The Dog Company

My dog liked these people well enough, and was always happy when I picked him up, but showed no improvement. I was skeptical of them from the get go and rightfully so as it turns out. They spent the entire first week “building a foundation”—which meant teaching my dog to do things he already knew how to do and crating him and chaining him to a wall. At the first one on one I watched the woman walk my dog in a circle and try to get him to stand on something, and when she couldn’t, she told me to try, and he did it in seconds. Despite being really uncomfortable after learning all this, I followed all the instructions they gave me, with the exception that I had to miss the final one on one discussion after training was “completed”—but saw 0 improvement regardless. When I finally felt confident enough to voice my concerns (I felt incredibly pressured), they (namely the trainer Kelsey) were insanely rude and said if I’d kept the one meeting and used their ridiculously overpriced slip lead ($20 for a thing you can get on Amazon for $6) it would have all been different. They did nothing but blame me. An entire program should not hinge on a one to one meeting. They also accused me of not having my dog sit before I dropped him off, when I have always done that. Before we even started also told them I was concerned about some of the medieval methods listed in their policies, and was told “we’d have a conversation about any methods to be used.” That conversation didn’t happen, and then when they gave me reasons I “failed my dog” — they said it was partly because I was skeptical from the get go. Concern for my dog’s safety doesn’t seem like a “failure” to me. Their handlers seem to pick and choose who they give face to face updates to, who they send a lot of cute photos to, and otherwise you get a two line “report card.” My dog was handed off almost every day with a curt “have a nice day.” I am out $700 for nothing but to be insulted for voicing grievances. Do yourself a favor and find another company or just do it yourself. My dog has shown further improvement with me doing training alone then he did in the entire two weeks he was there.

We started our journey with The Dog Company some three months ago after a total foster fail with the Wicomico County Humane Society. Our hearts told us adoption was the route for us and our pup but having no recent experience with the breed or a puppy we approached the owner of The Dog Company for an assessment. She did some basic exercises with him and give us feedback on his demeanor and drive. We decided to enter our pup into The Dog Company's puppy program at about four months of age after spending a month with the Humane Society and another foster home before coming home. The puppy program consisted of daily daycare training (M-F, 8-5) with two one-on-one sessions with our pup and the trainer. We received an instructional guide upon enrollment and elected to have all two-legged household members participate in the one-on-one sessions to ensure we were all on the same page regarding behaviors and command language (Dog Co. provided these as well so we could reinforce the training at home). Upon "graduation" we were impressed with his consistent response to the basic commands promised to us with this service. We elected to continue our pup in their daycare program two or three days per week after "graduation" and appreciated that the owner and other trainer we had worked with demonstrated integrity in their recommendation to wait until at least six months age to move to the next level of training. I suppose a business that was more concerned with profit than the wellbeing/advancement of the pup would have gladly taken our money and continued us right on. Daycare has been such an awesome experience for us as pet owners - we don't have the guilt of leaving our pup unentertained for too long, we receive daily "report cards", and best of all - so many photos of our pup living his best life. Added a few adventure days to our daycare package for additional perks for our pup and leash practice and have been consistent in attending optional group classes every other Wednesday evening. Anyways, I say all of this to say we are now in month six and are excited to have just begun their Dog Program. We look forward to experiencing greater control and expanding our pup's skillset as well as ours as pup-people. It is my hope that this narrative illustrates the experience from start to continued growth with The Dog Co. The most meaningful positives we've experienced include: knowledgeable staff who are all clearly "dog people," flexible drop-off/pick-up window, a willingness to provide additional guidance and encouragement, online reservation/payment system, and Mr. Rowan (our pittie professional). *Photos courtesy of The Dog Co.

The Dog Company has the best trainers and people. I took my goldendoodle puppy, Coleman, there for their "puppy boot camp". You can tell that everyone at the Dog Company loves animals because Coleman was excited everytime he went to his classes. After two weeks, he could sit, walk on his leash, go in his crate, place, come, and get down. Now, he is going there for doggy day care, which he also loves. I highly recommend the Dog Company to anyone for training and daycare.