The Miami Dog Whisperer

On April 6th of this year, I woke up to what I assumed would be a normal Saturday morning. My husband had just gotten up and poured me my morning coffee. As is our habit, we sat quietly in the living room with our rescued chihuahua, knowing our other three rescue dogs would be coming out to join us. Sure enough, Pearl and Bailey - a pair of lab mixes I had found wandering the streets about three years before - came out right on cue for their morning adulations. As we petted them, I called for Lola - an interesting mix of rottweiler and dachshund and God know’s what else that I found 10 years ago - and began to notice two things. Lola did not come and Bailey kept running back and forth to our bedroom in a state of agitation. I became a bit concerned by Lola’s absence, and decided to go back to our bedroom to see what was going on. I looked underneath our platform bed, saw Lola curled up and called to her, but she would not come. Bailey was also with me and kept going up to Lol... Read more

I have nothing but great things to say about Richard and his staff. My American Bulldog was exremely food aggressive and aggressive around his bones. Noone could get near him when he was eating or playing without him becoming extremely upset or without them getting bit. I had previously taken my dog to several other trainers who had told me they could help with this aggression problem. Several hunderd dollars and countless hours later spent with these trainers trying to correct this only resulted in the problem escalating and getting worse. Another dog owner highly recommended Richard and his trainers to me, so I figured I would give it a try. I just wish I had found them from the start. In two weeks time spent at the facility, my dog has done a complete turn around! I am so amazed at my dog's progress in such a short amount of time. I can even have my hand in the bowl while my dog happily eats now. He has shown no signs of aggression at home. I have had nothing but posit... Read more

Pssst!don't crap on the rug!

Just had to put my 2 cents worth on this review. I have 2 dogs that were out of control. They had severe aggression issues and many behavior issues, as well, that we thought were impossible to fix. We had tried many trainers in the past with little to no real results and we frankly were at our wits end. We heard about The Miami Dog Whisperer Company through our vet and also through a pet rescue organization that we were trying to give out dogs to. They told us that we should give The Miami Dog Whisperer a call and that they had always recommended them because they were "miracle workers" and could fix issues, nobody else could. So I called and spoke to Mary. She was unbelievably nice and helpful. She asked the right questions, did not rush me off the phone and made me feel like I was the only important person in the world (although I know they get hundreds of calls daily, I felt like I was priority). I never felt pressured and she answered all my questions honestly without beating a... Read more

I am a retired grandma and my dog was out of control to the point that my new grandbaby was unable to come over because my dog would act horrible towards baby. My friends had used Richard Heinz, The Miami Dog Whisperer and highly recommended him and his staff. Wow, what a wonderful bunch of people. Mary, who is the person I spoke to was amazingly helpful and sweet. She really gave me all the info I was lookign for over the phone and took her time with me. I loved her from the beginning! Richard did the evaluation and explained to me so many things I did not realize I was doing that were causing this issue that was driving me and my family crazy. My husband who was an attorney and quite skeptical, loved Richard and paid him right then and there! Oscar was our trainer, the best around, in my opinion . He was so knowledgable and always called us back when we called him with questions (which was a lot). He was very professional and friendly and boy was he great with dogs! Our dog is n... Read more

Just finished our 5 week training with Oscar, who was trained by The Miami Dog Whisperer and we are so happy. Our dog did fantastic,and Oscar has really changed our lives for the better. Before our dog was agressive, anxious and not very easy to handle. Now he is obedient and wonderful, as we always knew he could be. Our family can now go to the park and play without fear. I'm recommending The Harvard of Dog Training (especially Oscar) to help you with your dog training needs, They are the BEST! Thank you!

Hello, I just wanted to share my experience with The Miami Dog Whisperer, and The Harvard of Dog Training. I have to say that first of all, we have had many trainers in the past to train our 3 dogs. We have had Canine Counselors (who were horrible!), and others who claimed to be the best and nobody was able to handle our dogs! We heard about Richard Heinz, The Miami Dog Whisperer through our vet, as well as through a close friend that had used his company. We called and spoke to Mary, who was very helpful and really took her time to answer all my questions honestly and clearly. I made an appointment to have an evaluation with Richard that same week and Richard came out. It was great, he immedietely knew the problem, and even though he told us the complete opposite to what every other trainer had told us, his evaluation made sense and we saw immediete results right from that moment. Oscar was our trainer, he is the nicest guy you'd ever met! He is also an amazing trainer. We loved... Read more

I have to agree with the fact that Richard, the Miami Dog Whisperer and Oscar the trainer are amazing. I have never been happier with my dogs (I have two rescues) and their behavior as I am now. I called Richard on the advice of my vet and groomer because of my dogs exessive agression and fighting. I was going crazy! Richard walked in my house and I could feel the change in the atmosphere right away! He explained to me what was happening and even though I had tried numerous trainres, for the first time it all made sense! We started training and the price was very reasonable! It felt great not to have to pay an arm and a leg to have my dogs trained after spending so much money in the past with no results. I was thrilled that my dogs were responding so well and that they loved and respected Richard. I met Oscar at one of the park classes I was invited to after a few in home classes and loved him as well. My dogs were playing with eachother for the first time and no agression. I... Read more

My experience with Richard Heinz, The Miami Dog Whisperer has been excellent! I have a dog that I rescued and after having her 3 months she started to act out and getting my other dog out of control as well. I was looking online desperately for a dog whisperer, not a dog trainer and came across Richard's website. I saw the videos and read the information and was amazed, so I wrote an email asking about the training. Mary , Richard's assitant (and later found out, wife) wrote back to me that same day and we set up a meeting. I was impressed with Richard from the beginning. My 3 monsters seemed like they were taken and replaced by three little angels while he was there. He just has a presense, as most of you will agree, that is very calming and soothing for the dogs (and crazy owners like myself). He took his time and explained to me what was happening, and how we were going to work together to fix it. He told me things I had never heard before, but they made perfect sense. Finally... Read more

I have read the reviews and I had to write my own because unlike those who wrote negative comments about Richard Heinz, the Miami Dog Whisperer, my family and I have had a wonderful experience with him and his company. I have tried many trainers, including like others, the supposed great "Canine Counselors" which is a disaster in the making. The trainer I had was too harsh and keps pulling my dog all over the place. They tried to solve a behavior issue with obedience training and of course that is not the way to do it. After that horrible experience, we tried 3 other trainers including a behaviorist who charged us $250 per hour. Sadly we had little to no results and were about to give up on our two dogs. Our vet who we trust because he has been our vet for 10 years, recommended Richard Heinz and he said that he and his family used him and had great results. I was not convinced when he told me but like i said, we trust him and decided to give Richard a call. Mary, who is his wife, b... Read more

I agree with "lovelydogs" review below. I'm shocked that anyone would have anything negative to say about the best dog trainer in Miami, Richard Heinz, known as The Miami Dog Whisperer. I always had a great experience, right from the first phone call, which I too to to speak to Mary, who is his secretary (and yes, she happens to be his wife). She is lovely , very sweet, efficient and very compassionate. I made an appointment after months of trying to work with the pet store trainer, who was a clicker trainer and the whole experience was horrible. I saw an owner walking 3 dogs at the park near my house and I had to ask how she got her dogs to walk so well and obey , I mean it was amazing , no pulling, no barking, just walking off leash next to the owner. She told me she owed it to her amazing trainer, Richard Heinz, who was called the Miami Dog Whisperer. I asked her for his number and she took out her cell phone and gave it to me. I called the second I got home. I loved Richard fr... Read more

I had a similar experience as the lady with the 4 dogs. He is completely inaccessible by phone, his wife is the only one who ever answers which is rare. Usually you get voicemail. He relies way too heavily on shock collars. I thought my 10 year old dog was going to collapse and die in the heat and regret letting him use the shock collar on her. He seemed oblivious that she was really getting physically ill from the shocks and the heat. He talks way too much and trains way too little. I found it difficult to get him to stop talking and get involved with workng with the dogs. They got very little attention from him. He is disorganized and does not follow through. He sent me on wild goose chase to get a shock collar small enough for my dog and when he arrived for our session he announced that he changed his mind about using the shock collar on her as she did not respond to it even when he cranked it all the way up. He should have called and told me not to get it instead of havin... Read more

Thanks for emailing me and asking me to come to this site and review Richard H (I do like to separate individuals from their business out of respect for their personal reputation): The Miami Dog Whisperer. Indeed it was on a closed forum that I made the comments but frankly I feel that there is a benefit to others if I share my story as you urged me. I would like to preface this by saying both Richard and his wife are very nice people but nice does not get the job done so to speak. I had been through 3 trainers and thousands of dollars when I enlisted Richard. I was looking for an animal behaviourist which Richard is not. The words whisperer means, as stated by the other poster quoting me, "a person who can tame or speak with an animal in a language nobody else can". Richard is very clever and is very good at dealing with dogs. This I will give him. That is when he is actually working with them. He does have an ability and it is akin to what I see on Cesar Milan who also erroneo... Read more

I hired Richard after going through another trainer and still having troubles. He really talks a good game so to speak but I did not get to see some more truthful reviews before I was billed and signed up. I have since come across one girl who had 4 dogs and a similar problem to me or rather opinion. To borrow her words, "a whisperer is a person that seemingly talks to animals in a way that no mere mortal can and is able to break through and communicate with animals to break bad behavior and understand the reasons for that behavior". When she wrote that I was like WOW she got it. Richard is good but he is a trainer as she pointed out. I never had to use a shock collar but in her posting she had mentioned a shock collar which is least to say controversial. I do hope she finds her way here to post a review because she put it in really good terms. The bottom line is that Richard has taken on too much and is never available. He talks too much and he does not hold to his promise of being ... Read more

The Miami dog Whisperer, Richard Heinz is the best dog trainer in Miami. His methods are fast, fun and effective. He is a really nice person and dogs and owners love him. My family and I found out about The Miami Dog Whisperer, Richard Heinz through our vet, who spoke highly of him, and we are so thrilled that we could get him , himself to train our 3 dogs. He will change your life, as he did ours! We highly recommend him and his company for any training, anywhere, anytime for ANY DOG!