Sophie is the best! Beyond my expectations. She was wonderful in training our puppy as well and…read morehelping with our older dogs less than desirable habits. Money well spent!!

We used Sophie again, now for our second puppy and she is absolutely brilliant (nod to her British…read moreheritage)! 10/10 highly recommend! She really knows what she's talking about and even makes it fun. Not even a snowstorm that dumped 10 inches stopped her from coming either.

It's been a little over a year since I got kicked out of Shir's group class. My 82lb shepherd mix…read morewas highly reactive and would lose her friggin' mind at the sight of other dogs. We decided that 1:1 training was best and it was the best money I spend in 2023. I can't believe how many compliments I get on my dogs behavior now. And my dog? she's over the moon. She has a bunch of new dog friends in the neighborhood and she even gets to play with some of them off-leash in a nearby field. She trusts me, other people, and other dogs with ease now and she leads with a big cuddly vibe now instead of a nasty bark. Thanks Shir!

We love Another Chance Training!…read more I recently got my puppy and was at a loss as to how to fit her perfectly into my life. Shir has helped us so much - learning to change typical puppy behaviors (nipping, potty training, obedience) into cuddles, listening, and impulse control! Shir has truly helped me learn how smart my puppy is and how great my life can be with her :) We love Another Chance Training and would recommend it to any dog parent, no matter the circumstance! Shir is so adaptable and knowledgeable. Thank you from Eden & Vera!

I brought my then two month old dachshund to Wendy DeCarlo's 6 -week class and it was a huge help…read morefor training my young pup. Wendy demonstrated a range of easy, fun exercises to do with your puppy that get them ready for things they will do throughout their lives. They learned to do the basic come, sit, and down, and started learning about walking on a loose leash. The socialisation with the other puppies was indispensable. The prices for the classes are very affordable. Highly recommended.

I've taken so many classes with Wendy and Dennis! Excellent. Just got a puppy and can't wait to…read morestart class!! 100 Stars

Wonderful trainers in the group classes! I have had several dogs and attended many classes, but…read morewith Vanessa and Claire I learned such helpful new things each week. I really appreciate learning how to train my dog, rather than forcing her to do things. Both classes were great experiences for both of us.

We had our rescue puppy (a Lab-Shar-pei mix) attend Puppy Kindergarten and later Obedience Training…read moreat Unleashed. Meg and the other trainers do a great job with the dogs and the owners (who in our case were the ones that really need the training). They have a nice set up, small classes and our dog liked it so much that every time I open the door to my car he tries to jump in figuring that we are going back there. Meg offers practical, reasonable advice and it is obvious that all of the staff really care for the animals. Highly recommend for anyone looking for help with their training.

I had been having a lot of issues with my 1 yr cane corso, Leah, when my boyfriend recommended…read moreTruhart K9. His friend brought their pup to Charlie and her awesome team and had outstanding results. Leah had bad manners with close family members and was extremely timid and afraid of strangers, loud noises and would be spooked easily. She is also my baby so I was super skeptical about not having her for two weeks. I had so many questions for Truhart and Charlie answered them all, and believe me there was a lot and she still answers my follow up questions! Charlie recommend Leah to stay longer for a fear-aggression rehabilitation training. I wasn't prepared mentally or financially but Charlie was so flexible and really helped me by sending me videos and pics of Leah. She made amazing progress! After I got Leah back, she made a lot of progress and she answered all the post-training questions I had. Charlie even checked in a few weeks later and is going to come out and help polish some areas the Leah still needs work on! Truhart K9 has been a pleasure to work with and it's obvious that Charlie and her trainers truly care about all the animals they work with. They are true professionals and made me feel very comfortable leaving my "baby" in their care!

I wish there were a lower rating!…read more ****PET OWNERS BEWARE- IF YOU HAVE AN EXOTIC LOOKING DOG OR IF IT'S A DOG THAT THEY LIKE, YOU MAY END UP IN OUR SITUATION*** http://www.journalstandard.com/article/20151002/NEWS/151009830 We found TruhartK9 through a local Facebook page. They were advertising their puppy boarding/training classes. We had just gotten a puppy imported from Mexico, a Xoloitzcuintle , and wanted him to be trained right away to avoid any behavioral issues and to get help with his potty training-so we contacted them. The owner came out to meet with us to explain what she would be working on and she promised daily updates. We agreed, paid for the services, signed the contract and she took our puppy to her "facility" (which is really her house). As promised, the first 2 days we got updates, pictures and video of his progress. He seemed happy and full of energy. On the 4th day of training I ask about his progress and the owner tells me our dog was ill with gastrointestinal issues since the day he arrived at the facility,she thought he may have parvovirus. We made the decision to let the owner take our dog to their vet as the training facility was about 2 hours from us. She messaged me an hour after they got to the vet to inform me that he did indeed have parvovirus and we had to get him treated immediately otherwise he'd die a very painful death. We told her we'd pick him up to take him to our vet but she was very hesitant to let us come and take him with us- reiterating that he had to be treated immediately. We spoke with someone from the vet clinic- or so we thought- and we made the decision to start the treatment. The next day, I called the vet's office to arrange for us to see the pup, we were told he was in surgery because he was extremely ill so we should wait to the day after to see him. I was furious, but didn't want to make the situation worse. Later that day, we get a call from the "vet" and she tells us that our pup died. Of course, we are devastated. I called our breeder to inform him of the events. He insisted he wanted the records of our puppy's vet visit and surgery. I called the vet, had to leave a message but never receive a call back. I contacted TruHartK9 to ask the name and address of the office so I could go personally to retrieve the records. The owner tells me she has to get back to me because she doesn't remember the name or address. Days go by, and at this point she'd stopped answering my calls. Finally, after my husband calls to demand the information, she emails me the name and address of the clinic, turns out it was a FAKE! I contact the police department to see if they could point me in the right direction as to what my next steps should be. They open up an investigation and end up searching the owner's home to see if they would find the puppy. Of course, he isn't found. The owner contacts me and threatens to sue me if we have to go to court over this matter because according to her, she doesn't have my dog. A couple of days later I get a message from the owner saying her associate will call me to explain to me what happened to our dog. Instead, I get a text message from an "ex-employee" telling me that our dog didn't have parvo and he didn't die at the vet's office. Her story was that he was being trained and somehow ran off and got hit by a car, she knew he was dead, therefore didn't call the vet's office AND she had the BRIGHT idea to get a throwaway phone and pretend she was a vet because she wanted to spare our feelings knowing he had died a horrible death. Of course, I still don't buy this story, so we continue with the investigation. A few days later, I get a call from the police department to let me know that our dog was found ALIVE IN THE POSSESION OF THE OWNER AND HER ASSOCIATE. Please do your due diligence and research, research, research. If we had done this, we wouldn't have wasted so much effort, time and money. Thankfully, the police department did a fantastic job in their investigation and we have our dog back. Needless to say, our Zuma wasn't trained and he actually came back with even more bad habits than he left our home with.

While I wish things had panned out differently, I had an absolutely horrifying experience with…read morePawsome Dogs/Melissa. My experience with Melissa started with a rave review from a friend, and I hired her for 5 lessons (with a referral discount from my friend) and later added 25 minute walks while I was at work Monday through Friday ($70/week). Initially, I was happy with the way she connected with my puppy, however I always had concerns about her communication style and lack of professionalism. [sorry for the long review...scroll to the bottom for the short version] From the start, Melissa was constantly texting me about her other clients, personal life, love life, etc. Melissa offered me discounts and requested all of my payments be made in cash so she wouldn't have to report them through her business. As a new dog mom, I was happy to put my puppy first so that he was getting the care he needed. A few months into my walking and training with Melissa, my roommate decided to have Melissa walk his dog as well. At this point, Melissa notified me that she was letting some of her walking clients go, but was planning on keeping our dogs as she was making $140 most weeks (in cash) from walking them both. She also let me know that she would give me one month's heads up if she was planning on dropping me as a walking client. Living in Chicago, safety is always a concern, and for me, trusting someone with keys to your place is a big deal, and I had informed Melissa I needed at least two weeks notice to be able to find a new walker that connected with my pup. In the most recent months, we noticed from the time stamps on our security system that she was often not even walking the dogs for the full 25 minutes as per our agreements, presumably because she was getting busier in other aspects of her life. Last week, she informed me that she was dropping me as a client effective that week. Forced to scramble together and find new arrangements for my puppy, I let Melissa know that I was disappointed in her lack of professional courtesy. At this point, I have used 4 of my 5 training lessons with Melissa, and I requested that we cut off ties and that she refund me the remaining $50 from the unused lesson. I thought we'd just wash our hands of the experience and move on, but instead, she went on a rampage about how I have no right to make such a request, that I'd be forfeiting my remaining lesson, and that she was going to go and convince my friend that I was being irrational. I was most appalled by her activity on social media following our conversation where she used profanity to describe me as a "crazy lady" for my concerns (screenshots posted in the photos section of this Yelp page). TL; DR? Melissa's lack of professionalism ultimately led me to lose all respect for her business when she broke verbal and written agreements (after I spent thousands of dollars for her services), and then harassed me about it.

I only have positive remarks on Melissa's performance as a professional and ability to work with…read moreboth dogs and people. I've taken two classes and had a private lesson. She is by far the most trustworthy trainer I have worked with, and having had dogs my entire life there have been a few. My golden doodle Chester loves her and I love how well trained he is! 1) The first class with Melissa was a basics class. I've seen her take a handful of puppies and train out bad habits, teach to walk on a leash, basics commands, and turn them into overall better behaved dogs. We even learned our first trick! She takes the time to explain why we would train using certain techniques as opposed to others and caters to each dog and owner individually even in a class setting. For example, with certain dogs like mine she recommended using a walking harness where it was unnecessary for others. 2) The second class was a tricks course and there must have been about 8 dogs in the class at once. Over the duration of a few months we'd learned crawl, say your prayers, cross your paws, play dead, wave hello, and a ton of other tricks. Melissa was extremely attentive to everyone and their dogs progress while also being able to address the entire class and move us along as a group. Best part is Chester loves doing play dead and now does it just to get attention when I entertain. Its too adorable. 3) I'd missed a couple trick classes and scheduled a private to catch up. Melissa was flexible with time and we worked on not only what I missed but a couple other cool tricks like play dead and cross your paws. In an hour and a half Chester was caught up and read for graduation. On the way out she even offered to stay extra to see how his walking was going and gave some additional advise and explanation on how to train out his tugging at the leash. He has gotten significantly better on a leash with the training she gave me and Chester. All in all, you can't go wrong here. Melissa is knowledgeable, easy to work with, the dogs respond very well to her, and she's a professional. Down to how after every class she sends out a newsletter with all the commands/tricks and how-to's that we learned that week in case we the people need a little reminder. A+ all around and I can't recommend her enough (and I do to everyone)!

Mike is seriously the best trainer we have come across. We started out at PetSmart for basic…read moretraining and that was good for what it was. However, our lessons with Mike were sooooo much better. He is truly training the pup parents. He is patient and kind. He truly loves dogs. Can't thank him enough. Our pup is now walking better with us and we have the tools to correct behavior humanely and kind

I cannot express my thanks and appreciation enough for all of Mike's help with our dogs. As soon…read moreas he walked in the door we (dogs and people) felt comfortable with him. He was amazing and taught us how to be better pack leaders to make out dogs live better and out lives easier. He showed us a variety of training techniques and showed us on the ones we were trying on how we could improve them. By the end of our session our dogs were listening to us more and we have now have the tools we need to make sure that we keep everyone in our house happier. We are keeping with what he has told us and we even got them to stop barking at the cats!!! Thank you Mike, I am so glad we found you!!

After a lot of research and trainer interviewing I knew I had found the right fit for my VERY…read morestubborn and active puppy. Wen and the entire team at Back to Basics is welcoming, caring and completely hands on. I felt confident in my little guy learning how to be less Husky/Shepherd mix crazy and more good boy. That confidence was proven right. My pup came so far in a matter of days that I was absolutely amazed. He was like a new dog and let me tell you, walks became a complete joy as opposed to the workout/mini nightmare session they used to be before Wen. Nipping , jumping on people and even potty training was no longer an issue. I received homework and videos everyday showing what he was working on so I could practice with him to keep the good manners and habits going far beyond the training sessions. If you are looking for a trainer, Wen and Beyond Basics is without a shadow of doubt the only one you will need. We love her and cannot thank her enough.

AMAZING value for 4 sessions. We were struggling with our 1.5 year old beagle being…read morefearful/aggressive during her morning routine and some general obedience/leash training. Wen was extremely knowledgeable about different methods we could try that would be most beneficial for our dog's personality. After 2 sessions with Wen, our pup no longer pulls and is getting more confident in her morning routine. Very clear homework each week and our relationships with our dog have never been better. Cannot recommend Back to Basics Dog Training enough!!!