Summit K9

Thank you for your feedback. While we're disappointed that your experience with Summit K9 didn't meet expectations, we appreciate the chance to address your concerns. The primary service provided was our daycare program. While we often communicated that Lilly had good days, we also shared that she was still nervous and struggling with fear, which slowed her training progress. As she matured past the puppy stage, her lack of improved confidence at daycare raised concerns about her compatibility with the program and potential safety risks as she approached adulthood. In an effort to address these issues early, we scheduled an in-person meeting with you to discuss our observations and potential outcomes. During that meeting, we shared our concerns about Lilly’s behavior and the likelihood that these challenges could escalate as she matured. After that meeting, we responded to an email about ongoing incidents between your dogs at home. We reiterated that daycare alone would not address these issues and recommended private lessons to work on the serious concerns you raised, as they were beyond the scope of our daycare program. We emphasized that your active involvement in the training process would be necessary to make progress. In the following weeks, no private lessons were scheduled, and Lilly continued daycare. Later that year, you mentioned another incident at home, prompting us to email contact information for a specialist. Your wife then inquired about Lilly’s behavior at daycare, asking if we were still allowing her to attend, and we responded with an email containing the following: "My goal in sending that email was mainly to provide a recommended resource, however, as we have discussed previously, I have some concerns about Lilly regarding her progress as daycare as she matures. She hasn't had any major incidents of forward aggression, but she is still extremely fearful and suspicious, and I am concerned about how that will progress as she continues into maturity. Given the instability in temperament that she still displays when she is with us during day programs (flightiness, low body language, general suspicion, occasional warning growls) even with handlers that she has worked with for many months, she is nearing a point where we will no longer be willing to accept the level of risk that these behaviors present. We have concerns that as she leaves puppyhood behind, the chances of her moving into forward aggression out of fear or blind reaction when in a fear state are significant. While she has not presented any major incidents at camp to date, I would not describe her as thriving at daycare. My recommendation would be for us to take a couple month break from daycare at Summit K9 to explore options with [RECOMMENDED TRAINER]. – If you reach out to them and for whatever reason they are unable to take your case, we can circle back to discuss your long term goals and what services might best serve your needs with Lilly. Our ultimate goal is for you to see success with Lilly and to give you the best possible tools to maximize her confidence and lay the foundations for ideal behavior at home. Unfortunately, I feel we are at a point where you would benefit most from a specialist outside of Summit K9 to continue seeing forward progress." We are always looking to improve our communication and education with clients, and we appreciate your feedback to help us address similar situations in the future. In this case, we feel that we did our best to communicate our concerns and offer the best possible recommendations to serve your family. While we specialize in select dog sports, foundation obedience, leash reactivity, and socialization, we do not specialize in severe fearfulness, moderate to severe aggression,, or severe separation anxiety. When clients are better suited to another program, we are happy to refer them to a program that will better meet their needs. We wish the best for you and your family moving forward.