Heavenly Hounds Dog Training

I have a reactive dog and had no idea how to help him since all my previous dogs did not have this issue. A friend of mine recommended Heavenly Hounds. I had a few private lessons at home with Stephanie Kowaleski, one of the top trainers in N.J. I was extemely impressed since she spent considerable time providing information, tools and evaluating my dog. Saw a remarkable inprovement in him within a short period of time. I then proceeded to take classes that Stephanie taught and was very proud on the way he handled himself. I also took additional classes with other trainers and they all made sure he felt safe and comfortable in class This is one of the best facilities for your dog. All the trainers are very caring, highly certified, classes are varied, new ones always being added, and events are held for educational purposes for you and your dog. I never thought my dog would progess to this point. This would never been accomplished if I did not find Stephanie Kowaleski and Heavenly Hounds.

I'm sorry to say that I have been beyond disappointed with my experience with Heavenly Hounds. I will post pictures of my correspondence to give people the opportunity to see what happened in a more objective way to make it fair. I initially reached out to the school for suggestions about which class I should sign up my dog. I received a very timely email from trainer Melinda suggesting the Tumultuous Teens class based on the skills on which I wanted to work with my dog, and signed up my dog for that class. After completing a more detailed survey which asked which skills/problems I would like to work on with my dog, I received an email suggesting private classes. I'm not sure if it was because I made my dog sound worse than she actually is, but I did only describe her cons, as that was what I thought the questionnaire wanted to know. I also felt after that follow-up email that perhaps they were suggesting classes that were more expensive to make more money. But, given the fact that I saw wonderful reviews, I pushed this out of my head and gave them the benefit of the doubt. Regardless, I requested to speak with someone over the phone. By the next morning, Tuesday, February 27th around 10:30am, I received a call from one of the trainers (someone I was later told was named Alex). I explained my fear that they were suggesting private classes for my dog because I had made her out to seem worse than she actually was. Alex stated that they suggested private classes because they thought that the skills on which I wanted to work were not really addressed in the Tumultuous Teens class. I was confused about that because those were the same skills that Melinda originally said would be addressed in the Tumultuous Teens class. She told me she would speak with Melinda, and that if I did not receive either a phone call or an email by later that evening, to assume that they had concluded my dog would be ok to continue in the Tumultuous Teens class that started the next evening. I even repeated what she said to make sure that there was no misunderstanding on my part, and she confirmed my understanding. Later on in the day, I missed a phone call from the owner Stephanie who did not seem to be aware of the conversation I had had with Alex. She emailed me saying she had not been able to reach me by phone, but I did not respond because I figured Alex would discuss our conversation with her, and because I was at work until the late evening. I never received any form of communication by the end of the day, so I knew that I was ok to proceed with the class. The next evening, I arrived 10-15 min early, only to find out that there was no Tumultuous Teens class!! Alex had confirmed the date with me on the phone! As you can see from the emails, Melinda also confirmed that the class was on Feb. 28th, and I received an automated email from the school confirming the time and date of the first class. The perplexed trainer, who was actually very nice and apologetic, told me that there was no class scheduled for that time, and guessed that maybe it was canceled and for some reason they had never emailed me to inform me. She called someone else while I was there (not sure who), and they knew who I was ("the girl that was told not to do the Tumultuous Teens class"). They told her to tell me that they would call me the next day to clarify what happened. That night, given my terrible experience, I wrote the owner an email asking to speak with one person that would not give me mixed messages. I have given them 6 days just to give them a fair amount of time to respond, and NO ONE has called or emailed me. I know their email is working because I have since received automated emails about how the weather would affect certain classes, etc. And I know they are able to call because I have spoken to them on the phone. I tried calling them several times, but no one answers the phone. I can unequivocally say that I do NOT recommend this training school.

Heavenly Hounds is the best dog training school in Mercer County and surrounding areas. Stephanie and her team of trainers provide everything from basic obedience to speciality classes for reactive dogs to dog sports (Rally, Agility, and a very comprehensive Nosework program). They also offer supervised play for puppies and young dogs up to 18 months. Two times a week they offer day training which is a "board and train" option - you drop your dog off for the afternoon and they work on specific skills with him/her. All trainers at Heavenly Hounds are CPDT-KA certified and practice force free training.