Argos Dog Training

Martin and his team at Argos are an outstanding group of trainers and we have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from the training we have gotten from them. We brought our new puppy Stella to Argos when she was about 9 weeks old for the puppy kindergarten classes. This class was a great introduction into how to raise a new puppy. Martin and his team coached the group through some important topics for new puppy owners and how to handle the changing behaviors of a puppy. The classes were as much for us to learn as they were for the dog, and our puppy always left exhausted after the end of lesson play time. After the puppy kindergarten we chose to follow up with the one on one clicker training course with Martin which was another great class. Learning to use the clicker properly was a huge benefit in the early stages of training and was the first time that we really felt like the training was more centered around us learning and not just the dog. During the clicker training we also participated in the adolescent socialization classes. These were a great opportunity to allow our dog to get the socialization she needed all while having experienced trainers there to step in and correct behaviors when necessary. The trainers did not just silently correct behavior, Martin was always talking through everything he was doing and seeing which was always reassuring. Following these classes, we once again chose to continue our dog's training with Martin and his basic communications training. These sessions are where we really began to see all of the training come together. During this class Martin was definitely training us equally if not more than our dog which was the most eye opening part of this class. Martin does such a great job at teaching you how to communicate with the dog and helps you to understand that sometimes the dog fails at a task because of something that we did or didn't do. Following this training, we saw such great results that we continued once again to sign up to do basic obedience training with Martin. These classes were once again just what we needed, each week we learned new commands that built off of the previous week and how they all tied together. Once again, we really appreciated Martin's approach of showing us what we need to do and then correcting us as to how to do things better as we trained the dog. I hope that anyone who is interested in a great place to learn and train your dog will give Martin a call, you will not be disappointed. We look forward to continuing training our dog with Martin in the future and hope that other people will consider doing the same.

We brought a very anxious rescue puppy to Argos for the 6 week training program and the change in her ability to productively interact with people was incredible. Martin and his team are incredibly kind and friendly and they do a wonderful job of teaching you how to effectively communicate with your dog. I would recommend anyone in the Boston area work with Argos, regardless of their dog's disposition and abilities.

Argos is truly a life changing place for dog owners! We got Sandy from a shelter knowing she was a stray dog from Puerto Rico. The shelter told us she is energetic and scared of strangers, but we didn't expect she could be so aggressive towards people on the street. Although she likes other dogs, she always played tough and we didn't know how to make other dog owners feel comfortable. She was such a trouble maker that eventually we had to move to a much quieter townhouse. For these reasons, we had a really stressful time in the first few months with her and I decided to seek help from professional dog trainers. Honestly we had our doubts because deep in my heart I felt Sandy is not trainable. But Martin showed confidence in her in the first meeting, even though she was barking at him all the time. He said everything will be better in a few weeks. I said "hopefully" and he was very determined and told me "not hopefully, definitely!" In the first private session, I was surprised to observe how well Martin could handle this crazy girl and communicate effectively with her. Using the techniques he taught us, she was already much more walkable in the first week. After about 6 private classes, we were just ready for the group class and structured daycares. She used to be the most restless dog in the class and ASD, but look at her now! We are just so proud of her! What's more, our friends said the look in her eyes became softer and more confident now, all because we've built a better relationship with her. I think the most important thing we've learnt from Martin is that, the training is not just about the dog, but more about training the owners. Sometimes my eyes told me "ok we know how to do this" but my hands were like "wait why this leash feels different in my hands". Professional experience from a dog trainer like Martin is an invaluable asset. Trust me, every penny you spent here is worthwhile. Besides, he is passionate, patient, confident and responsible. We know we can always count on him whenever we have problems. Words can't express how grateful I am. Now we can say, we really enjoy our dog!