American K-9 Academy

This is actually my very first Google review. Usually, I don’t bother with these things, but this experience is different because it involves my dog, and it’s been an incredibly stressful week watching him struggle. About a week ago (4/5) while at work, I received a distressing call from the owner telling me that my dog had been injured and needed immediate medical attention. I rushed to pick him up and brought him to the vet (shoutout to Colchester Vet Hospital for their exceptional care). They confirmed that he had sustained a bite wound from another dog. The treatment, including sedation, stitches, medication, and a cone, resulted in about $600. I was very concerned and wanted more clarity. I spoke to the owner that evening however, her response was not only dismissive but also evasive of responsibility. She mentioned a kennel card that I signed, explaining she is not liable. While I understand the concept of waivers, it’s disheartening when they are used as a shield rather than a commitment to safety and accountability. The biggest problem was the lack of transparency regarding the incident. The owner first said she didn’t know what happened. Then said it could have been the fence. Once we both knew it was a bite, she couldn’t identify which dog had bitten mine and attributed it to “roughhousing” among the dogs. She even made matters worse when she said the worker was also watching a pregnant dog mom and is not able to watch the dogs every second. It’s also concerning that they were unaware of my dog’s injury until all the dogs were called, indicating a lack of attentiveness. My dog’s temperament is well-known to the staff. He’s not one to engage in “rough play.”The fact that he was in a situation where an incident could occur is deeply upsetting. It leads me to question whether he was placed in the wrong group of dogs or if there wasn’t adequate supervision during their interactions. To make matters worse, it’s been over a week since the incident, and I have not received a single follow-up call or message from the daycare owner asking about my dog or how I’m doing. It feels like they don't care. My dog is a therapy dog, and he’s very gentle. It’s sad this happened. I didn’t want to write this review, but I think people should know what happened. I hope they do better next time.

I am a new dog mom and was very hesitant with bringing my dog to daycare/boarding. I looked around the area and made several calls. I decided to try this place out, so my dog can socialize at a young age! Unfortunately, I moved out of the area over a year ago but didn't want to forget to write a review of how happy I was with American K-9 Academy. I met Liz and Mike, they are very personable and knowledgeable; had a lot in common too. I dealt the most with Liz and can't thank her enough. I appreciate all that you've done! Bowser misses you all!

My husband and I took our 2.5 year old male Germans shepherd, Moose, to Michael for our first obedience training. Moose has struggled with being very reactive towards guests in our home. Upon our first conversation with Michael, he made it clear to set realistic expectations of the potential we could make with Moose. I point this out because I think this is a POSITIVE differentiator of American K9. There were no false make believe promises made. Instead we were humbled by the honesty and decided to move forward with obedience training. The results were by far more than we could have expected. We grew to thoroughly enjoy our sessions with Michael. Moose’s level of obedience got to a point where I feel confident in him to obey us as the owner over any reactive situation we may put him in. He may still react initially but to be in a place where we can feel confident in bringing people in our home and having control is a place I never thought we could be. We plan to take our other GSD for training as well. Highly recommend any and all to add American K9 to their family.

I don't have enough kind words to say about how excellent K9 Academy is. Both the training and the boarding are top tier. Mike, who runs the training, has a unique understanding of dogs and people. He has developed a training course that will effectively get your dog to listen to you. Even more important than training your dog, he teaches you how to handle your dog. You will need to work with your dog every day between classes to get the most out of this course but the benefits of having your dog listen to commands is priceless. We are extremely grateful for his ability to teach and hold people accountable. Liz, who runs the kennels, shows that she cares about the dogs. I have tried a few of the kennels in the area and this is by far the best. They are properly staffed and provide a high level of care, as well as being fairly priced. If you have a dog in the area, I would recommend K9 Academy to anyone looking for training or boarding.