DogJoy

My dog Pepper has been going to DogJoy for about 8 months. She loves going and always sits and waits at the garage door on daycamp days. She has gone through both the Good Manners and Sublime manners class and I am amazed at the skills she has learned. Her first day at Good Manners was a struggle (reacting to other dogs, barking, whining, etc.) and at her last class at Sublime manners, she was able to lay nicely on her place bed and be calm in a distracting environment and mostly focus on me. She was looking for guidance on where/when/how to move about the room and I learned the skills to help her from attending DogJoy classes. It is amazing to see the difference in her. The staff at DogJoy will not give up on you or your dog and are always so willing to work with you. Pepper was being a turkey at daycamp and the owner Briana let me know and gave me wonderful advice on how to work with her and make sure she is successful at daycamp and at home. I have had the pleasure of speaking to other DogJoy parents and some have been working with DogJoy for years and it shows how invested they are in making a difference in a dog’s/owner’s life. Both Briana and Laci are wonderful trainers and have helped Pepper in more ways than I am sure I even know about. I know the behind scenes staff also take great care of her. Tatiana is always a pleasure to speak to and is so helpful, kind, and patient with clients. I appreciate her warm greetings every time I come to pick up/drop off Pepper. I am thankful to everyone who is helping me learn how to train her and help her be successful in this human world!

The training and the trainers at this facility deserve 5 stars, but I am only giving 3 because of front desk staff and the waitlist scenario. I paid $3530 for 43 days of training. You can look at it like $3530 for a little over a month of true training time. That is a lot of money for most folks. One of the receptionists was wonderful and very friendly/pleasant, but the other one was rude and did not know how to properly speak to a customer. Not only did I witness her being rude to other customers while I was waiting in line, she was condescending and short when engaged in conflict resolution with me on two separate occasions. My biggest complaint is this though- let me begin by saying the entire reason I had my dog in day school was to socialize him and make him polite around other dogs and people. When my dog was finishing day school, the trainer told me if I wanted to put him in day camp there it would be in his best interest to do so right away so he does not lose any of his training and socialization around other dogs. Which I agreed with whole heartedly. Then I try to get him in day camp and am told that there is a waitlist and he would not be able to start right away. I have been waiting for weeks and weeks and basically at this point feel it has set my dog back. This frustrates me to no end. I think people that invested in the school and spent that kind of money should maybe get some priority on the waitlist. We should come before people that have not. Plain and simple. They tell you on repeat that "consistency is key to a well trained dog" and they do not want you to miss a single day of training and act like it is the end of the world if you have to , threatening even to boot you out of school. But then they contradict their own philosophy with this waitlist and "maybe we can get him in again at some point". NO true concern for what is best for the dogs invested in - just get at the bottom of the list. So now I am having to interview at other competitors this week to try and get my dog in someplace else. This is a major disappointment .