Canine State of Mind

My dog loves Canine State of Mind so much, he starts getting excited when he sees me packing his bag for a stay. We love sending him to camp, because an active dog needs time to go run and play and roll in the grass, away from the noise and business of Chicago. He comes back happy and exhausted, while we feel great that he got to be a dog rather than cooped up in tight quarters while we were on vacation having fun. Other boarding/dog play options left me feeling like the dogs weren't getting the best care, so I'm glad we found Canine State of Mind. Not only does he get some space to stretch out, but I trust 100% that he's in the care of animal lovers. Sasha, Michael and the whole staff have been great with our dog, and I don't worry about his comfort or safety while we are away.

I sent my dog Lola here for a Board and Train to address her reactivity issues and got no results from it. I trusted all of the good reviews. But I wasted all of my money and suggest others don't do the same. First of all and most importantly, the training program did not improve anything at all. Sasha is a master at gaslighting you into believing that it's your own fault if your dog's behavior hasn't changed after returning- you're just not being consistent enough, you're not following her instructions for training followup correctly, you need to more clearly establish yourself as having the "alpha role" and then you'll see the change. I knew it was true that my behavior as an owner was crucial to Lola's success, so I did everything exactly as she instructed. And nothing improved. For weeks I tried, and still saw no change. How do I know it's not just my fault/ me as an owner holding back Lola's success? Because I have more recently been working hard with a different trainer, and doing things following his instructions IS showing results, my dog is finally improving her reactive behaviors, which never happened with Sasha. Secondly, Sasha's attitude and way of dealing with her human clients is a whole different issue. When Lola was at the B&T I got no updates about what/how she was doing unless I reached out myself, and when I did I always got vague answers like "She's doing great!" and "She's making great progress dealing with her stress and anxiety levels". When I asked if she was practicing being around unfamiliar dogs (the main reason I sent her in the first place, because her reactivity was unmanageable) I got "Of course, that's all part of the program here". But there was no proof of this, no videos, no specifics as to what kind of exercises they were doing sent to me, nothing. When it comes to her business, Sasha cancels and reschedules appointments constantly. This became clear when Lola was first supposed to come back home from the B&T. There was some unfortunate timing with the COVID-19 pandemic while Lola was already in the program, so the first time she rescheduled I completely understood, it was right at the beginning of quarantine. We set a new date. The second time she rescheduled, I went with it again, but said we needed to set a date to definitely bring her back, which we did. The third time she said she needed to reschedule, I pushed back. I told her that the COVID situation was only going to get worse, not better, and she could not just keep my dog indefinitely. Sasha got extremely defensive, saying that it was too cold for her to do an outdoor session with me, and that I wanted her to "risk her immune system", and that all of her other clients have been nothing but understanding, I was the only one who wasn't. Again with the gaslighting, acting like I was wildly overreacting because I wanted her to bring my dog back, talking loudly over me on the phone and saying things like "Well you clearly don't understand" and "Okay look I'm sorry you're feeling unstable right now, but..." By the time she started getting really nasty, laughing and sarcastically calling me "my dear", I hung up and sent her a text message saying if she didn't bring Lola back I would come and get her myself. She finally agreed and that's when Lola returned, as reactive as when she left. All I wanted was improvement with the reactivity, so I decided to forget the phone call and how disrespected I felt, just move on and do exactly what Sasha told me. And just to reiterate once more: I did everything I was supposed to. It did not work at all. Nothing changed until I started seeing a new trainer. Do not waste your money or your time if you have a reactive dog, it's as emotionally draining as it is ineffective. Go somewhere else.

Canine State of Mind is a Godsend for all dog owners! I was recently looking for facilities to board my Border Collie mix while I was on vacation. After researching various facilities throughout Chicago, I found Canine State of Mind. Canine State of Mind has everything a dog (and its owners) would want in a boarding facility: Lots of open space for dogs to play, top-notch kennels, and caring guardians. Canine State of Mind is now my go-to place for dog boarding. I will be using Canine State of Mind again!