We recently did private lessons with Cassie for our newly adopted dog and honestly couldn't be…read morehappier. She was so understanding and never made us feel rushed. She came to our home, walked with us, met us at nearby parks... really went the extra mile to work in environments that actually matter for our dog's day-to-day life. She also gave us supplementary material to reference on our own which was so helpful. We've also done group classes at the Clickstart facility with our other dog and every single staff member and trainer there has been incredibly kind and patient. It's just a genuinely good vibe across the board. 100% recommend Cassie and the whole Clickstart team. Whether you're working with a new rescue or puppy or just want some solid training support.

The trainers here are excellent! They are all so kind and patient. I love that the classes are…read moresmall so each pup can get individual attention even in a group setting. They work at your dog's pace and that is huge for us. Thank you, Michael, Cassie & Liv! We're so glad we found Clickstart Dog Training Academy!

Watching Instagram and YouTube videos won't give you a well-behaved dog. Working with Vladae will!…read more We've been working with Vladae for about four months with our now six-and-a-half-month-old Golden Retriever, Coach, and it has been one of the best investments we've made. What sets Vladae apart is that he doesn't just train dogs, he teaches owners how to build a lifelong relationship with them. Every lesson leaves us with practical tools, clear direction, and the confidence to continue the training every single day. Because of that, the progress doesn't stop when the session ends. Vladae has an incredible ability to understand dogs. Watching him read a dog's behavior, body language, and mindset is genuinely fascinating. He knows exactly how to communicate with each dog in a way they understand, and it's clear this comes from years of experience and a deep understanding of canine psychology. He's also one of the most invested professionals we've ever worked with. Throughout the week, he encourages us to send videos, provides thoughtful feedback almost immediately, and is always available to answer questions or jump on a call if we need guidance. You never feel like you're figuring things out on your own. He truly cares about both the dogs and the people raising them, and he always follows through. Every recommendation Vladae has made, whether it's training tools, techniques, or daily routines, has become an essential part of Coach's development. We trusted the process from day one, and the results truly speak for themselves. (See the videos! Coach is only 6.5 months old in them.) Our puppy is happy, confident, well-mannered, and genuinely loves learning. We receive compliments on his behavior everywhere we go, and we owe so much of that to the foundation Vladae helped us build. We also had the opportunity to work with Erica, who trains alongside Vladae, and she was absolutely wonderful. One session with Erica is included in the program, and it was incredibly helpful. It's clear she shares the same passion, knowledge, and dedication that make this training program so special. Vladae brings unmatched energy, professionalism, and passion to every session. He genuinely wants every dog and every owner to succeed, and that level of commitment is incredibly rare to find. If you're looking for a trainer who truly understands dogs and is committed to setting both you and your dog up for long-term success, I can't recommend Vladae highly enough. Coach has become an incredible puppy, and we're excited to continue into adult school because of the foundation he's helped us build. We're so grateful we found him!

I wanted to address your recent claims regarding my review of your services. I assure you that I…read morewas a legitimate customer who genuinely shared my honest experience, which I believe is critical for other potential clients. While it's understandable to feel upset when receiving negative feedback, it's important to reflect on the reasons behind my review. I noticed that during our initial interaction, you made a comment about my background that many found to be a stereotypical and racist remark. In fact, I saw that you previously posted video footage of our encounter on your Instagram, but you removed it after receiving backlash for those comments. This indicates that others found your remarks concerning as well. I want to emphasize that my intention was never to harm your business; rather, it was to share my experience. Thankfully, I have since found another trainer who practices positive reinforcement, which aligns much better with my values and my dog's needs.

From our very first session until now, he has taught me so much. He's incredibly knowledgeable, and…read morealways explains the methods from how dogs think and perceive the world and how the training ties into it. The progress I've seen has been amazing, and I've learned how to communicate with my dog in a way that has strengthened our bond. I highly recommend Josh and Bark Busters OC to anyone looking for a trainer who truly knows what they're doing!

I have 2 dogs, a chaotic puppy and a fear reactive German shepherd. Before working with Josh, I…read morefelt like I was always managing my dogs but still couldn't fully trust them in real life. Now they're calm, confident, and make way better decisions on their own. I can take them pretty much anywhere, which wasn't the case before. He also helped my German Shepherd become a lot more comfortable around people and other dogs. Biggest shift honestly was me. I'm way more confident, less stressed, and actually know how to communicate and teach my dogs without relying on tools. If you want a dog you can actually live life with, I'd 100% recommend Josh!

Tommy helped us with our Miniature Australian Shepherd puppy when no one else would! He came to…read moreour house when she was 11 weeks old (other trainers wanted to wait until she had all her puppy shots) and immediately got us off on the right foot for behavior training. He trained my husband and me as well as our puppy! So grateful. Tommy has a gift for knowing how dogs think and he shares that knowledge as part of the session. We never felt rushed to finish a lesson when he came to the house, he just dealt with our issues and reminded us to keep practicing with our dog until next time. We even decided to enroll in his weekly puppy class so that our puppy would learn to behave around other dogs. His private dog park is a god-send as we live in a condo and don't have a yard for our puppy to play in. She loved going there and we'll be back! We highly recommend Tommy. He showed us how to anticipate what our puppy was going to do before she did it and correct her misdeeds before they take place. Five stars!

Tommy came for our first private session and it went better than I imagined. My husband and I…read morelearned a lot from Tommy. He is very relatable and has a unique way of teaching that is very enjoyable and actually entertaining, all at the same time! Now that is talent! Tommy was made for this job and well worth his price. You get what you pay for. He definitely does not watch the clock and gives you more than 1 hr and does not leave until he has answered all your questions. My dog is already doing better on our walks. Tommy teaches but you have to do what he says or you have wasted your money. I signed up for 5 lessons and looking forward to the rest. I will update when we are finished.

Jesse went above and beyond to help us with our situation. The staff and management recognized that…read moreour experience was less than the quality they strive for and they communicated that effectively and kindly. We didn't have the best first experience. I truly believe the measure of a business is how they behave when things don't go according to plan. Jesse and their staff executed the follow up PERFECTLY. We are happy to give them a second chance; and frankly we would have anyways based on how well they received and loved our pets. Animals are unpredictable and the way humans treat them matters so so much. PAWS has a great staff and we are happy to have met them.

We had Brendan at the Lake Forest location do training (five sessions) for the two-year-old male…read moreAussie Shepherd we adopted several months prior from the Mission Viejo animal shelter. We had a dog, whom we also adopted but from Irvine, that we had euthanized at home in early April so the Aussie wasn't our first dog. Our Aussie is typical of the breed - high-energy, intelligent and focused. Although he's a sweetie at home, he was the opposite on walks. The worst problem was his barking and lunging at other dogs. Brendan not only trained our dog, he also trained us. Our fur baby is MUCH better now while on walks. I told Brendan that he, Brendan, is like Yoda. We are very pleased and grateful.

I took my little Yorkie Sammy to the Banfield veterinarian clinic at this PetSmart off El Toro Rd…read more in Mission Viejo. I was very nervous and concerned about possibly what they may find with Sammy as he's been having a lot of congestion and difficulty clearing his nasal passage. There was a very lovely lady at the front desk of the veterinarian clinic. She was very helpful. She asked me questions about my dog to start the process and just her demeanor alone made me feel more at ease. I'm so sorry I forgot her name but she was working at the front desk on the day of January 6, 2025. She had kind of slightly curly hair that was a pretty light, blondish, grayish color. So after she checked me in, I sat down, and I waited to go to the back of the clinic. This is when a gentleman by the name of Dave walked out, and he introduced himself as the veterinarian tech. Right off the bat Dave just had a demeanor that put me at ease when he smiled. He acknowledged my other little dog that I had with me at the time as well. Her name is honey, and he complimented Sammy. His voice was kind and reassuring, and he introduced himself to me and escorting me to the back. While he was taking the intake on why I had brought my dog Sammy to the clinic,he took the time as well to actually converse with me. We talked about his dogs as well and you can tell Dave is a big animal lover, and he's rescued dogs before. Just to hear him speak and see the compassion in his face , hear the compassion in his voice that means so much, especially when your dog means the world to you. You want to know that the Veterinary professionals who are working with your animals, love and care for dogs just as much as you do. Furthermore he put me at ease because I was so stressed and worked up as to what they may find or what they were going to tell me and I was just hoping that somebody would give me some answers for my dog so he can clear up his nasal passages. Very shortly after that, Dr. Yang walked into the room. I must say that I had a very minimal wait time from the start that I checked in at the front desk to the time I saw Dr. Yang was probably maybe 15 minutes. It was very quick and I appreciate that. When Dr. Yang walked through the door, she walked in with a smile on her face. She actually had a very big smile on her face and it made me smile too. Dr. Yang took the time to listen to my concerns as I explained my dog's symptoms and what my concerns were. She gave him a good exam and she helped clarify things for me to help rule out what his condition probably was not but also tell me what it might be and that's important because I wanted to feel like I could walk away from this clinic and have some help for my dog. After her examination, she prescribed some medication for my dog.. It was just such a breath of fresh air to have a veterinarian and a veterinarian tech who were both so gracious and kind and actually concerned about my dog. They didn't rush me as I was speaking. They weren't disinterested in what I had to say. They took their time and explained everything to me and answered all my questions. Dave also took the time to make sure that he explained how I should administer the medication to my dog. So basically I know I'm rambling here, but I feel like when you get good service like this, when you have professionals such as Dr. Yang and David and also the very kind and professional lady at the front desk of the clinic this makes you want to come back. This is what makes you put your trust in a clinic that they're going to do the right thing by your dog. Thank you so much Dr. Yang and thank you so much Dave for taking all my anxiety and my stress away and helping me be at ease and loving on my two little dogs and showing them all the care and kindness that they deserve. My babies are my world and I thank you for taking very good care of them today.

This is a delayed review. We took my two golden retrievers to get groomed the day before my WEDDING…read moreDAY at this PetSmart. Once we picked them up, my oldest dog Presley came back limping really badly. When I called to find out what happened and to express how upset I was, they immediately said nothing happened to her and that my other dog, youngest one's nail had been cut too short. Obviously something happened to her, if my dog comes back limping. What's sad is, she was the one walking me down the aisle. So not only did my dog limp down the aisle with me, her leg has never been the same. Now we just recently found out that her leg might actually be broken or have a fracture from this day. I'm hoping someone at PetSmart Corporate reads this review and looks into video footage of this day. If you claim to love animals so much, do better with your hiring and recruitment on groomers who are taking pets into their hands. This is not okay to hurt an animal, but also lie to your customers about what happened.

We had such a great experience with Dave! We elected to do in-home training sessions for our…read more(roughly) 1.5 year old pup, Knox. Dave was super patient and informative and gave us great tips for helping with Knox's energy and excitability. Not only that, he did a great job navigating our other dog, Maddox who was along for the ride and sometimes really interested in Dave's treats! Dave helped us with methods on how to help handle Knox's excitement when new people come into the house and to keep him calm when he sees dogs on walks and some things in-between, providing step-by-step instructions for ways we can work with him to get him to those calm places. We really liked his approach and the kindness he showed our dogs. So many places we looked at used electric collars and it was not something we wanted to do, so we were really happy when we found Dave!

Dave came to train our pup, Hanky who had serious issues with anxiety, aggression, and resource…read moreguarding. Dave was compassionate, informative, and incredibly helpful. He took time to get to know our family and tailor Hank's training to his personality and needs. He is incredibly knowledgeable and we have seen a huge improvement in our dog's behavior. Hanky is happier and now we know how to support him in order to avoid aggression. We also started taking both of our dogs to EveryDog Daycamp and it has been amazing to have a safe place where our dogs can play with other pups without me worrying something might happen to them. I can't recommend Dave and EveryDog enough!

We really enjoyed the experience of working with the Sit Means Sit team! They were all very…read moreprofessional and stood out to us as really loving the animals and what they do. Our pup loved every minute of it and we are extremely grateful for the care they gave him. We did the 20 day program and immediately reaped the benefits of their training and guidance. Our pup is back showing us all his new skills and we are extremely proud of the graduate. Thanks for your wonderful work!!

We sent our dog, Duke, to the 10-day board and train program--and while 10 days felt like a long…read moretime to be apart from him, the experience was well worth it. He was paired with Andy, and we couldn't have asked for a better trainer. Andy clearly got Duke, and Duke really responded to him. The weekly updates and training videos were a huge comfort while he was away. It was amazing to see Duke's progress in real time--it definitely helped ease our nerves. When we got him back, we were amazed. Duke was still the same lovable, goofy guy, but now with real structure and command responsiveness. He listens, follows direction, and is clearly more confident. Andy laid an incredible foundation, and the follow-up training has made us feel fully supported in continuing Duke's journey. We genuinely can't recommend Sit Means Sit--and especially Andy--enough. It's been a true blessing for our family and for Duke. If you're considering it, do it!