Smooch A Pooch Services

Maria is absolutely amazing. Trustworthy and committed to her work! I have a Labradoodle who has been going for walks with Maria since he was 4 months old. He used to jump with joy at the sound of her footsteps and 4 years later he still does the same. Not only is she a good walker but she is an effective trainer. Corrects him consistently and never gives up. He goes for walks with her and Keith (who works with Maria) 4 to 5 times a week and comes back exhausted and happy. Gets his play time as well as exercise. Sometimes I think my four legged baby loves Maria more than me.

Maria is AMAZING! I don’t know what our family would have done without her. We initially hired her for training because our rescue dog had some serious fear of men (me included!) and would bark at EVERYTHING. After just one session we saw such a huge difference so we decided to have her walk our dog as well. We have been using her services for 4 years now and have never looked back. She’s responsible, trustworthy, flexible and sincerely cares for our dog. She loves her so much we kind of get jealous, she literally does flips when she sees her pull in the driveway. Plus, she’s a dog trainer so she’s always teaching and training during her walks– priceless, Especially because my family has a hard time being consistent, we know when she is with Maria she’s getting the right training. We highly recommend her if you are looking for a real dog walker, vs a teenager looking to make a buck or two. Oh, and she’s also very professional, she’s licensed, bonded and insured! She’s the BEST!

Maria is a wonderful dog trainer and an absolute blessing to do business with. She was able to have my rowdy pit-​mix wrapped around her finger in minutes. My son’s and I were in awe. She is very knowledgeable and an excellent teacher too. We highly recommend her.

Based on the 5 star rating here on Unilocal,I took the liberty of reaching out to smooch a pooch for my dog training needs. I left the owner a message, and she was kind enough to return my call nearly two months later. She said something had happened to her phone and she was unable to retrieve messages. We agreed on a time for a two hour session for her to train my dogs. She asked that all members of our household attend. So, my husband, my daughter, and I were all home to meet her. We waited… and waited… and waited. She never showed up.
Now, this was frustrating considering I had cut a family trip short to be home to meet her. However, I understand scheduling conflicts happen. I waited for her to call, and after a week with no call, decided to leave her a message. It has now been over a week since that call and she has never called back.
I am not one to negatively review businesses, as I have a lot of respect for small business owners. That said, the reason I called Smooch a Pooch, was in large part do to the positive reviews here. Unfortunately, the last review was over a year ago.

Here’s an update to my previous post. I have been using Smooch a Pooch services for well over a year and a half now and could not be happier.
Last year I got pregnant with my first baby (after my 2 dogs). Being a first time mom, I had a ton of questions regarding behavior and training for my dogs and what to do when it was time to bring the baby home. Maria was great. She taught me everything I needed to know and tips and tricks for after I got home. The transition was seamless and the dogs accepted and loved the baby from the first day on.
Here’s the icing on the cake. My due date was close to Thanksgiving, give or take a few weeks. So I called around to a million of boarding places and of course they were all full or needed a specific date. I called Maria to see if she knew anyone and she let me know that she had expanded her business to overnights and house sitting. She was also busy that week, but said that we would work something out and we would wait and see when the baby would come.
Of course my water broke the Monday before Thanksgiving. I called Maria at 6:30pm. One of her staff members was at my house at 8pm to stay the night at my house with the dogs. AND on top of all that, my parents came to the hospital with me and left their 2 dogs as well! So zero notice and 4 dogs overnight!!! Maria is a total life saver. I was so at ease knowing that my dogs were getting the best care, in my own home.
Although I am at home with the baby, I still have Maria take my boys out during the week. I call her their 2^nd mommy and you should see how excited they are when she comes to get them.
I cannot speak highly enough of Maria. She and her services are flexible and reliable, completely trustworthy and knowledgeable.

When reviewing a restaurant I can comfortably Unilocal after the first visit. When reviewing a random business, probably after the 2^nd visit. But when reviewing the professional that takes care of my precious little girl (also know as the most amazing dog in the world) — well, that kind of review takes about a year to complete — and that’s how long Maria has been walking my dog. The wife and I have had good dog walkers before (as transplants from SF to Marin), but none that are as loved by our dog as Maria. A couple of notable points:
1. Maria takes care of your home like a security guard. A few months back construction workers were completing upgrades to our home when Maria came by to pick up our dog — but rather than just assuming the construction workers were supposed to be there, she called me to verify that everything was kosher. She sends a text or calls if something seems out of the ordinary — incredibly comforting when we’re not home. Maria also brings in packages left by the front door (we’re Amazon addicts), which is just simply polite and appreciated.
2. Maria CLEANS our dog before she comes in the house. Muddy romp on the walk? Toweled off and dried. Hike through some thistle? Picked out of the hair. Sure we get the occasional paw print or find a sticker under the chin, but it’s rare. We had dog walkers in the past that would return our little girl full of fox tails and sand — but that’s not Maria’s style.
3. Maria reinforces training! Our dog is brilliant and could probably get into Cal — but that also means she’s stubborn and always testing boundaries. Maria reinforces basic commands on the walks which keeps our pup from misbehaving.
4. Maria is flexible. Our dog walking schedule is fairly consistent, but sometimes we need to make a significant schedule change and still get the daily walk in — Maria always makes it work.
5. Maria never takes a day off. ok, that’s probably not 100% true, but in the 14 months she’s been walking our dog I can’t think of a weekday Smooch a Pooch was closed or had to cancel a daily walk.
About the only downside to Maria and Smooch a Pooch is that our dog probably loves her more than she does us!
In summary — if you’re looking for a dog walker in San Rafael, look no further (note — we interviewed 7 potential dog walkers in San Rafael… and they were all just awful except for 1). Especially if you’re moving to town from SF and are used to experienced professional dog walkers — Maria is exactly that professional.

After a recent move, my dog started some new (and rather annoying) behaviors. I contacted Maria and she observed the behaviors as she spoke to me about her methodology. She was clear with her explanations and what my role needed to be after she left. Then she showed me how to communicate better with my dog to stop these annoying behaviors. It was amazing at how quickly my dog responded to my new training. Although I think I was the one who got «dog trained» and not necessarily my dog! Regardless though, the behaviors stopped and my dog and I are a happy team again.
Maria clearly has extensive training and experience to back up Smooch A Pooch Services. I recommend her to everyone I know! And she has pet sitting and walking services too… she’s a full service dog company!