Awesome people! Patient and knowledgeable. Respond to emails quickly…read more The training has made a huge difference with both my dogs. My new rescue went from anxiety ridden, scared of everything dog, to a confident girl. I was hesitant of using the collar at first, but it's not painful to the dogs, and they respond so well to it. Easy scheduling website with several different locations to train. You can go at your own pace. Would highly recommend them to friends and family!

We adopted Cooper from the SPCA last June. He is a lab mix; sixty-five pounds. He is a sweet boy,…read morebut needed to learn some manners. Four lessons later and Cooper is doing great. He listens! He comes when called, sits, places, and we are still working on heel and down (because his human needs to be more confident - not because he isn't smart). Special shout out to Diana, who was extremely kind and patient with me. I needed more training than Cooper. ;) Diana is extremely knowledgeable, experienced, caring, and all around just great to work with! Highly recommend Off Leash K9 Training and now we are looking into So Fetch for future adventures! You will not be disappointed if you take your dog to Off Leash K9 Training for training. You and your dog will both benefit and your bond will be enhanced!

Love. They teach you how to train your dogs. Very personalized. Help me train my current service…read moreanimal

I recently enrolled my 14 week old puppy into Jackie's Basic and Beyond class. This review will be…read morelengthy but if you're looking to skim, the cliff notes are that Jackie harmed my dog giving her a correction in which she yelped in pain, and is now refusing to refund my money for a 6 week program I won't be utilizing for obvious reasons. I warn anyone looking for a safe class utilizing positive reinforcement against doing the same. I will start by saying multiple red flags happened and I genuinely should have just left, but didn't have time to process and my biggest regret is staying when I had a bad feeling. Before class, all materials by Jackie's state they do not allow on leash meetings between dogs. I arrived early assuming there was some protocol for waiting for class and making payments that allowed the dogs to safely enter without interacting (based on their own statements and previous training experiences, as this is the fourth dog I've owned in my adult life). To my surprise, as multiple other dogs entered, no trainers or employees made any effort to distance us to prevent on leash interactions. I ended up picking Sadie up to insure this didn't happen. To the other owners credit, all seemed to know enough to make attempts to separate their dogs to the best of their ability. But this tiny room was holding three adult sized dogs, two puppies, and all of their owners with trainers filtering in and out to get payment with no system to distance them or safely have them enter training? (Response to this concern from owner is their lobby is under renovation as if there is no other system that could have been worked out, staggered entrances, waiting in cars or parking lots, lol) Fast forward to being in the actual training, my 14 week old lab was identified as an "alligator" meaning she takes treats hard/bites hard. I don't dispute that at all, it's something we've been working on. (When I mentioned we were working on it, Jackie laughed at me saying that was like her working with her child on not playing paintball in the house???? I don't know what that means but she asked nothing of my background of going to training or what I was doing to work on this). She approached my puppy and asked if she could show me how to correct it, I said yes. (That's literally why I'm in this class, why would I say no). Imagine my surprise when she grabs my dogs head and pushed her back by her loose skin until my 14 week old puppy literally yelps in pain. I was shocked and confused, and went through the rest of the class to their credit, with no other incidents related to my dog. I will say that they brought in an adult dog who had graduated from all of their programs, and had him demonstrate some tricks. When he went to be placed on a table, and chose the wrong one (there were two tables) his owner gave him a "no" command and went towards him, and the dog flinched. That coupled with what I had just seen with my dog told me as full a story as I needed. After discussing with my partner, I reached out to the business and told them based on this incident, this training didn't align with what I wanted for my puppy. I offered to pay a pro rated amount for the class I did attend, and asked for a refund for the rest, and to part ways. In the first email response from this company about my concerns (you can view them in my google review as I attached screen shots) while yes my dog did yelp in pain, it was quieter than her bark?? This seems to be Jackie's personal measurement of dog pain based on decibels. That's the only thing I can discern. They offered for me to transfer to another trainer- the entire business is called Jackie's training?? And I was with Jackie?? In the second email they state that after reviewing the same video as the first email, magically, there is no yelping!!! What a relief that is, as in the first email, we got into what pitch level the yelping is. Amazing to see it never happened! Jackie firmly believes she had the right to hurt your dog and charge you for the pleasure.

To Whom It May Concern,…read more I am submitting this formal complaint regarding my experience with Dogtopia's handling of my adopted dog during multiple visits and boarding stays. Across these interactions, I observed repeated communication inconsistencies, a lack of transparency regarding incidents, and increasingly unprofessional conduct toward my pet. Records show staff provided conflicting explanations about my dog's behavior and condition. At times, I was told my dog was "great overnight," while at other times staff described him as "grumpy," "snappy," "overstimulated," or involved in behavioral incidents. There were also discrepancies regarding the cause of my dog's limp and paw injury. These inconsistencies created confusion and concern regarding the accuracy of incident reporting, staff supervision, and the overall handling of my pet. Communications frequently came across as defensive and dismissive of my concerns rather than providing clear, professional, and collaborative updates. I am concerned my dog was unfairly labeled as aggressive while staff simultaneously acknowledged he was placed in overstimulating and crowded environments without access to calmer accommodations. This raises concerns that environmental management and supervision may have contributed to the reported incidents. Additionally, some staff communications became excessive and distressing, feeling accusatory and intimidating rather than compassionate or solution-oriented. As the owner of an adopted pet, I expected consistent, professional care and respectful communication. I respectfully request the following actions: Conduct a formal review of how my pet was managed while in Dogtopia's care. Review staff communication practices and incident reporting procedures for consistency and accuracy. Provide clarification regarding the conflicting explanations concerning my dog's injury and behavior. Ensure fair and professional treatment for all customers and adopted pets, free from bias, intimidation, or unnecessary escalation. Take appropriate corrective actions to improve transparency, accountability, and customer relations moving forward. This complaint is supported by documented text communications from Dogtopia staff describing the incidents, behavioral assessments, injury explanations, and subsequent interactions. I appreciate your time and attention to this matter and request that this complaint be formally documented and reviewed. Sincerely, [Redacted] Supporting Notes From Communications * Staff initially stated there were "no issues," then later reported aggression and overstimulation concerns. * Conflicting explanations were provided regarding the source of my dog's limp and paw injury. * Staff acknowledged the playroom was unusually busy and that calmer rooms were unavailable on certain days. * Repeated behavioral accusations were made while also acknowledging environmental overstimulation and lack of separation options.

We've been taking our 6 year old doodle to this location since he was a pup: weekly for socializing…read moreand boarding as needed. I can't say enough about the staff and management (not going to name names for fear of missing someone!). They are responsive, caring, proactive when the see something different, clean ...

We are so glad we called! Frank did amazing with our two year old dog. He taught us how to work…read morewith him and get him to be the best dog. We just finished our four sessions and already notice a big change. We will continue to use the information and tools he gave us. It takes time but so worth it in the end! I highly recommend them!

Working with Frank was, without a doubt, the best money we've ever spent on our golden retriever…read more We noticed clear improvements in her behavior during and after our four weeks obedience training sessions, and Frank was very patient with both our dog and us. He's very friendly, skilled with dogs, and made it all look easy! But most importantly to us, our dog absolutely loved him, and we have never seen her as happy and proud as when she would receive praise from Frank. Well worth the money, especially for at-home training, and the private lessons provide a lot of personalization we wouldn't have gotten with group training! 10/10 would recommend.

Angel is wonderful! We hired her for help with our recently rescued dog who was having several…read morebehaviors including bite inhibition. As two new dog owners, we learned so much about how to interact with our pup in order to avoid his triggers and reward good behaviors. No bites since we started working with her! Angel helped us with muzzle training so we could safely bring our little one to the vet and he would actually be able to receive an exam. He actually gets excited when he sees the muzzle because of Angel's expertise in training! It was clear Angel truly cared about our family and went above and beyond in taking time to make sure we had the tools we needed. We couldn't have asked for a better experience and highly recommend Angel to any families who need support.

We hired Angel for behavior training of our dog, a 2 year old rescue that we adopted in March 2020…read more Soon after we adopted him, we realized that he had severe separation anxiety, dog reactivity and people reactivity. We were concerned about how best to care for our pup, especially as first-time dog owners. We can't say enough positive things about Angel. To begin with, she listened to each of our concerns (we had many) before we even hired her and shared her thoughts on how she would tackle the training. We were impressed that she truly took the time to listen and understand our questions, and we decided to hire her. Our first training session was over video chat due to the pandemic. We went over the allotted time because Angel was so thorough in discussing the training plan with us. We learned a lot about how to care for our dog in general (e.g. body language, assessing comfort level, when to seek support from vet for behavioral issues). The main takeaway from this training session were detailed, step-by-step methods for addressing several of our dog's behaviors. Angel's main focus was getting to the root of the behaviors, our dog's emotions, and making sure that he was confident and comfortable. All of the training was based on positive reinforcement. The second part of our training session was an outdoor in-person meeting (socially distant, masked) at a park with the purpose of learning how to desensitize our dog around other dogs. Unfortunately, when we arrived Angel realized that our dog's baseline anxiety level was still too high to successfully begin the desensitization training. We still completed that hour meeting to practice other training, and Angel offered to meet us for a second in-person meeting, free of charge, in a few weeks to try desensitization training again. The techniques that Angel has taught us have led to noticeable positive changes in our dog. We are continuing to utilize what she taught us and, overall, feel that we are better equipped to be good dog owners.

Staff were extremely communicative each day with photo updates taking into consideration I was…read morenervous boarding my dog for the first time. I also had my dog groomed towards the end of her stay, which turned out adorable. Upon picking my dog up, and returning home, she was barely able to keep her eyes open in the car! I can only assume her playtime and the attention she was given was enough to keep her calm and happy. I appreciated that there were three separate areas, one for big dogs, one for medium dogs, and a quiet area for small dogs. They also returned leftover food. Very affordable - would definitely go back! My pup acted completely normal after pick up which was reassuring that she was comfortable.

I just moved to the area and didn't know anything around here. I brought my 1 year old doodle and…read more I have to say she LOVES Angelica! When we first walked in she's was very anxious with the barking and she only likes small dogs so they let her go with the small dogs until it was time for her grooming. Well when she was done with her grooming she didn't want to leave Angelica so she let Mia stay with her until it was time to pick her up instead of playing. She did come home with kennel cough the first time but never had an issue since.

The training is nothing short of amazing. You and your dog will be happy with the results…read more No one was more apprehensive about going to an e-collar for my dog's training than I. Colby the owner explained it best to me when he said "It's not about punishment, it's about attention and boundaries. Dogs want to please their owners, so once you have their attention their instinct takes over and training becomes easier. The strides and response to this training are remarkable. So pleased with the results so far. I am happy and more importantly my dog is happy. We have only had 3 private whole day training sessions, and tonight we will attend our first group training. Looking forward to this as it can only help build on the foundation established in the private 3 lessons. The training is not inexpensive, however it cheaper than replacing carpet not to mention several pairs of shoes, baseboards ETC. I recommend sitting down with Colby or any of the other trainers and let them explain why this works. You won't have any regrets. Rick W

Our sweet Sage is almost 4 years old and Sit Means Sit has changed her life- and ours too! Sage has…read morea lot of anxiety, which has significantly impacted her health in the past. She excelled at the Sit Means Sit Board and Train for two weeks. We even had a home visit with Colby which was amazingly helpful! Since the training, our family can effectively communicate with Sage, which lessens her anxiety. She is happier and calmer than ever before. We can now bring Sage for walks that are enjoyable for her & us. She rides in the car like a champ, and kindly welcomes people into our home. This training has been a game changer for all of us! Thank you Colby, Drew & Kaitlyn (and all the staff and trainers)!!

My vet recommended Start Them Right, Inc. when little Lily Mae was 7- 10 weeks old or so - she was…read morea frightened pup, I got her off of Craigslist and I'm not sure what her story was but she was very scared. Sherri M. was her teacher in her puppy Kindergarten classes and she was amazing with this little skittish pup - helped me bring Lily out of her shell. Lily changed daily and gained confidence with the little games and when I used the ideas they taught me. Socialization was encouraged and practiced in class. It was so helpful. After Puppy Kindergarten we did Obedience Training and then Canine Good Citizen classes and just began Therapy Dog Class this week! Lily has come SO far and I attribute that to the skill and patience of both Sherry Dodson and Sherri M. that helped me through the scared young puppy days, into these now feisty, free-spirited 10 month old puppy days with Lily Mae. Their training is nothing but gentle and loving, their ideas are always what is best for the particular dog and all dogs are different. They work really hard to provide guidance for the owners in all sorts of situations. If one thing doesn't work, they try another. Everything is done with a smile. Classes are FUN and informative and things you can apply everyday at home. They helped Lily Mae and I bond and enjoy one another. With all of Sherry's experience she instills such a level of confidence in me as a new first time dog owner - and teaches me how to do what's best to make Lily Mae be the best she can be. I'd give 6 stars if I could. I never imagined at 10 months old this little pup could learn and do so much especially that she is skeptical by nature. Puppyhood was actually enjoyable because in every mischeivious instance I had the tools taught to me to be able to know what was best to do......... I tell you this puppy-girl is LOVING LIFE and has a solid foundation for a long happy fun productive life. Thanks to Start Them Right, Inc.

From the owner: A deep, positive, trusting relationship with dogs is the cornerstone of our training. Dogs enrich…read moreour lives so must do all we can to understand and train them. A life-long love of dogs, and over thirty years of working with them in a wide variety of different capacities, I am passionate about helping others understand their canine companions. My experiences include training dogs in obedience, tracking, field work, agility and therapy dogs. Safe, effective dog training begins with Start Them Right, Inc. in Cary or PIttsboro, NC. Dogs should be carefully taught how to live in our society. Dogs think and understand from the canine perspective. Many canine behavioral problems result from a dog's confusion over what is expected. Reprimanding misunderstanding should never occur. We can teach you how to guide your dog to understanding what is expected and rewardable behavior. A deep, positive, trusting relationship with dogs is the cornerstone of my training. Dogs enrich our lives. WE must do all we can to understand and train them.