Rosa was awesome! She was so patient with us and our dog. His aggression was so bad and she really…read morebrought it down. She showed us how to react and not to react when seeing another dog and now we can introduce our dog to others safely. Thank you Rosa!!!!

When we first got Carl, he was extremely reactive, untrained, and could be aggressive in ways that…read moregenuinely scared me. I loved him immediately, but I felt overwhelmed and unsure how to help him. He had big emotions, big triggers, and no tools to cope with them, and I knew I needed someone experienced and compassionate to guide us. From the very first session, Lana took the time to understand both Carl and me--my concerns, my fears, and my hopes for him. She created a thoughtful and personalized plan that focused on helping Carl feel safe, supported, and more regulated. She also taught me how to read his signals, how to approach training with confidence, and how to create a calmer environment at home. Because of Lana's patience, expertise, and consistency, Carl has made incredible progress. The dog who once felt unpredictable and reactive now shows his sweet, loving, goofy side more and more each day. I'm so grateful for her guidance and would recommend Lana to anyone--especially those who feel scared or overwhelmed and want to help their dog become the best version of themselves.

Cara is excellent training your dog. She is very knowledgeable and very patient. Has great methods…read morethat does not include a shock dog collar. I would highly recommend her!

I can't recommend Cara enough! From the very first session, it was clear that she truly understand…read moredogs and their behavior. Cara took the time to assess my puppy's individual needs and developed a training plan with the goal of forming a strong relationship with my dalmatian, Ruth. Cara was incredibly patient, calm, and encouraging. Check out her YouTube videos to get Cara's vibe for traning and see if her apporach works for you. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, we were not able to complete our eight-week training plan, but Cara was completely understanding and refunded me for the remaining sessions. I was beyond grateful that she was so understanding of situation. Cara has a genuine love for animals, and it shows in every interaction. If you're looking for a knowledgeable, kind, and results-driven dog trainer, look no further. I'm so grateful for the transformation in my dog's behavior (even in the short time we spent training together) and I would recommend Cara for anyone struggling to train their dog basic obedience, or develop a relationship with their new puppy, and much more!

Bark Busters came to us highly recommended. After some research and reviewing Ted Talk and…read morearticles, I signed up our two rescue mix breed ~20lb boys. We are grateful to James of BB who placed us with Jenna. Our boys issues: high reactivity outside, especially other dogs, and inside, door bell, ring cameras, etc. Coupled with greetings by jumping and owning the house. Jenna set us on a path of activities for inside and was incredibly patient letting me share and ask questions, learning constantly. As we fine-tuned and we all got more comfortable we moved our training to outside. The methodology used is absolutely amazing and, I dare say, short of a miracle. We practice regularly and introduce the boys to different circumstances. All that food luring and positive food reinforcement training certainly has its place but only the techniques of BB with Jenna has helped our boys become trusting, comfortable, and happy. Here I thought I had to scan the horizon constantly to be aware of incoming dogs to prepare myself to hide behind a car or go in the corner behind garbage cans to get maximum distance. Not true. I walk no longer with my head on a lazy susan. We all are forever grateful. Our boys can lead richer more social lives. Thank you!!!

I'm updating my original 6-month review now that it has been a full year since we hired Bark…read moreBusters to help with our rescue dog Mimi. As first-time dog owners, the early support really did help us. Having someone we could call during those overwhelming first months was a relief. Over time, though, I realized I was hoping the training would shift toward more positive reinforcement. The constant, harsher corrections worked at first but eventually didn't seem effective anymore and started affecting my relationship with Mimi. I noticed this during a family trip where Mimi, who is usually fearful of strangers, bonded more easily with my husband and his family. She gravitated toward them when scared, and I realized it might be because they weren't following the correction-heavy approach, while I was. I also asked for help with Mimi's fear and reactivity toward other dogs, but was told they didn't have dogs available for training and that I would need to bring a calm, socialized dog myself. As a non-trainer, that was very hard, but we tried by traveling many hours to introduce her to my husband's family dog. The experience ended up being chaotic since the family didn't fully understand what the process required, and new people and dogs kept appearing even though Mimi wasn't ready. Her reactivity came back in that environment, which made me feel like the training had only put a bandaid on deeper fear issues. Maybe I should have clarified expectations better from the start, but with a high-need dog and being new to all of this, I didn't know what to expect. Since then, we've switched to a positive reinforcement trainer who organizes structured group activities. Mimi is still scared of bigger dogs and can still be reactive, but she's improving slowly and has been able to meet a few smaller dogs. She's also still fearful of people, but she nips a lot less now, so progress is happening. Overall, Bark Busters helped us in the beginning, but long-term we found that a different, more positive approach has been a better fit for Mimi.

We hired Dogs on the Run to have our dog be part of our wedding day in June 2025, and I truly…read morecannot recommend them enough!! Especially our handler, Misty! From the very beginning, Misty was incredible. She carved out time weeks before the wedding for us to meet each other and talk about our dog's (Louie) temperament, our expectations, and the full game plan for the big day. It gave us so much peace of mind knowing she was prepared and genuinely cared about making everything go smoothly. On the wedding day, she was amazing. She arrived early to the Airbnb and was able to get used to walking and handling Louie. She walked Louie down the aisle, handled him and helped him greet guests during the ceremony and cocktail hour, and kept everything completely stress-free for us. She kept us updated via text throughout the day, and when it was time to drop him back off at our Airbnb in the evening, she sent photos and updates so we knew he was settled and happy. She even left us the sweetest wedding gift, which was such a thoughtful touch. Misty was kind, professional, organized, and clearly loves what she does. We are SO grateful for her and would absolutely book Dogs on the Run again. Highly, highly recommend!

We were going out of country for holiday. We saw Dogs On The Run at the Carlsbad St Fair. We picked…read morea brochure and I did my research. I compared them to other animal boardings close to me. I spoke with my husband on each and he agreed with me, DOTR was the best sounding. We reached out, told them about our beautiful 5 yr old Great Dane. They did the research within the company to find a best fit. Carter came out to our home after some communication. He LOVED our dog, she loved him. Carter and his wife were hooked and accepted her with open arms. The day to leave was here. She got a bit anxious seeing our luggage. My husband drove her a short distance over and dropped her off. She loved it, and they were so loving right back. We had updates regularly, both in email and pictures. It looked like she was on vacation. We are booking again for Thanksgiving this year. Unfortunately, Carter is not available, but they connected us with Madeline. We already know that this is going to be a great experience for Madeline and our pup (6 yr old at that time).

Great dog training here! A bit expensive but wort the effort! They're always busy so needs to plan…read moreearly but my dog learn very well the basic obedience at 5 months of age...

Shout out to K9's Doggy Day Care and Boarding! Luke and…read moreMaggie May are always so excited to go play with their canine buddies--it's truly their favorite place! The entire K9 team is absolutely amazing and clearly love our dogs as much as we do. Play time is the best time, and I always know they've had a blast because they come home completely "dog" tired (the best kind of tired!). Thank you so much for loving and caring for our fur babies like family. We're so grateful! Highly recommend!!!

The highlight of my day is picking up my 8 month old Golden Cava-Doodle in the late afternoon. He…read moreliterally has a smile on his face and he's super excited to see me. He's had the best time of his life with his dog buddies for 4 hours and I can tell the instructors have had fun too. We've been with Woof Academy since our little boy dog was 3 months old and he loves every minute of it. He loves to play in the small pool and he's made some incredible dog-friends. I think everyone is very involved at the academy and it seems like the dogs and the humans make each other smile. It's been a great experience and I would highly recommend the Woof Academy for your puppy so he/she gets socialized.

Beautiful, clean facility, multiple training programs available, staff are experienced and caring…read moredog trainers, and the puppy socialization class is the best. My otherwise shy, fearful puppy loves the socialization classes, he comes home happy and tired after each session. We are also learning useful basic obedience skills in the puppy class. Highly recommend!

Thought I would give a review since I've had Megan as my dog walker for roughly around 9 years now…read more Just goes to show how much we love her so much; we want to keep her as our own little secret! I found Megan when we had Flexo at the time. I looked everywhere for a specific type of walker. Our boy was a rescue with a rough background. He was reactive to dogs while on leash and took time to trust strangers. I definitely wanted a dog savvy walker! One who has a background in training and tough pups like ours. Since day one, I remember coming back from work and noticing our boy feeling a little more relaxed. Not as pent up or stressed. I quickly realized how much he needed this! Whatever his situation was before, I wanted to give him a better one, an upgrade. Megan helped me with that. She was very professional, confident, and worked with our boy during her walks. He eventually loosened up to her and her little girls and it was so great to hear how much he improved over time. Flexo has since passed, but we adopted another rescue, Brody. We had him at 7 months old and, although was the complete opposite of Flexo, his puppy stage proved to be quite the whirlwind, to say the least! While we did our part in training, Megan did her part with socializing and walking. He was a little ball of energy, but now at 3 yrs old, has since calmed down and is the best boy. He loves Megan and her pack (both humans and dogs)! She also does boarding and daycare. Another plus, she is very flexible! There are often times I've had to cancel last minute because I worked from home during the pandemic, and it was no issue. She also updates by leaving a message in a little notepad she provided. There are so many positives, I can't say enough how much we love having Megan as our walker. I only hope, if there comes a time when we have to move away, we can find someone just like her. She's definitely set the standard for who I want in a professional walker!

Megan and Marla are incredible! They are basically family at this point…read more After making a very late decision to visit family over the holidays, I desperately needed to find someone I could trust to take care of my dog, Wilson. I didn't want to leave him somewhere he would end up in a cage all night and most of the day. Fortunately, I found the Balanced Pack. Wilson stayed with Marla and her family during the 6 days I was gone. As any dog owner knows, a lot of stress accompanies leaving a dog with someone else for an extended period of time - even with friends. That was not the case with the Balanced Pack. I received regular updates and daily photos of a very happy Wilson. Further, it was so nice knowing that Wilson was with people who cared about him and had plenty of playtime with his canine buddies. The only concern was that I'd have to drag him back home ;-) Since then, I have used the Balanced Pack for day boarding on a regular basis. Megan picks him up every morning on time and then drops him off around 5:30pm and feeds him dinner. He is so excited when I tell him in the morning that Megan & Marla are coming. And it is amazing to come home from work and find your dog both exercised and fed. And I do mean it - Wilson has tons of energy and on days when Megan has him, he is worn out when I get home! That says something. The bottom line is that Megan and Marla are awesome. They will treat your dogs with love and care. And you will notice an extra gleam in your pet's eyes after a fun day with the Balanced Pack.

Excellent place to take your dog for obedience and/or behavioral issues. Laura is very experienced…read moreand knowledgeable. She has helped me with my Great Dane, Daisy. She even helped her not be scared around big dogs ! Thank you so much ! I will continue to use Laura to have a very well behaved Dane. I recommend her !!!!

I'm really disappointed in how this business handles communication and customer service. I enrolled…read morein a 4-week group training class for my 9 month old puppy. I reached out nine days before the first session to ask about moving to the following 4 week session since I would be missing two out of four classes. I wasn't asking for a refund--just to switch sessions. My email went unanswered, and I had to call the facility to leave a message before the owner finally texted me back. I was told there are no changes or cancellations allowed, and to simply watch videos for the weeks I'd miss. One of the main reasons I chose this trainer was for the in-person group training and socialization, which can't be replaced by videos. I can find plenty of training videos online. This 4 week training was expensive, but I was very much so excited to grow with a training facility nearby. As a Carlsbad local, I love supporting small businesses, but this experience has been very disappointing. A little flexibility and better communication would have gone a long way.

We got a Beligian Malinois and didn't realize how much work it would be to train her. With our busy…read moreschedules it was hard to put time in training her. She would jump on people and counters, pull her leash when going on walks, and would go crazy when around kids and dogs. I chose SDT in hoping her habits could break. Andres was her trainer for 8 weeks, after getting her I did notice a big change in her. Shes a lot more confidence, is not as shy around other dogs and knows to control herself when around my nephew. Now I go on no leash walks with her and even runs, her recall has gotten better. I can take her to public places without worrying. Thank you SDT team and to Andres.

Andres from Specialty dog training worked with my wife and I to train our new puppy, Daisy…read more As first time puppy owners we found ourselves pretty frustrated during our training with Daisy. We watched tons and tons of videos and things got slightly better but we really didn't see much behavior change until we worked with Andres. It's not that information online was good enough, it was that we didn't understand how to best execute the information. We also didn't know what information was good and what was garbage. Having Andres in our corner was truly helpful. He would answer any questions we had and I enjoyed his teaching style and his ability to breakdown concepts to us. He also genuinely loves the dogs he trains which made us feel comfortable leaving Daisy with him when she did board and train for a few weeks. Thanks for every Andres!

Wow! Wanted to give a much needed update !…read more Shortly after I wrote my previous review my spouse and I decided to just push forward with training and board as our pup was completely out of control and tried snapping at a family member's hand. Our dog came back calm, orderly, and OBEDIENT! After a month long stay and many many wonderful updates multiple times per week we are confident he has made at least a 90% improvement on his bad behaviors and is able to calmly behave not only around us but his reactivity to other dogs has made a tremendous improvement. Shannon and Sierra are STELLAR! I'd also like to mention they did a home drop off for us (since I'm still heavily pregnant) and spent over an HOUR with my husband and I going over all of the new things he has learned + even took a walk with us in the neighborhood to address another issue we had with reactivity. We were left with a sheet of all his new & enforced behaviors to keep track of along with super chewer toys and treats. Excellent, excellent, excellent experience with this team and I highly recommend anyone who needs this service to pull the trigger and go for it! You will not regret your decision!

Shannon and Sierra are phenomenal! We boarded our 11 month old Boston Terrier. She happened to have…read moreher 1st Birthday with them. They bought her toys and celebrated her birthday without us asking :-). They were super communicative to us sending pics and videos. We will 100% be using them for all our boarding needs. Thanks Shannon and Sierra.