Colleen M. Demling-Riley
Colleen grew her company Pawtopia, which had a perfect 5 star rating on Yelp, into one of the most respected and well-known dog training companies in San Diego. After leading Pawtopia for almost 15 years, Colleen decided that she wanted to focus on what she loves the most; working with clients and their dogs and partnering with dog-related organizations as a subject matter expert. With over 50,000 hours and over 20 years of HANDS ON dog training experience, Colleen Demling-Riley, has the expertise to help you with any dog training need you have from helping your puppy adjust to your home, to teaching obedience commands, to fixing problem behaviors like anxiety and aggression.
Training Philosophy
Colleen tends to see most clients only 3-4 times in order achieve their training goals. Some issues can be addressed in just a visit!
Services
Colleen offers a variety of services including:
- Private Lessons-A’ La Carte
- Private Lessons-Packages
- Executive & VIP Services
- Corporate Subject Matter Expert
- Quick Training Tips in Partnership with Pet ‘n Shape
Certifications
Colleen holds numerous credentials including CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA, CDBC and AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. She is 1 of only 3 dog training professionals in San Diego County that holds the elite designation of being a fully Certified Member of IAABC.
Specializations
Colleen has worked with clients to find the perfect family dog, trained specialized skills for service dogs, prepared multiple dogs for international travel and implemented ongoing dog behavior maintenance programs for families with multiple households/staff.
Customer Reviews
There are simply not enough words to adequately praise the AMAZING Colleen!!! She came to the rescue when we were beyond frustrated with our canine crew! She was so diplomatic when we needed a training review session, and framed everything is a such a positive way!!! She gave us simple tools that have helped beyond measure! She is such a consummate professional, but so very warm and personable as well! WE LOVE HER!!!
Colleen was amazing! We did some private sessions to help us re-crate train our one year old dog, Mahina, because we were moving and she needed to be in a crate to fly. Before our private session, Mahina wouldn’t even go near her crate and was extremely wary of it. Colleen was so great in helping us understand exactly what our dog was feeling and how we could work with our dog to help her feel more comfortable. By the time we had to travel Mahina was so comfortable in her crate that she was sleeping in it at night. At the airport she didn’t have any of the anxiety she previously had with the crate and when we picked her up after the flight she was calm and I wholly attribute that to the training that we received with Pawtopia. We met with Colleen twice and when we had questions she was available via text or call and always replied quickly.
Steph K.
OMG….Colleen is INCREDIBLE! I took in a foster puppy from The Animal Pad last week. It was a LOT to take on considering that we also have 3 other dogs, one of which is also a one year old puppy with his own issues. However today, Colleen came in and basically, saved our lives! In just one hour, she taught me some incredible tips on how to properly correct our potty problems, and our out of control barking in which adding a third made life pretty challenging! I seriously cannot thank her enough for what she’s left me with! I’m actually EXCITED to try all of the tips…I’ve already implemented quite a few, but come dinner-time tonight it’s ON!
Maureen M.
We adopted a beautiful rescue dog from Mexico. She was extremely fearful and tentative around other dogs. She was difficult on a leash especially when approaching other dogs. We hired Colleen and magic happened over 6 short weeks. She helped our dog overcome her anxiety and become a wonderful, trustful dog. She helped us become better owners/parents. Colleen was patient and knowledgeable. She even worked with our incredible pet sitter/dog walker. She responded to emails and text questions advising us every step of the way. Colleen is 5 stars all the way. Dog whisperer x 1000.
Tracy M.
After a lot of reading about Separation Anxiety and trying pretty much everything I was starting to accept that there was not much I could do about it and Skippy couldn’t be left alone, until my vet recommended Pawtopia. Colleen is amazing at reading dogs and she was able to address Skippy’s specific issue and gave us some homework. It’s been 3 days now and Skippy is much better, we still have some work to do but I know for fact we are on the right. I loved how she didn’t try to oversell me any special training package, unlimited visits like most of the trainers I talked to. I couldn’t recommend Pawtopia highly enough.
Arthur O.
Colleen Demling is a gem. She is responsible, reliable, thoughtful, and highly-skilled as a trainer. Her understanding of what motivates animals leads them to respond to her quickly and with relative ease. Our highly energetic Australian Shepherd adores Colleen, and has benefited enormously from the work she has put into him. We can only rave about her.
Carol R. PhD
Thanks again for being such a magnificent trainer for our family and our puppies…in that order. You have helped enormously with the transitions from ‘troublesome little puppies’ to loved members of the family.
Pat H.
Colleen is very gifted at breaking everything down in such a way that it makes complete logical sense. We implemented very simple, realistic training regiments. Within ONE HOUR my rescue went from growling and lounging at other dogs to an even-tempered dog that was starting to listen and follow my commands (mind you this is after two years of me trying to work with his leash aggression on my own). I really appreciated Colleen texting in between sessions to see how Jay (rescue) was doing with our training. We had another session to get Jay (rescue) and my other pup on the same page. We revisited some of the training we had been working on and made a few tweaks. What I really love about our sessions is how we didn’t just talk about what to do–we took it to the streets, literally.
I finally feel like me and my dogs are speaking the same language and that’s so priceless to me. Colleen made the whole experience completely manageable. I have take away action steps to follow and a new perspective on how to communicate with my animals. I had no idea what to expect with dog training and I’m beyond thrilled to have more control and moreover understanding of my dog’s behavior. Not only am I happier but also my dogs are much happier as well now that they have some direction in their lives.
Kristina C.
Media Appearances
She is a frequent contributor to local and national media including Yahoo, The Huffington Post, Woman’s Day and many more. She was a featured speaker at PetCon and writes monthly articles for rescue groups and other dog related website. She has partnered with several companies from start-ups to international franchises to develop canine related products, policies, and educational programs.
