Pawsitive K9 University

I was very excited to learn that there was a positive training facility in the Marana area, and had a nice phone call prior to choosing to enroll my dog in the basic obedience course. However, my mistake was not inquiring more about what sort of training techniques they encourage. At the start of the class, I could tell right away that the dogs in this class have already attended several consecutive classes as there was no formal introduction or goal of that day's class. The trainer also did not seem to know I would be attending. Right away, I was asked to walk my dog up to other dogs in the class, while those dogs had to remain still as I walked by, and then my dog did the same with dogs coming up to her, etc. There was no instruction on what to do if the dog that was approaching was reacting or if your own dog was reacting. I was surprised that this advanced level of interaction is considered basic obedience, which I was expecting things like sit/stay commands, focus, etc - you get the idea. We did not do any of that. At the end of the first class, I was asked if I could use a pinch/choke collar for my dog, and stated that I could bring her martingale harness next time as I prefer that. I stuck it out for 6 total classes, and I kept hoping that the next class would be different but it was not. By the second class, the instructors decided to split into advanced and "basic" obedience as there was now a 12 week old puppy that joined. I opted to join the basic class thinking that THIS will be what it should be, and again I was disappointed. We did not have any basic obedience that you would expect with a new 12 week old puppy attending. At this class, there was discussion about getting this puppy a pinch collar right away, and that is when the red flags came up for me as I am now realizing that this is a foundation training tool for the instructors (and why I was asked about using one at the first class). The third class, this same puppy was fitted for a shock collar with intentions to have it be used during the class. I was so disappointed that a positive reinforcement facility would recommend utilizing this type of tool in a now-13 week old puppy. Classes 2-6 were similar with no basic obedience training despite myself and the other family asking at one point to focus on recall/stay for a following class, but it did not happen. My last class, in my opinion was the worse of all, where now there is ANOTHER new puppy in the class that is 10-12 weeks old, with no training yet and we were doing complex agility course runs (in a 6-week basic obedience class) as this dog's first class. A pinch collar was recommended for this puppy right away as well. At one point, my dog was off leash going through the agility course, and the trainer decides to take a dog from the back, that is assumingely being boarded there, and just allows that dog immediately loose on the floor. My dog does NOT do well with new sudden dogs and she darts immediately for this dog. I was furious that this had happened as there was NO warning that this dog was coming in, it was inappropriately timed, and there was no apology that my dog was put into a potentially serious situation. Lastly, being a Certified Veterinary Technician, it is very important for me that when I am choosing to bring my dog somewhere, that all the other dogs are fully immunized. I was not asked to provide proof of immunization. I see countless patients that are not immunized when the families state that their dog is. So for any boarding and training location to not be adamant on this documentation prior to enrolling is a disservice to the community. I'm giving this 2 stars instead of 1 because the trainers DO seem like nice, caring people, but their training methods/recommendations do not align with positive reinforcement training (pinch and shock collars are considered positive punishment training and is not at all considered positive reinforcement techniques), proactive canine health practices are nonexistent, and the class structure is confusing.