Riverbend Canine Training

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. AWFUL EXPERIENCE! Long review but very important to read!! I paid $2,900 for my dog River to complete Brandon’s 4 week board & train program. I was VERY clear about why she needed training. River is extremely reactive towards dogs and cats, which is incredibly stressful since I live in a townhome community surrounded by dogs. Brandon told me he could absolutely fix this behavior and had successfully done it before. He said River would not need more training afterward, I would get consistent updates on progress, and there would be an extensive turnover at the end. Because of River’s specific issues, Brandon also told me HE would be the one working with her specifically during the 4 weeks. That did not happened. Communication was awful. I went nearly 3 WEEKS without an update even after multiple texts and calls trying to get a response. I later learned Brandon was gone due to personal matters, River had been handled by multiple trainers, and she was then given to another trainer, for approximately the last week and a half. That was the only time I received consistent updates. After 4 WEEKS of training, River came home with the EXACT behaviors I paid to fix. She was still chasing our cat and extremely reactive toward other dogs. I continued working with her at home using what they showed me, but there was no change. I contacted Brandon + Bill because I was completely at a loss. Bill came to my home and worked with River for 1-2 hrs. Before leaving, he told me she was not trained, needed additional training, and I should look into further training elsewhere. Hearing that immediately after paying $2,900 was beyond frustrating. About 2 wks after the 4 wk training, River attacked another dog. It was awful and traumatic. I immediately contacted both trainers asking for help. After struggling AGAIN to get communication, I eventually spoke with Brandon. He apologized, acknowledged that I did not get what I paid for, and was upset that Bill told me River wasn’t trained because he had paid him to train her. Brandon asked for a second chance and offered to personally take River back and work with her himself. Despite everything, I agreed because I desperately needed help with my dog and wanted to give him the opportunity to make this right. Brandon asked me to contact him in 2 weeks because he had too many dogs and wanted to dedicate his time to River. I did exactly that, and we arranged for him to take her back the weekend before August 17. When I texted that week to confirm the pickup day, he didn’t respond. It took another message days later for him to finally respond saying he accidentally scheduled her for Monday. I gave him grace AGAIN, and we agreed on Tuesday. Tuesday came. He never showed up or contacted me. I texted him again asking if he was still coming. No response. After everything, I no longer trusted him to take my dog again and formally requested my $2,900 back. As of September 8, he has not responded or refunded my money. I gave Brandon chance after chance to make this right. I was patient and tried working with him instead of escalating this further and immediately demanding a refund or posting a negative review. I eventually felt like my patience was being taken advantage of. River also came home noticeably thinner, extremely anxious, and with patches of hair missing around her elbows. I cannot say what caused this, but combined with the experience I got, almost no communication for weeks, it makes me even more uncomfortable looking back. This isn’t just a normal service. You are handing someone an animal you love for a long period of time, trusting them to do what they promised while you aren’t there to see it. I have kept my invoices, receipts, texts, call history, photos, and documentation of every conversation + attempts to resolve this directly. I would NEVER trust Brandon with my dog again and absolutely DO NOT recommend his services.

If you want to have regular updates on your animals this is not the place for you to use as communication with paying customers does not seem to be a priority after your money has been sent. Additionally, I understand there is a disclaimer that aggressiveness can not be guaranteed. However, we received a lot of empty promises that it could be done and it has not improved at all. We spent thousands of dollars for our dog to only be ecollar trained. He did not receive basic command training as we were also told he would like simple no jumping and such because he instantly the day we picked him up jumped on us. Our husky was returned to us 8 lbs less than what she weight prior to arrival. If you have an aggressive dog I’d consider not wasting your money as this was not the answer for us after we received a lot of promises it would be done. Communication from initial call to drop off was amazing. Week 1 we received 2 phone calls 1 about our dog vomiting an item we are 99% sure he did not get while in our home as we had nothing like that, second due to him passing a cat toy he must have snagged requesting we take him for vet evaluation. First call we received very little update on how training was going just told “well”. We were told during drop off that we would receive update pictures/video/texts every other day. I reached out once asking how our 2 dogs were doing prior to the first call with no response. 6/10 asked for an update after our dog was taken to the vet by us. 6/13 still no response sent a repeat request for an update. 6/16 sent a long message stating the lack of updates after being told was disheartening and we were worried. Received a call that evening, returned call on 6/17 was told there was a family emergency and that was no excuse and we’d get update pictures that day or the next. Update pictures were not received until 6/21 told we’d be getting videos too. No videos were ever received. 6/25 asked when we would be able to pick up our dogs as we were quoted 4-6 weeks. Received a date of 7/3. Asked for additional updates and videos that day. Never received. 7/2 asked what time for the pick up of dogs no response received. Told last minute to move it. Pick up our dogs and spent several hours there. Told to reach out for any issues and when our dogs almost got into a fight 5 minutes after being home, we did not get a solution a few days later asked if we would be home and said he would call no call ever received. Reached out when our dogs got into a fight a week later and was ignored. It took 3 weeks after picking our dogs up for a response if our dogs harness was left there accidentally. Therefore, it felt like once our money was received that we were not important. We received excuse after excuse on why updates were not provided or simply were ignored. One of our dogs returned underweight. Most importantly the training did not work and we were told to reach out anytime and have been ignored every time we’ve attempted. Unfortunately would not recommend this trainer.

After posting this review, the owner Brandon called me and stated that he had involved legal counsel and this review was defamation 🙄 I have known Brandon for over a year now, initially meeting him because I won a raffle for a free board & train. From the beginning the communication was very poor. Him being late was regular. I was often waiting 30+ minutes. I didn’t say anything, as I appreciated everything he was doing & at the end of the day he was a good dog trainer and everyone has their strengths. It seems his is working with dogs, not people. On multiple other occasions I was left with no communication of cancellation or changed plans until days following. Just ghosted. Most recently he was boarding my dog for service dog training. From the beginning I made Brandon aware that I already heavily relied on my dog for support & being separated from him was going to be very difficult for me. I wanted to make sure I was going to receive regular updates & photos, since I had not in the past. He promised he would this time around. He offered to let me see my dog on my day off each week, I asked if that would interfere with his training. He said no, that he trusted me & it would be Ok. I said I’d keep up with his training as I did want to learn how to handle my dog better. During his stay, I received two pictures. Both I had to repeatedly ask for. It was & has always been extremely hard to get ahold of Brandon. The first photo I received was what seemed to be a joke “ransom” photo. It was upsetting. I immediately asked to pick my dog up. It was not funny in that moment, & the context of the situation should have been considered. I was told he was editing a video, which I asked for and didn’t receive. recently I was to pick my dog up at 130. I have never been late, except for that day which I messaged at 1:32 to let him know I was sorry & on my way. I arrived around 1:36 & nobody was there. He was talking to someone else across the street. I sat there waiting for 30min till he left, & someone else showed up to give me my dog, claiming he had an emergency. he picked the time for us to meet up. 4pm. I showed up & asked if he was there. He said he was on his way at 403. I waited. Called at 430, no answer. Texted he was “here” at 433. I asked where & called him twice & got no answer. I got a text saying where he was in the store 20 minutes after he said he was there, and I was standing where he said he was. He was not there. He then called me & said he’d be there in 5 min. He showed up past 5pm. there was another person who was surprised to see me and said they didn’t realize we were doing a group session. I did not know this person nor did I know it was going to be a group session. Brandon is aware of the reason I need a service dog, & knows I am very uncomfortable around people I don’t know & cannot learn that way. He did not communicate someone would be there. Brandon approached & I was uncomfortable, anxious & frustrated. He did not apologize for the over an hour wait or acknowledge it. He started correcting me for not correcting my dog, but I was just frozen. This is not a situation I am comfortable in, he knew that. I expressed frustration about the hour wait & said that I understand things happen but communication is needed and we could’ve rescheduled if he had a priority to focus on. He did not acknowledge my concerns, & ended the session. The entire situation felt unprofessional. I messaged that night, & will attach the text. I was shocked at the response. Refusing a refund. It felt as though he was trying to blame me instead and flip the script. No responsibility was taken. I never asked for a discount and always paid even when he told me not to. While Brandon is maybe a skilled trainer, being a good trainer does not necessarily equate to being a good business owner. Based on my experience, I would not recommend this training.