Blackwood Canine

I took my German Shepherd to Blackwood canine almost two years ago for reactivity issues, barking and lunging aggressively towards other dogs and sometimes people. After evaluation, Karen recommended their board and training program, which I ended up going with. My girl ended up staying there the full 8 weeks. I got a handful of updates while she was away, but was mostly in the dark on her progress. When I was finally able to pick her up, David went over a few things with me on her progress/training, the focus being mostly on how to walk her properly. Not my main concern, but I get it, she needed some foundational training before jumping into her reactivity issues. Following that session, when we were at home and on our walks, her reactivity issues didn’t seem to be any better. I still had to avoid other dogs to prevent any major outbursts. Their program includes as many follow up sessions as needed, so I did meet with David, the trainer, a few times afterwards. Trainings on their property went well, my girl knew what she had to do, and maintained her composure, for the most part, when other dogs were brought out. But when he would come to my property, she seemed to forget all her training. Zero progress. But then, we had also met up at a dog park, and walked her around on leash on the outskirts, which she ended up handling pretty good as well. So something he did was working, I’ll give him that. The issue I have is, her training doesn’t work ANYWHERE, that isn’t a controlled/manufactured setting. Literally everyday life. Literally anywhere I’ll need to be with her on a regular basis. None of it translated. And during her stay, there’s only record of her being trained off their property one single time. After a few sessions, I had completely given up on them, and had emailed stating my concerns, and asking for a refund of any kind. At least two emails went out and received no response. About a year later, Karen tried to buy something from me off of Facebook marketplace without knowing it was me. I took the opportunity to bring up the refund again. She claimed to not have seen the emails, and offered to restart training. Knowing I wasn’t gonna get anything back, I decided to try once more. I did spend $6,000 on this bs after all. Once again, the follow up trainings went about the same. I was glad to see it still worked on their property, but still wasn’t getting anywhere off property. I did a couple more sessions, but ended up canceling a couple as well. I honestly don’t think they can get me and my girl any further than we could do on our own at this point. The tips and advice I’ve been given from them are the same as what I’ve found online on my own after all of this anyway. I was only willing to spend the money I did because i thought I’d be given a strong foundation to work with, making the training more successful, and hopefully, quicker progress than trying to go at it solo. The insistence to train on their property, just gets us nowhere. I need more organic situations for it to work at all. Our walks are stressful and the amount of money I spent on this makes me nauseous after dealing with the outcome. I work pay check to pay check and this was a grave investment that I didn’t take lightly. In order to afford it, I took a loan out, which I’m still paying off to this day and can’t afford another trainer. I understand that not everyone can train every dog, so I was hoping to get some sort of refund to apply towards another trainer, but my requests fell on deaf ears. I’m not expecting anything from this review, just felt that it needed to be put out there. Think twice before you give these guys thousands of dollars and the care of your babies. Exceeded character limit, added a photo in response to their response.

My partner and I adopted a puppy and were pretty immediately SO overwhelmed and didn't have a clue how to train our dog. We knew we wanted an obedient dog and we're so glad we found Blackwood to help us out. We did the immersion program and are very happy with the results. We now have the language to continue training and communicate better with our dog, Juno. She loves the trainers so much at Blackwood, she gets so excited when she goes back! We look forward to continue working with Blackwood.

My dogs and I have benefited from Blackwood Canine since early 2022. The professional training, patience and quality care they provide their canine clients is amazing. It is also how they care for their human clients. Their website modestly states “Making good dogs gooder.” It’s more than true! They absolutely improved my dog’s skills, but David’s expertise has also made me a better partner for my pups. I have often marveled at his ability to diagnose an issue or concern -whether it be canine or the human handler – and then offer a solution and can explain the theory behind it. I can’t recommend Blackwood Canine enough! They are a valuable resource for you and your dog!