Suzanne is brilliant! She knows so much about dogs, their needs and habits. Totally trust her to do…read morewhat's right for my dogs!

From the owner: Your pet will not spend the day in a kennel when they stay with us. They will have time out walking…read morein the woods, playing with friends and receiving some training. When the swim spa and pool are open they will be able to swim as part of their stay. The goal is to provide physical and mental stimulation through out the day so they go home tired and ready to nap. We offer private and group classes for obedience and Service Dog classes.

My dog has been going for a while now and he loves it there. The people are awesome and very…read moreknowledgeable on dog care and behavior. We love taking our dog there and he loves going and always can't wait for the time he is there.

They are an important resource in our community. We've been taking our dogs to Best Friends since…read moreDec. 1999. Our dogs have loved this place, always eager to enter the door. And the training classes are so valuable for you and your pet. Make training successful and fun. Also, after your hard day at work your dog will be tired when you go home. The owner, management, staff are adept at handling almost any situation and help you to be a better dog parent as well as civilizing your best friend. Not one negative about this business.

Nichole is the go to dog trainer in the valley. Her passion and patience with every client…read moreseparates her self from the rest of the pack.

Everything! Lots of personal training. Our dog learned a lot and love to go to the classes. We…read morelearned a lot about how to train on dog. Highly recommend!

Jesse Wilson, Dog Trainer @ Hand n' Paws K-9…read more Trainer, Jess, is the best! The bestest trainer in the west! He gets my Missy to comply, He is an awesome trainer guy! He takes her out and out about! That is what I love to shout! Gets her used to new vibrations! Showing "training" in situations! Other pups and other stuff! I do swear - it's not a bluff! Calming her to greet the day! No surprises, by the way!! Familiarity does NOT breed contempt! Her new manner not unkempt! Though she has long way to go! She's a puppy in the know! Makes her Mama very proud! Show her off when in a crowd! Thank you, Jesse! See you on the 25th (I think!)

I think this will take me at least a day or 2 to write because there's just so much genuine good to…read morewrite about this place. We really stumbled upon this place via a home trainer we got who was positive reinforcement only (prior to that we were at hufdmans's - this will be important later). The positive reinforcement trainer though nice.. I felt wasn't equipped to help me train my 2 year old Belgian Malinois. Not very many people have experience training a high drive dog like malinois so that was the reason why I took my girl to Huffman's who specializes in working breed malinois. Anyways, after 8 sessions with Huffmans (who is a balanced trainer) and 2-3 sessions with the positive only trainer I was at a loss for a trainer that could actually help us with our Mal. *quick backstory* we rescued our Mal (Beatrice) from a rescue in Texas when she was 16 months old or so. She was found with 9 puppies who she took such good care of. Apparently she was "sad" after her puppy's were adopted out. She was transported to us from Texas (where perhaps I didn't give her enough time to decompress) and from then she showed a lot of leash reactivity. She was amazing while in the house but was super over the top when we were on walks in the neighborhood. At a loss, I asked our positive only trainer if they did boarding or board and training and he said he didn't but works very closely with a trainer who does. Cue in Merissa. I contact Merissa possibly minutes after, I tell her my situation and she quickly accommodates a meet and greet for us. We were leaving out of the country for 3 weeks so we needed someone we could trust. When I met Merissa I instantly felt at ease her super calm and cool demeanor made me feel safe. However I was still skeptical that anyone would be able to reform my dog. After 8 sessions with huffman's and 2-3 sessions with the other trainer, Beatrice was still pulling and lunging like crazy. This is not due to a lack of practice with me as the owner, I trained and did everything all the trainers told me to do everyday for 1-2 hours a day! So because of this I felt that Beatrice may only get better minimally. At drop off I meet Raine who did my intake. She was very friendly and efficient. Beatrice went to her easily, but I knew Beatrice wasn't reactive to strangers but dogs. After the first 2-3 weeks I was anxious because I didn't see very many updates about Beatrice from instagram or the FB page.. I voiced this concern to Kota the Admin for Paw and Hands and she quickly got me in touch with Charlee, Beatrice's main handler. First off, let me tell you HOW responsive Kota and Charlee are. Beatrice may not have gotten a ton of updates (I'm a helicopter mom, what can I say) but speaking to Kota and Charlee always put me at ease. Both of them were always transparent. Charlee reassured me that all the training I had previously was not for naught. My training with Huffmans made Beatrice a super confident dog but Beatrice had major control issues, she may have been over confident thus creating a know it all. My training with Lucid made Beatrice better at obedience, but on her time. When I told Beatrice to do any commands she knew them all but would take her very precious time getting into that command. After being at P&H her obedience was almost as good as the sport dogs - almost... she's got crappy genes from bad breeding but she's the ABSOLUTE best version of her she can be. At the go home session Charlee went through a ton of information I knew and a ton I didn't know. She told me how she'd be in contact with me and would be calling me in a few days. The fact that these trainers and admin staff are so dedicated to the dogs and the owners speaks absolute volumes. And the funny thing is, upon leaving the facility I left with the impression that Beatrice is (slightly) better but of course there will still be a lot of continued work at home (which I already expected, 2-3 hours of exercise, play and training a day - no problem I've allocated time specifically for this). When I got her home. OH MY GOD. I don't know if it's because it's her first day back but DAMN she's WAYYYY better than I EVER expected. I was FLOORED. She never left her bed stay during dinner, her recall was SECONDS, her heel was... incredible. I honestly felt like I had a sport dog. I'll give an update after Beatrice has settled but if this is how she'll be for the rest of the time at home, this dog is completely reformed. THANK YOU CHARLEE, KOTA and MERISSA... for literally everything, every second you put in Beatrice, all the love and handling, the extra effort to make sure she's her best version of her, THANK YOU.

I recently adopted a dog from SafeHaven after buying a house a few months ago. I had been looking…read morefor a while and finally found the perfect match on their site. I found him the same day he got to the shelter and convinced my partner to go meet him with me. We got there about half an hour before they closed on a Sunday and they let us stay with him in a room until half an hour after closing. We spent time with him in the yard even though it was raining, and when he was apprehensive we went inside and he came right to me. The person who was working with us offered some treats for us to give him and checked in on us every once in a while, giving us privacy to just be with him and talk together. When we left I knew he was the dog for us. I talked to my partner and convinced him, and the next day we called and placed a hold on the boy we had visited with. We showed up about an hour later and went through the adoption process. It took about half an hour and included a detailed explanation of his file, his medical records, and what the knew about him. We filled out the adoption application, they entered the information, then took my payment. Once we paid, they brought our new family member out to us. I put the collar and leash I had for him on and we took a picture together. The staff walked him out to our car and he jumped right in. I got in with him and he put his head in my lap. He's been my shadow ever since! He's gotten more comfortable in our home every day and there have been no nasty surprises yet. The facility is super nice and looks newer. There are hoses hooked up to the walls and ceiling for easy cleaning. The dog room and hallway before it do stink of dog pee, but there's nothing you can do about that when you run an indoor shelter. There's a ton of yard space and a walking track. There's a separate room that looked like a quarantine for new arrivals (or possibly small dogs, but it looked pretty empty so my guess is quarantine) and a whole other area for cats so they don't have the stress of dog noise right next to them. There's a small room in the lobby where you can meet dogs. They have a shop you can get supplies at if you are needing stuff for your first night together. The staff are all incredibly friendly and helpful. Everyone knows the dogs and their stories and status, even the front desk folks. They clearly care about the animals that they are responsible for. The dogs seemed to be well cared-for and happy. The cat room also looked cozy, but we didn't go in so I don't know much about it. There is plenty of parking. We missed the turn the first time because our GPS told us to turn later, but looking back it should have been obvious because they had street signs pointing to the humane society. Just something to keep in mind if you go. If you're on the fence about going here to find your next family member, do it! These people are amazing and the animals are cared for and loved. Our experience was nothing short of wonderful.

Love the new place! But, the way they have treated some of their employees/volunteers through the…read moreyears is awful. There was a gal that worked there YEARS ago that loved her job. Worked hard too! Absolutely loved the animals. But, unfortunately, she had to have a serious operation done. The way they treated her after she got back was ridiculous. So, folks that know her always remember that when going in to see the animals. The animals remember people and when someone is gone that they got close to makes it hard for them too. Treat all well! Blessings!

Lola is skilled at training dogs. She has helped my 3 dogs be better pets in my home. It was hard…read morework but with persistence, it paid off tremendously! My dogs enjoy seeing her too. They know she's the treat lady and will do anything for her.

Lola, at Lucky Leash, has given us the skills we needed to make our Rosie into a safe and…read morewell-mannered pooch!  Lola came to our home after thoroughly interviewing us and our dog training needs.  She was able to give us the ideas and positive training techniques to use on our doggie to overcome some very basic and instinctual desires.  We were shown how to use treats to our advantage in a positive and beneficial way for the desired outcome.  It took multiple daily fun time "exercises" to work with Rosie.  We established a loving relationship as a bonus!  Thank you Lola!!!

Glen was so helpful in our training (mostly mine). Beau is a stubborn little Frenchie but he is…read moresmart and has learned a lot with the training techniques Glen shared with us. I can now walk him in my neighborhood without much pulling. He has learned to wait at the door until I am ready for him to go out or in. He still jumps up when greeting but is better and we continue to work on it. Glen was also flexible and accommodating of my schedule.

We had an in-home consultation with Glen with our dog Linda, which went well. Glen was informative…read moreand Linda responded well to him. However, as we explained her reactivity issues to dogs and some people, Glen seemed reluctant to schedule further training sessions with Linda, telling us "I recommend taking some time to review the article I sent you, and begin implementing them, specifically only greeting if Linda initiates the greeting. " Since he seemed reluctant to schedule further training, we are seeking another trainer. One trainer I spoke to questioned whether Glen doubted he had the expertise to deal with our dog's reactivity issues?

I've taken three classes with my puppy at Wonder Dogs and have been super happy with the support…read more The classes are well thought out and helpful. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

In the 2 classes I've had from Jenn, I have learned so much! She has really helped me with great…read moreideas for my Bernedoodle (5 months old) who bites our ankles and legs and jumps up on us. I will continue to take classes from Wonder Dogs! In the past they helped my 6 year old golden who had little training. RIP Strider! He responded so well to their guidance! Miss my boy!

We have our dog groomed at Ankeny and also have him stay for a playtime. We have boarded our…read moregeriatric cat at Ankeny also. The care and attention they give our pets is fantastic. We would not leave them anywhere else. A great facility!

I know I wrote a review here at the beginning of the year and not sure where it went so I'm…read morerewriting it!! I brought my dogs here at Christmas time last year so I could visit grandchildren and it was an out-of-the-way last minute thing since the normal place I go was completely booked up and just could not even budge one dog. So I came here and my experience was very good. My dogs all boarded together and I paid for the playtime once a day and everything went really well. I was really happy that they told me when I left that the dogs were really good dogs and easy to take care of that made me feel really, really good. I have gone back to my usual place, but I am definitely considering coming back here again because they offered the dogs some playtime and where I go does not. Again, the experience was good. The hotel was clean and well maintained, and the dogs seemed very happy when they came home. All in all good.