Animal Learning Systems

We took two levels of class here for our rescue dog and they were incredibly useful. We get compliments all the time on how well behaved he is (obviously that also required that we spent time at home on training). Jim can definitely be a bit gruff, but he obviously does this because he loves dogs and wants them to be safe and happy. Evan ran both of our classes and he was very knowledgeable, thoughtful and enjoyable to work with.

Jim visited our house and stayed for 2 hours. He focused on the dog for about 5 minutes and then he asked about 10 minutes of very general question. To me Jim was not believable. He wanted to keep my dog for several months and then bring the dog back. He wanted $5000 to fix my dog by making my dog his dog and then returning him when he is ready. I don't believe this guy. I don't trust him and I did not like him.

ZERO STARS. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY/TRAINER JIM. He came to my families home to address aggression issues with our pure bread NOT EVEN 2 YEAR OLD German Shepard. He saw our pup for LESS THAN 5 minutes. Said to put him away. Talked to my family for 2 hours just asking questions about the pups upbringing. Took our $260 and said the only solution is to put our pup to sleep. He never offered to see the dog again, or offered any tips to help him allow strangers into our home. (Our dog is only aggressive to strangers coming into the home-not outside in public, at the vet, or towards family) His only solution was that he “will eventually” bite somebody and we better put him to sleep. Our vet was APPALLED at this “professionals” opinion and that she has never seen a trainer say that about a PUPPY with seeing the dog for LESS THAN 5 minutes. Waste of time and money. Unprofessional and useless. Do not trust this company. In it for the money. When he realized he would not be getting our dog to go to his four thousand dollar camp he offered this dreadful opinion and offered no other advice. Ridiculous.

I cannot say enough great things about Animal Learning Systems. I have two pit mixes and had to endure some prejudice from people. So I put my dogs through the off leash program at ALS and now I have the most well mannered, well behaved dogs on my street. They can go off leash on trails and I don't have to worry about them running off as their "recall" is solid. Meanwhile I watch people who "bought" their pure bred dogs struggle with leash aggression and overall poor manners. I have travelled with my dogs and stayed at pet friendly hotels with confidence. The training my dogs learned at Animal Learning Systems makes me look good. Also ALS is very professional and a very well run organized operation. I tried a couple of other "dog trainers" and they were completely ineffective. I have also used them to board my dogs. I would only ever board with Jim and his staff.