This facility is the real deal! We live 40 minutes away and are on our second round of obedience classes. Our energetic puppy loves to learn, so I think we have more classes here in our future. It's worth the trip! Here's what I love about MasterPeace: - Professionally certified trainers (CPDT) who are passionate and knowledgeable - Positive reinforcement methods that reflect the current best practices in dog training - Website that is regularly updated - Good variety and availability of courses year-round - Opportunity to work toward and test for titles from CGC to nosework to agility Here's what you should be ready for: - Honest and straightforward feedback on your handling - Clicker training. It may take a little effort, but your dog can learn SO much faster - Classes of 5-10 dogs. Larger classes have 2 staff members - Participants ranging from newbie dog owners to serious show people read more

MasterPeace Dog Training - Our good boy 3.5 months practicing impulse control (with distractions!) - Pet Training Near Me - Franklin, Massachusetts

State of the art dog training based on the science of learning, and how best animals learn. Educated, friendly instructors that care.

I took my dog for reactive training classes. The program is a number of classes with a small group. The first class is an hour of telling us what we need to prepare for the following class. This could easily have been done through an email. Thus, we're down to 5 classes for the price. At the next classes we had to sit in our cars as one dog at a time was let in and situated. My dog got taken in 35 minutes into the class time. Each time was the same. So, for the money I paid, I essentially got 2.5 hrs of actual training....and the training left a lot to be desired. I took another dog for puppy classes years ago and was not impressed then and I'm unimpressed now. It's too bad as I live in Franklin but will be going north of Boston to train my dog. read more

I just completed the 7 week beginner obedience course with my adopted Australian Cattle Dog, Finn. I am very happy with how the class went and the instructors that taught the course. My Dog can be nervous around overly affectionate strangers who bend down to pet him, which can lead him to bark and snap at the them. Fran and the instructors were very understanding of my situation with my newly adopted dog and gave me tips on how to manage the situation when it arises. I found all the instructors there to be slightly different from each other in there own way but at the same time they were all very helpful, knowledgeable, kind, understanding, and wanted to put the dogs' needs first. They all set you up to succeed with your dog. I found the other dogs in the group and in the adjacent agility ring helpful in training my dog to pay attention to me while there are distraction present. The trainers do a great job of keeping the environment structured i.e. they do not let the dogs interact or have other people petting other people's dogs during the class. The three star review on this facility does not do it justice. I read through some of the other reviews and many just did not like clicker training/positive reinforcement training techniques. If you don't like or believe in clicker training/positive reinforcement than this won't be the training place for you. They do a drop in class on Saturday mornings that accept all levels of dogs so if you are unsure it is a good option to try out their training methods with committing to a full 6 or 7 week class. I plan on continuing classes at MasterPeace. read more

MasterPeace Dog Training - Finn on his first day of obedience training! - Pet Training Near Me - Franklin, Massachusetts

I've taken several classes at MasterPeace with great success. We have done Beginner Obedience and Foundations/Beginner Agility and Beginner Agility classes with my rescue dogs and will continue to take more as we progress. I love the facility being open and being with several other dogs in class to continue to work on control and focus with distractions. I just cannot replicate that environment anywhere else and find it very helpful. They are a purely positive training facility which is fine though I do have another balanced trainer that I work with. We do our best to learn all approaches and can adjust to the styles of the trainers we are working with so we can continue to build our skills to work with different kinds of dogs. All dogs are different so of my four actively working dogs, two come to MasterPeace as of this writing and we do not clicker train. I have a third working towards his CGC so will likely bring him in the future to complete that milestone. The trainers have no issues with adjusting to individual needs. They are helpful, knowledgeable, and attentive. They pass on their knowledge to many purely green dog owners in low level obedience classes which can be a massive challenge if the owners expect to do all the work in class and have their dog be fully trained at the end. That is just not realistic. The majority of the work is expected to be done at home for the rest of the week which is obvious to most participants. Some of the negative reviews below don't accurately assess this facility and are written on emotion and a lack of canine and training knowledge. Take those with a grain of salt. If you want all the hard work done for you, this is not the place. If you want to develop your dog training skills, invest in your companion, try a new sport or go further with your sport skills, this is a great option. Highly recommended. read more

I just finished a 6 week Agility Program with my Standard Schnauzer. The program was fantastic both Mike and Trish were committed to letting the dogs have fun with nothing but positive reinforcement ! I have signed on for another 6 weeks and would strongly recommend the program read more

I have taken 6 classes at MP with 3 of my dogs in the last 7 months, all with different teachers. My experiences have been varied, but overall, the quality of instruction has been high. I am an experienced dog owner, agility competitor/trainer, and owner of a reactive dog. Puppy Kindergarten with Fran. This was the first class we took at MP, with our border collie puppy. This was the best PK class I have taken, and I've taken many with other dogs. The content was appropriate and play time was well supervised and monitored. My puppy learned all the exercises, but more importantly gained a lot of confidence. She was the youngest one there and is cautious and sensitive. Initially play group was overwhelming for her, but Fran and her assistant Trish (excellent!) were on top of things and stepped in as needed. Really helped her build confidence. My experience with Fran is that she is not the most gregarious person, but that is not that important to me. What is important is that she understand dog behavior/communication, training using positive reinforcement, and be in control of the class, all of which she was. Intro to Nosework with Michelle (levels, 1-4) with my 10-year-old retired agility Aussie and my 3-year-old injured (ACL tear) highly reactive border collie. Michelle's first class got me hooked on this sport. She teaches using the traditional method, so it's a bit drawn out for us operant-conditioning-types. That is my only criticism and it's not about the instructor but about the methodology, which is the prevalent methodology for teaching nosework. But obviously, I like the class because I keep rolling over to the next level. Reactive Dog with instructor (forgot name) with my 3-year-old border collie. This class used the Emma Parson's (Click to Calm) methodology. I had taken private classes with another behaviorist but wanted to get my dog into a group setting. Overall, a well run class, good methodology, safe and well presented. That said, I do not think this methodology works for my dog, but that's another story. Nosework classes have been much better in terms of curbing her reactivity. read more

I have been going to Master Peace since my five year old PWD was a puppy. He was difficult, and I was a novice dog handler. The instructors at Master Peace were so supportive, and patient with both of us. Fran has been to my home, as well as meeting me downtown for "real life" training. The staff at Master Peace taught me how to work with my strong willed dog, not against him. ( I have not mastered the clicker, and they don't care. I have never felt pressured to clicker train.) We are currently showing successfully in the agility ring. Every time my dog goes into the agility ring, I know that he is going to listen to me, and do his job. His success in agility is directly related to his obedience training at Master Peace. I am planning to get another puppy this spring, and Master Peace will be one of the first stops for my puppy and me. read more

We recently finished up Puppy Kindergarten with our new pup. Very happy with the class and instructors. Only critique I have is the number of puppies in the class. If they had fewer little guys in the class, it would be even more beneficial. read more

We took our puppy here based on the recommendation from our veterinarian. It was the worst mistake ever! The class consisted of 10+ puppies and we accomplished absolutely nothing during our hour spent there. Our puppy was labeled as "aggressive" and they stated it was probably because she is a "shelter dog." The staff has absolutely no people skills whatsoever. The chaos of the class was extremely overwhelming. There was no structure or guidance. Most of the class was watching the trainers do their thing and then you could bring your puppy home to do your homework. Why even bring the puppy to class if the puppy is not participating in the class. The only positive experience we had was with the girl who was observing the class to continue her dog training education. She was trying to give us advice on basic commands and she was told to stop speaking to us. It tells you something when your very happy, non aggressive puppy just lays on the floor during class and gives you sad eyes because she does not want to be there. Also, you spend quite a bit of money on puppy training that you would expect semi decent customer service. No one has bothered to followed up with us regarding our absence from class. We only attended 2 out of the 6 classes and that was 2 too many! I have also made my vet aware of our experience. The only good thing that came of our experience here was it caused me to do research about other facilities. We found an amazing training facility in the same town. Our puppy barrels up the stairs to go to her new class! She is so happy and so are we that we made the decision to find training elsewhere. read more

Great facility and amazing trainers. I've been training my dogs in Agility since about 2012/2013. The instructors have always been knowledgeable, helpful, friendly and fun. Erin is a fantastic Agility instructor and has quite the background in training! If you're looking for a great place, MasterPeace is it! read more

Masterpeace dog training has an incredible staff. I have been bringing my golden retriever here for about one year. I am taking classes in agility training. When I first started I had no idea even what agility training entailed. A year later I am successfully competing in both nadac and AKC trials. I take classes with mike and Erin. Both instructors have been phenomenal in helping me understand and train my dog in the most efficient way. They love dogs, understand their breed specific temperament and help their owners with encouragement and advice. Anytime I am having behavioral issues with my very active 2 year old golden, they are incredibly helpful. I would recommend their training facility to anyone. read more

A lovely training facility with many course options to choose from. Also they have lots of hours available for renting rings to practice and they let you use their agility equipment and jumps during these times. Also they host many performance shows here, so it is a good place to train at because your dogs are then very comfortable in the rings during a trial. For classes, they have plenty of parking, lots of indoor crating space and more than adequate restroom facilities. They have some great instructors too -- Esther for obedience, Karen for rally, Erin for agility, and Michelle for noseworks. read more

****UPDATE - AFTER MY ORIGINAL POST, SEE BELOW MY RESPONSE TO FRAN FROM MASTER PEACE'S RESPONSE TO MY POST. ****** My wife and I made the mistake, based on her coworker's advice, of taking our dog to Master Peace for training. We had a very skittsh, non-obedient dog, and Master Peace's training did absolutely nothing to correct anything. They are a bunch of hippies there who believe in "no negative reinforcement," and "just give her a cookie when she does something good," which does not work on all dogs. Their training is very cookie-cutter training, and their classes have about ten dogs. Luckily my wife and I found another trainer that was much more effective in dog behavior and had small classes, but that meant we wasted our time and money on a trainer that did nothing for our dog, and got her good training with a good trainer months after useless training, at a time when training was crucial. The most hilarious part of the experience was that in the final class they did an "obstacle course" where you had to walk your dog through a bunch of temptations like toys, etc without the dog pulling away from you and grabbing the treats. Just about every dog failed, and the instructor said "okay, just pull him/her farther away." Yet every dog was deemed "trained." Our dog was not trained by the end of this class. She was almost worse. Luckily, as I said, we found a good trainer later to actually get our dog trained. Not all dogs react only to positive reinforcement only, sometimes you have to say "no!" And sometimes, for some dogs, you need corrective reinforcement like prong collars, but Master Peace shuns upon this or any type of negative or corrective reinforcement, they strictly encourage customers to only reward dogs with a cookie or a "good dog" signal when they do something right. For the prefect dog, I guess that might work, but for our dog, it did not work. Also, the manager would embarrass other customers by coming up to them in front of the whole class and saying "you owe me a balance, you can't continue until you pay it." I'm glad that we paid in full before the class, otherwise I would have shown her what embarrassment looks like. Worst dog trainers I ever met, colossal waste of our time and money that resulted in us paying another trainer for a full-round of training all over again that got things right. Do not waste your time or money with Master Peace, they set our dog back during a crucial period when she needed training desperately. ********* UPDATE TO RESPOND TO FRAN'S REPLY TO MY COMMENT : Most of the methods our new trainer used are positive reinforcent, but they mixed in just the right amount of corrective reinforcement, and establishing dominance (a.k.a. becoming our dog's pack leader), as well as canine psychology as to how a dog thinks and therefore how a dog follows your lead, to successfully save our dog from being a hot mess, to being a pretty well-trained dog. NOTHING that we did with our new trainer or what we do at home hurts our dog in any way, and we are not using a shock collar. I'm sorry you chose to assume that we are abusing our dog. Also, your spider analogy is off base. The way we learned to condition our dog with things she fears is not like hitting a person when they see a scary spider, it's like showing the person "hey, I'm in charge, I'm not going to let that spider hurt you." And maybe you don't remember yourself being rude to customers and announcing to them in front of the whole class that they owe money, but I do vividly remember it, as well as other rude things you said to them. You just did not come across as a friendly person. But hey, nice save with "I'm glad we have so many repeat customers." You know, McDonald's has many repeat customers, it must be the best five-star restaurant in town, I know where I'm making reservations for my next date night with my wife! ******* read more

While I don't doubt the Master Peace staff knows what they are doing in terms of dog training, unfortunately, their puppy kindergarten class just didn't work for us. We put our puppy into their class and it was completely overwhelming with about 12 other dogs there - with really just one instructor and 13 dogs and one hour - nothing got accomplished. I certainly understand that as a dog owner, puppy kindergarten is to give you the basics to go home and do 95% of the training work yourself, but if we couldn't get the hang of it during classtime there was no way "homework" was going to be successful. We switched right away to another dog training facility in Franklin that has rolling admissions and have had much better luck and success training our dog. I found the environment distracting too - too much noise with their HVAC system, an agility class going on in the shared space next to the kindergarten folks and too much open space - all in all just didn't work for us. Sorry! read more

The people who work here lack social skills, which consistently made for a negative experience when we took our dog there. They berated this poor old man in front of me once, which made the decision for me- I was never going back. I've also been scolded there, but not as bad as how this man was treated. When Fran uses her spider analogy in a previous retort, imagine her screaming that at you in a condescending manner in front of 30 people. I've heard the whole spider thing; that is her usual spiel! The whole clicker thing is stupid, but really, the biggest problem is that all the employees are so rude, it's just uncomfortable. I randomly ran into a girl I met at the puppy class at MP, and we shared stories of how the people there are so belittling and impossible to work with. I told her we switched to TBU In wrentham where the staff are amazing. We've experienced nothing but patience, kindness, and compassion for us and our pup. MP should maybe invest in some social skills training for the humans... read more