Academy Of Canine Behavior

Obedience courses: \rWe took our new GSD through a couple of the six week basic obedience courses. These courses are generally fine for beginners, for people who have low-drive dogs, or for those who want their dogs to do nothing more than parlor tricks. Some of the trainers are better than others; however, we pulled out of these courses after observing the trainer in our class literally slam her own dog into a wall of the training room when the dog disobeyed her. I hate to think of how she behaves when she?s not in front of a class full of people. \r\rMy biggest problems with their training approach are that they don?t teach you to develop a relationship with the animal and properly focus the dog?s natural defense and prey drives. Rather, they teach the dog to react to a command out of fear of a painful correction (pinch collars and/or e-collars) and to do nothing more than shovel treats into your dog when they do well. The problem this creates is the dog will completely ignore you unless the dog is always on-leash and you have a bag full of treats on-hand at all times. \r\rBoarding Services: \rWe made the mistake of boarding our less than 1 year old GSD here for 10 days last summer. For nearly a month after picking him up he would flinch badly whenever anyone, including my wife and I, unexpectedly or quickly, reached down to touch or pet his head. This behavior has since passed and has never reoccurred over the past year. I have never seen a dog do this unless they had been hit. Although I can?t prove it, I suspect someone at the boarding facility had hit him while he was there. We?ll never go back. \r\rDaycare Services: Doggy daycare is a financial goldmine for providers. Consequently, it?s to their advantage to warehouse as many dogs as possible while keeping overhead low through low wages and a low staff-to-dog ratio. \r\rIt?s my opinion that this place is a nightmare. If you have a purpose-bred (high-drive) dog you must avoid this place at all cost as t

It's been a few years since we trained our pup (she's now almost 5), but we were really happy with our experience at the Academy of Canine Behavior. Our breeder recommended them, and we really feel like they taught us the tools we need to h...