at you!
We can’t thank you enough for all that you taught our family and for your patience dealing with new dog owners! You’ve given us a lot of tools, confidence and common sense. We’ll be practicing all summer and looking forward to our next group of classes!

Karen not only deals with the training aspect, but educated me on nutrition and manners. Angus has gone on to do many modeling jobs for pet magazines. Talk about an animal’s eyes lighting up when they see someone, you should see Angus when Karen walks in the room. Angus has a sister, Sabrina, and newly acquired brother, Ace (they also model), so Karen and I have an ongoing relationship with my four legged “yorkie kids.” She never ceases to amaze me with her truly natural talent, and because of her my dogs have “Animal Manners.”



We had Karen come to our home for one-on-one training, which I must say is incredible! It is stress free for your pet, and being in the home is perfect because this is where all the training happens. Karen’s positive training techniques coupled with her insight and calm demeanor were exactly what Bella needed and responded to. She learned quickly and easily because of Karen’s patient, reward-based methods. Sadly, our beloved Bella passed last summer…a truly heartbreaking experience. When I informed Karen of Bella’s passing, her compassion, kindness, and understanding was genuine, and it was a comfort to me.
In fall of last year, we found ourselves ready to take on adopting another dog, Sophia. Sophia came from Alabama, is 3 years old and had no training at all…she wasn’t even housebroken. We tried to train her at first, and this only led to frustration and anxiety for us and Sophia. I called Karen. Once again, Karen’s techniques have been 100% successful! Sophia is a great little girl and we have become a family together. I would not hesitate to recommend Karen to anyone. Regardless of what is needed for training, she has the answers—they are kind, respectful and proven successful.

Karen showed us you don’t have to yell or bark orders at a dog to teach him and discipline him. My 89-year-old father-in-law was so impressed with his behavior. I asked him if he had dogs when he was growing up. He said “Oh, yeah. We had dogs—but nothing like this!”
Karen, you really taught us how to understand the dog, and how to get him to understand us. When there’s a loud noise, like thunder or firecrackers, Regal’s reaction now is to look at us. When we don’t get excited, neither does he.
This dog was returned to a shelter twice before we adopted him. He was not a new dog when Karen came to help us train him, but he learned quickly under care. The money spent on individual training was well spent. I have since talked to many people who said their dog didn’t really learn much of anything in group obedience class they attended. I can’t begin to calculate the value of the increased enjoyment we get from this dog because we can really communicate with him.
If we ever get another dog, the first thing I’ll do is call Animal Manners.



You were wonderful helping us with our baby Berner Clementine. As first-time dog owners, you provided us with the necessary answers to understand our newest family member. When we met, she was about a 14-pound 10-week-old puppy trying to figure out how to keep her legs under her. It was a pleasure having you guide and train us with her and you did it with your knowledge, TLC, and humor. Your expertise and helpful tips worked well. In addition, you were just a phone call away, available when we had questions between sessions in your reassuring manner. As the youngest member in our family, she’s grown to be a 75-pound, well-mannered Berner.
Thank you again for helping us better understand our youngest four-legged “baby!”




With positive training techniques, a humane, no-pull harness, and a combination of private and group lessons for reactive dogs, Karen helped us to better understand and manage our boy’s issues, and these days he’s an easygoing guy so long as we don’t put him into situations that will overwhelm him. Sadly, we truly believe that positive training would never have exacerbated his reactive behavior in the first place, and that when our initial concerns were summarily dismissed we missed a short-lived opportunity to give him the tools he needed to feel confident and secure, and to move forward in a positive direction from the earliest possible age.
What we’ve come to appreciate, and hope others will as well, is that “correction-based” training reinforces negatives by marking “Do Not’s” and in doing so inherently undermines the bond between the dog and its owner. And when employed with a dog with innate behavior and/or confidence issues, the combination can be disastrous. In contrast, positive training capitalizes on dogs’ natural social instincts and desire to please, while building the animal’s confidence and deepening the bond between dog and owner.
Lesson learned: We adopted another puppy last year (a Bahamian Potcake), and with Karen’s instruction Marty is growing into a well-adjusted (and increasingly well-behaved!) dog who handles a broad variety of social situations with ease. Thanks, Karen!

Karen asked if she could photograph our Beagle girls, then much to our surprise we learned that she was a professional dog trainer! We were very excited when she asked if she could use the girls in a photo shoot modeling dog clothes.
Creativity is the key to keeping Beagle girls happy and with all the snow this winter Karen’s email for the photo shoot arrived at the perfect time.
We did not know what to expect when we arrived at the studio, but my heart and mind were open. It was one of the best afternoons I have had in a long time! Watching Karen work with Missy and Bella brought pure joy to my afternoon. Karen’s God given talent was evident from the beginning. Her professional and gentle manner had the girls eating out of her hand within moments, and as they followed her around the studio their tails could not stop wagging! They were having a blast!
Beagles love to work and Karen worked them with gentle guidance. I never heard her speak to them, if she did it was in a whisper, and they obeyed her every command. She dressed them in many different outfits and different poses, each outfit and pose more precious than the one before.
I had no idea how much work was involved putting together photographs for pet catalogues until I watched the crew at work!
Karen took time to teach me a few new tools to give Bella a little more direction. I have enjoyed putting these new techniques to work and Bella has responded beautifully.
Meeting Karen Gordon Betournay of Animal Manners, Inc. and watching her work with our Beagles has been one of the nicest experiences I have had in a long time. She treated our girls with respect and they responded in kind.
Karen is a true credit to her profession. I highly recommend Karen, her compassion, kindness and understanding of our dogs was genuine.