TMS K-9 Connections

Louie came home yesterday a slightly different dog--mostly we noticed how calm he is. I think it's due to the self-confidence you've instilled in him or awakened in him. His immediate responses to the commands, hand signals and behaviors from his training is overwhelming. We sent you a dog who was in general obedient but could fly off at any moment, pulling either of us to the ground, and now we have the same sweet Louie with so much behavioral improvement, we can happily trust him back out in the world.

I cannot say enough good things about TMS K-9 Connections. Stephanie and the staff have been beyond wonderful. We sent our 6 month old German Shepherd puppy through their 4 week course. They worked with both our dog and us through the training to give us the tools to be successful at home afterwards. She came home from training clearly well taken care of and with a new found confidence. I reached out to Stephanie after our dog had been home from the training for a couple of months with some new behavioral concerns. Stephanie was prompt with her responses and set up a private training. She gave me new tools and exercises to correct this behavior. I am forever grateful for TMS K-9 Connections. My dog would never have been so well behaved without them!

Posting this so anyone who has an ethical problem with aversion-based training and potential harm to pets knows to look elsewhere. BE WARY OF ENROLLING YOUR DOGS HERE. They do NOT believe in positive reward-based obedience training using treats and instead base their program on aversive corrections with prong and shock collars. This practice can be detrimental to the health of dogs and cause aggression and reactions to form where none existed before, as a painful stimulus introduced during a high anxiety moment can cause dogs to associate pain with that high anxiety encounter (be it another dog, a child, whatever) and become more aggressive in anticipation of pain when they see those triggers later. I just adopted a dog that has paperwork alleging she went through this training program. According to the release papers from her former owners (who I do not know), they surrendered her to a shelter after sending her to TMS because she had severe resource guarding and reactivity to other dogs after completing two weeks in their program. Veterinary paperwork supplied by the prior owners notes they took her in to treat open wounds from prong collars on her neck following her boarding, and she now has scars from these injuries. Whether the injuries happened during boarding or with the former owners, or there was apparently a disconnect in understanding or lack of communication between both parties on the topics of when and how the collar should be used, an innocent animal ended up with lasting scars from lacterations, and that's what brought me here. The dog I adopted is sweet, timid, submissive and spent the first few days with my family terrified to do anything on a lead. She asked for permission to sniff things the first time I took her for a walk. This is not the kind of fearful submission a responsible, caring pet owner wants to see in a trained animal. If this business accepts payment and returns animals wounded, I can only imagine the five star reviews listed here have been padded out by friends and family of the business owners. Prong and shock collars are tools that have a place, but they are wildly unnecessary for most dogs and absolutely shouldn't be a first line option for the vast majority of animals, since they are inherently tools that inflict pain and confusion. The trainer openly admits on their website that they used to fear dogs (fortunately they no longer do, because they learned how to communicate with confidence to animals by...discovering they could be made to yelp and cower with uncomfortable stimulti, I guess??) and that should be a huge red flag to anyone looking for a potential business with whom to train their family pet or service partner. Edit because business owner replied: photos added providing documentation of injuries treated at vet and TMS listed as the trainer. Censored dog's name so no one can go after the former owners. I wish for no dialogue beyond this, as I do not believe this dog needs or ever needed correction with prongs. Her confidence will be built as she is rehabilitated from the harmful physical and mental effects of misused choke collars. Also noting this business owner immediately insinuated I was a liar with a delusional narrative who cannot think critically. On the contrary, this review is being made after a great deal of critical thinking, because prospective clients and people who may not know a great deal about dogs deserve to know what they're dealing with when considering a training or boarding facility, and no one wants their family member to come home traumatized or wounded.