Absolutely awful.
I signed up for the 8-week reactivity/aggression program as my dog has had leash reactivity issues around other dogs. The previous training I'd done with her was all positive reinforcement based, so I was looking to get lessons on how to effectively use negative reinforcement to address bad behavior. After seeing all the positive reviews and endorsements online for K9 off leash, I decided to give their business a shot.
The trainer spent about 20 minutes trying to get my dog to do a sit and stay, while just zapping her with the e-collar every 5-10 seconds. She can do sit and stay usually just fine with me, which I told the trainer ahead of time, but he seemed pretty uninterested with her previous training. He basically just triggered the collar over and over again expecting a verbal 'sit' command to have the same meaning as both 'sit' and 'stay'. My dog's 'sit' was fine, but most of the time she got up sooner than what he wanted. He kept on repeating 'sit' verbally over and over, which I'm pretty sure is exactly the wrong thing to do but what do I know. My dog, visibly wincing at the e-collar trigger, just got more and more confused, jumping on him and pulling at her leash. I myself was confused by what his 'algorithm' was for training the dog was, so I can only imagine how my dog felt. The trainer, realizing it wasn't going well, said the problem was that "she slept in the same bed as me". "Heavy Eyeroll" - Those theories about dominance training have been debunked multiple times over the years. You're just not very good at your job dude.
I ended the session early and asked for a refund. I regret not ending it sooner.
My dog became extremely lethargic and depressed for the next 48 hours. I basically had to force her to go on walks, and she didn't do her business for almost 24 hours following the 'training' session. It didn't take me long to realize my dog had suffered a traumatic event.
I got my refund, but I'm still incensed over the trauma given to my dog. I can only imagine what other dogs have experienced.
I contacted them to express my outrage, but no response. They don't care. I guess they think the ends always justify the means. read more