SFK9 Dog Training, LLC

Our beloved 2 year old German Shepherd, Bogey, DIED under the watch of this horrific company. Several months ago, I reached out for nothing else but to try and get Bogey's collar back. We have not heard back. Before dropping Bogey off for his 2 week stay at SFK9, I spoke with Eddie to try to communicate my anxiety about leaving him for 2 weeks. Any dog owner knows the anxiety of leaving your dog in someone else's hands for the first time. I tried to communicate the issues he may have. I was looking for reassurance and comfort. To trust he was in good hands. I was pretty much laughed at and because of my naivety on the subject, I told myself that they knew best and tried to let it go. Upon nervously checking in on Day 2, I got a one-sentence email response telling me "Bogey is fine." Nothing more. I was horrified at their lack of consideration and empathy. I should have known then. Little did I know, he was having a hard time and as I was told on the phone when we got the news that Bogey had passed away, he "had diarrhea" the entire time he was there. A sure sign of anxiety. I was never told this until it was too late. All of his necropsy results came back negative and completely clear of both genetic or pre-existing issues. Bogey died of a broken heart. As "dog trainers," I believe it's safe to assume they understand the level of love one can have for a dog. I also believe it's safe to say that they understand the horrible heartbreak one inevitably feels upon losing a dog. Bogey was 2. It was our wedding day. We understand accidents happen...horrible things happen. What we can't wrap our heads around is the fact that they called to tell us we lost Bogey and never heard from them again. The only follow up was to send a video of him collapsing in his crate as a tactic to save themselves. The lack of communication from Day 1 is just purely shameful. The lack of empathy since that horrific call is something we will never be able to understand. Unhuman. As we have grieved our best friend and let our anger subside, we've waited to hear back from them after simply asking for his collar back. There has been nothing. We could ask for a refund, could even demand one, but we won't. We will let them keep our money that we so easily handed over to them, like we did with our Bogey. The only thing they ever cared about was the safety of their company and ensuring we don't ruin it. Covering all their bases. Shifting the blame to someone else-- our wonderful breeder-- anyone but them. Best to disappear and pray this passes, than to show a little care for your clients. I hope and pray that God forbid this ever happens again, they can react appropriately as a reputable company with integrity should be expected to and that no one ever has to go through what my husband and I did. Please think twice before sending your dog here.

We have a 6 month old mini golden doodle. We decided that since we also have two young children that board and train would be our best route so the puppy would have dedicated training and a solid foundation to be more well behaved. At almost 16 weeks old she started the program. We were told that we wouldn’t get updates other than fb posts (an actual separate paper to sign in recognition of their update policy) unless we text to ask. After a full month we were told she was ready to graduate. We had a session where commands were explained and she came home. I should have been obvious that behavior hadn’t changed when she went to the puppy went potty on the floor of the training space. When we go home our puppy was the same exact dog she was when she left. She also would not perform any commands and continued nipping our children, a behavior I specifically said was completely unacceptable for her to come back to us doing. The trainer came to our house and observed the behavior and said that she would perform the commands at their house so it must be environmental. They told us to anchor her with a leash so she would stay. They left basically telling us to be more firm and lock her in her crate if she gets crazy. The next night she nipped the baby and was sent back to train. She was there for a second month. During which she had a scheduled groom. Being a doodle (and also close to the holidays where I knew rescheduling would be hard) I tried to contact them to get her even if only for the day and got no answer. From Thursday to Saturday I called and texted with no response or call back. Only after she had missed the appointment did I hear back and it had been 3 days of trying to contact. After almost two months I got a text that said they saw the behavior that we were talking about that needed correction. They said it would be worked on and then she could come home. Finally. She came home for the second time. The same day she pooped on the couch, a bed and nipped the baby. I really thought maybe this puppy was more than I could handle? I called and even talked about giving her up because I really thought she might not like children? Or maybe she was just too hyper? They told me I could surrender her to them and I almost did. My spouse and I talked and decided we would train her and that she really is sweet she just had ineffective training. She still has work. She still isn’t 100% but sending her to board and train didn’t help. They seemed very willing to help but at the end of the day they taught her nothing. *my dog was also returned to us with giardia as another reviewers was*

Sfk9 did a great job training Garmin who is a standard poodle. By age 2 year old Garmin was manners were getting out of control. Thats when we sent him for training. One month after the training Garmin is more calmer and listens to commands. The walks are more calmer/enjoyable, public places like banks Home Depot are more enjoyable as not annoying other customers for attention, dropping kids at school is pleasant as Garmin is doesn’t bark at people walking by our car. Hand signals to stay on the raise bed when guest come is great. There are times Garmin may release himself (due to excitement) from his raised bed, just a simple command and he back on it until released by me. This was not part of the Sfk9 training but with the obedience training Garmin received we were able to train and command other things. Garmin stays with me on our property unleash in the front yard. One simple verbal command and hand signals to follow me back behind the gate. I still do in home and public training to keep his skills in check. It’s important continue and stay on top of training your in home and places. Definitely will come back when we get Garmin another poodle.

I've been debating on writing this review - I usually only write reviews when they are positive. But, the vast disappointment of our experience with SFK9 in Aug/Sept still rings in our ears to this day. Out of naivete, my husband and I got in over our heads with a high-energy, difficult dog but I am a firm believer that pets are family & a lifelong commitment. I reached out to SFK9 with a list of 3 SPECIFIC training needs, admitting we were out of our depth and needed professional, compassionate, and effective training. Being a facility that trains service dogs, we thought we would be in good hands. 1 I emailed a handful of times asking about a first meeting to go over training needs, what’s required from us, what we should do to prepare our dog. They said we didn't need to do anything. When we tried to drop our dog off, they refused to accept him claiming they had none of his documentation (they did). I had to find everything on my phone and resend them, all while they were rushing us out before their next appointment. 2 For the amount we paid, the lack of communication and refusal to even sporadically update pet owners is categorically unacceptable. 3 I reached out respectfully only 3-4 times over the course of THIRTY-ONE days to get any update on what our dog was working on as it relates to the three specific training goals we brought to their doorstep. Every time I would get delayed responses stating they were working on his "potty schedule" (he was reasonably potty trained at the time for being a puppy, not a concern) - No explanation on what the potty schedule even was, let alone his progress on the training goals. 4 When picking up our dog, we were given a rough and tumble runthrough of what he learned; I can assure you was limited to the word "climb" which he never performed again at home. We practiced all his commands consistently upon his return, including walking etiquette, giving him time to "acclimate" to being home - his response and recall were worse than before we dropped him off. 5 At pick-up, we were given the advice to get a prong collar and to "leave a situation" if he was starting to get reactive, the latter we already had been doing and absolutely did not need to pay over $2K to be told. 6 We were informed that he never had another potty accident after the 2nd day. Each time I emailed asking about his progress, I was met with "working on potty schedule" the ENTIRE time he was there, only to find out it wasn't even an issue after two days of being there. BTW the potty schedule was absolutely unattainable at home. 7 It was noted that he would benefit from group training while simultaneously telling us that he would not be allowed at any of their group training sessions because he would be too distracting as a "reactive dog". One of the behavioral issues we asked for help with. 8 We were also told that his separation anxiety was only going to get worse as he got older and we would just have to deal with it. If this were the case, when we reached out to SFK9 with our training needs the responsible response would have been "we don't work on these specific behavioral problems". 9 We were also told that NO dogs should participate in any dog parks or day care because they will learn bad habits - which begs the question, where do you expect us to manage our dog's energy level and offer him opportunities to socialize? 10 Last, our dog was returned to us with Giardia. He had a clean fecal test before we dropped him off as required in the veterinary records they lost. Within one day of returning home, he had bloody wet stool - impossible to miss and yet we were not contacted once about his condition during his stay. It cost us over $300 and 8 weeks of our lives to remedy. All in all the entire boot camp experience was deplorable. We feel scammed by this training facility and just plain hurt. We were in a desperate situation and saved for months to send our dog to SFK9. We feel taken advantage of, misled, and quite frankly robbed. If money is tight and you are short on hope, look elsewhere.