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    Primepaw

    4.7 (46 reviews)
    Closed 8:00 am - 7:00 pm

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    Services - Primepaw

    Dog walking

    Private dog training

    Puppy socialization classes

    Primepaw Photos

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    Recommended Reviews - Primepaw

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    Reviews With Photos

    Happy Prime Paw alum!
    Ann C.

    Our 4-month old, 5-lb puppy (a poodle/chihuahua/yorkie mutt) benefitted so greatly from taking the 1-month Prime Paw adolescent academy in April 2024. We balked, because of cost, but after meeting the staff and learning about the program, we committed. We're so glad we did! She LOVED it. She made a best doggy friend there who we still meet with every week for a play session at Dolores Park. But best of all, our dog (now 1-year old and 8.5-lbs) is such a badass, sweet, well-trained girl. Investing in her training taught her, and provided us, with the foundation and structure for her to thrive. Thank you James, and Stephanie, and the whole lovely Prime Paw crew!

    Prime Paw killed my 9 week old puppy on her first day of puppy school. I picked up my mini longhaired dachshund, Olive, on Sunday May 19th, 2024. After some serious vetting of puppy schools, referrals from friends, and with approval from her vet, I was led to Prime Paw puppy school. They had rave reviews, and I have quite a few friends that had sent their 9 week old puppies to them as well with glowing reviews, so I reached out. We had an initial consultation to discuss Olive's age, size, and weight, and what the puppy day school could offer for her. During that call, they guaranteed me she would only be with other puppies of the same vaccination rate (signed off and approved by her vet before anyone comes for me there), and that due to her size of 3.5lbs she would only be with puppies of equal sizing, constantly monitored, and kept away from the larger puppies at all times, only briefly exposed to them for socialization purposes. Everyone I had talked to including the vet and various trusted pet owners, agreed sending her to be socialized at this age was well worth the incredibly minimal risk of anything happening to her. This was my first puppy, and I did what I believed was right in the moment to give her a good start. With endless reassurance she would be safe, I left her in the care of Prime Paw on the morning of Thursday May 30th. I got a call about 2.5 hours later that there was an accident with another puppy and I needed to come to the SPCA vet next door to Prime Paw. On the way there, I called again to ask how serious it was and what happened. The owner, James, wouldn't give me any details. Just said they tried to perform CPR and that she didn't make it. When I arrived, they told me she had been playing with a nearly 20-25lb bernadoodle puppy and "we don't know what happened, we didn't see it". They only heard my girl yelp in pain, then crawl to a corner and stop breathing. The vet said she was dead on arrival from pneumothorax, essentially a collapsed lung caused by blunt force trauma + impact, presumably from this other much larger dog. James, the owner, is completely incompetent to be running a business caring for puppies at this age or size. His bedside manner during the process in the vet's office was abhorrent, telling me he had a bad feeling about the day because his apartment flooded or something. He asked the vet to walk him through his 'procedures' and tell him he did everything right. I had to tune him out as I was in such shock of his comments while having to answer questions about my poor pups cremation and if I wanted her prints preserved. After I said I would be seeking compensation for the cost of the dog and all of her expenses and vet bills, he offered puppy classes for my next puppy 'when I'm ready'. An empty gesture, that only made me want to vomit at the thought. My puppy just died under his watch and he can only think about wanting my business back. I feel this was completely preventable on Prime Paw's part, and they were truly negligent in their care for Olive. An anonymous employee who was there shared with me that the bernadoodle had been having problems with smaller pups in the days prior and the negligence towards the puppies was becoming an increasing concern. They assured me countless times she would be ok under their care with her age, size, and weight, and she didn't even make it past the first half day. Video posted to their IG stories shows my dog with a large cut on her back, one I did not send her there with. Why would they continue to let her play, let alone unsupervised, in a pen with a much larger dog if she was already injured? They claim there are no videos of the incident as they do not have cameras, and again, 'nobody saw what actually happened'. This has been a complete emotional distresser and an incredibly traumatic experience for me. Save yourself the same heartbreak and avoid Prime Paw at all costs

    James and his team are amazing! We rescued a one year old Great Dane who was unsocialized around humans and dogs while also showing signs of abuse. She was untrained and highly reactive and within days James and his team had her getting comfortable with us and the city. It has now been 4 months and she's like a new dog! Confident, attentive and well on her way to being comfortable with other dogs. She has turned into a wonderful companion and it's all from Prime Paw's and James's great work. We tried a number of trainers and everyone had wanted to give up on her so we are thankful we found Prime Paw. We will always use them given their care and expertise.

    They post daily "roll call" photos and I love seeing her happy face!
    Steffanie T.

    I was hesitant to try Primepaw initially because there were some "bad" reviews. No place is perfect, and you can't please everyone and you shouldn't judge a place just by a review. I reached out to other puppy schools in the SF area, but no one was responsive and proactive so I decided to go with Primepaw. The location isn't the "gentrified" SF areas some people are used to, but this is the perfect location for dogs. There are so many other resources in this area that you can utilize and knowledge share with your friends. Parking can be rough, but if you wait a few minutes, someone will be coming back to their car after dropping off their puppy and you can swoop right in. I love that Primepaw lets one person in at a time because it helps the puppy calm down a little instead of having the stimulation of 5 puppies in the same room while you're trying to check in, and put your puppy's stuff away in her box. Katsu is always dragging me to come inside, and will just stand there when she knows I'm picking her up. She's always super willing to jump into my car and out of my car in the morning when we are going to school, but she will refuse to jump into my car and jump out when I am taking her home. She just wants to go back to see her trainers and friends! I had my golden retriever Katsu attend the puppy school for the initial 12 sessions. I realized that she was LOVING the classes and the interactions she was getting. I ended up upgrading to the 20 session class. Why stop something positive right? I could instantly see a change in her behavior and she finally started to listen to me. My family members saw a shift in behavior as well when I would bring her back to visit on random weekends. She learned sit, touch, come, down, place and to look at me. I believe having her come to Primepaw also enabled her to learn more at home when I did want to teach her something new. I always appreciate the small things, and I noticed that they will help take the harness off Katsu in the morning when she sprints into class, and will help put it back on at the end of the day so I can have a more seamless pick up. They always give you a small summary of how she was doing today which is something every puppy parent wants to hear. Remember, just because your puppy is training in school, it doesn't mean you don't bring the homework back. You have to continue reinforcing these behaviors at home, and Primepaw provides you tools to do so. During pick up, the trainers are always available to answer any questions you have. I like to talk to them about her behaviors at home, things I've noticed, things I would like Katsu to do, and things that I am having issues with. They always provide you with options on how to remedy different behaviors and to reinforce good ones. Every time I listened to their instructions, there is a positive behavior change. One of my favorite things that they do is the daily report cards. I get a snapshot of Katsu's day and what she worked on/what she needs to work on. I love getting photos and videos of her because I see how happy she is. I really suggest having your puppy start here at Primepaw. I've had a wonderful experience here with the trainers Katsu definitely learned a lot. Super sad that Katsu is done with school, but I know this is the place I would recommend to everyone who is looking for puppy school. Yeah, don't even hesitate and sign up. You might even end up extending classes like I did.

    My puppy, sleeping in her crate after school
    Meg H.

    I am so grateful to the PrimePaw team. My puppy was enrolled in their puppy school for two months. Going in, I had been looking for a puppy daycare and wasn't really looking for the training aspect because we were doing a lot at home, but saw it as a nice bonus. I couldn't have been more wrong. My puppy has progressed by leaps and bounds through their training program. She's happy to be in her crate or puppy pen while I'm working and has learned to settle herself down when I can't give her attention (like cooking dinner). The team (James, Tori, Amalia, Kate and others) does a great job sharing what your puppy worked on at the end of the day and you can tell how much they love your puppy and how much attention they give throughout the day. You also get a report card each day and access to a google classroom with supplemental activities to practice at home. To see how much fun the puppies are having, just follow their Instagram stories, they post every day and it's always such a treat to catch your pup. In terms of pandemic safety, everyone is in masks all the time and only one puppy family is allowed in at a time for drop off and pick up, and they're always sanitizing their space, so I had no concerns there. Every time we get to school, my puppy goes wild to be let in, and at the end of the day I have a hard time convincing her to leave. And when we get home, she's always #primepawtired and sleeps for most of the evening. If you're on the fence about enrolling your puppy in school with PrimePaw, don't hesitate and sign them up right away, you won't regret it!

    Daisy has graduated from lots of PrimePaw classes!

    I have been working with James, David, Dom, Steve and others at PrimePaw for going on 5 years now and they are an AMAZING team. They are very attentive to the special needs of our dogs and have helped us and our dogs so much. Their classes and training methods are highly evolved, extremely effective and FUN for us and the dogs. Our dogs are very fearful, which manifests in different ways for each of them. PrimePaw helped us train and and manage our two poorly socialized rescue dogs we adopted right before the pandemic. Through training, enrichment, boarding, and properly supervised socialization, they have helped us enjoy the process of training our dogs and enabled all of to have a happy life together. I am particularly impressed by how the PrimePaw staff has poured their heart, soul and time into helping us and by their professionalism and responsiveness. I trust PrimePaw completely. I am so grateful we were referred to PrimePaw by a veterinary behaviorist almost 5 years ago as I do not know what we would have done without their love for our dogs and their support. It's been fun!

    Katrina J.

    We had the absolute best experience at Primepaw!! Our sweet little puppy went in at 12 weeks and was terrified of the wind, other pups, and pretty much everything, with a lot of separation anxiety. He quickly became a confident and well trained pup with just a few weeks at Primepaw! He learned to settle and enjoy alone time, walk on a leash, sit, and down very quickly. And we learned so much too! They provide you with great training videos that are digestible and easy to follow, and their methodology works. Kerri and the whole puppy day school team were so kind and amazing! Our pup definitely loved it and would run in so excited every day. We couldn't recommend them more highly! Also a big positive that they are open 8-5, and drop off / pick up was super easy. They are very thoughtful and cautious with the puppies' health and flexible in addressing the needs of each puppy individually. We drove all the way from Marin to Primepaw and it was definitely worth it. Thank you Primepaw!!

    sandra d.

    Primepaw puppy school gave our dog Hank an amazing foundation of training, socialization and care. Highly recommend.

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    Page 1 of 2

    Ask the Community - Primepaw

    Review Highlights - Primepaw

    We tried a number of trainers and everyone had wanted to give up on her so we are thankful we found Prime Paw.

    Mentioned in 18 reviews

    Read more highlights

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    Good Company Canine - One of Kim's first board and train clients, Mia. This dog was incredibly difficult at first, but this team ended up getting a title!

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    Kim was our trainer for our Husky mix, Luna. We had been having issues with other dogs, recall, and…read moregeneral excitement/jumpiness. Between Kim and a board-and-train we did, Luna is now comfortable in a crate, has excellent recall, and overall listens to us better. We feel like we have a great set of tools with which to work on Luna's behavior, and have welcomed our newborn into the family with much less anxiety about dog/baby interactions. Kim was great to work with: she's obviously very experienced and has a lot of knowledge to share. On top of that, we absolutely loved her positive energy, she brought a smile and reassuring words to every session! We still use her for occasional dog walks as-needed: she's punctual, communicative, and sends great photos. Highly recommended!

    Kim is an absolutely incredible dog trainer. I started seeing changes in my dogs behavior even…read moreafter one session. Her professionalism and deep knowledge on dog psychology pairs perfectly to provide the best experience for my doggo but also to me. Kim gives practical, realistic advice that is not only helping teach better behaviors but also my dog is having a great time in the process. I couldnt recommend Kim any more, she's awesome! Since getting help from Kim, my dog's reactivity at home has become significantly better. He does emit territorial behavior when guests come to my home anymore. Kim has also been helping my dog with leash reactivity with other dogs. He's learning redirection and I'm already seeing progress.

    Refined K9 Dog Training - Our GSD Dakota enjoying off-leash freedom thanks to RefinedK9!

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    I've stopped writing yelp reviews but came on here to say Jose changed our life!! We have a 1.5 yr…read morefrench bulldog who we were totally overstimulating in our home and became a terror to deal with. Resource guarding his food bowl, bad at walking, random growling at us, overstimulated by balls/dogs, and generally uncontrollable in any situation. We inquired with a bunch of different dog trainers and decided to go with Refined K9 given their holistic approach. Before Refinedk9, I had tried "positive only" trainers that evaluated Buddha for his food aggression, but they were totally ineffective and, in fact, made his reactivity towards food worse. We were also way over-feeding him and numbing him to treats. Other unqualified trainers were also unable to explain how they would properly introduce an e-collar and why e-collars are used. We were extremely anxious about having Buddha do the 4-week board and train to "reset", but we felt okay after learning Jose has many French bulldogs himself. Even though we didn't get super frequent updates, it was clear every week that Buddha was very well taken care of. Jose took the first week to evaluate our dog, his behavior, and get to know him, without "jumping" into conditioning. He took the time to understand us, our dog's behaviors, and tailored a program to uplevel Buddha slowly (place, relaxing around food, learning how to walk properly, with a gentler prong collar, and then an e-collar). He also helped Buddha learn how to 'communicate' with other dogs and 'socialize' properly in a safe space (not a random dog park). When we visited Buddha, we could tell he respected and liked Jose. I cried with happiness the day our dog came back :) He walked perfectly, he was confident, and knew how to communicate with other dogs. He was calmer in our home but still had his personality. We learned to make hard changes to our environment that was overstimulating for our dog and how to better communicate with him. Even though it's been hard enforcing changes at home, I feel so much happier with our structure. The intake process with Refinedk9 was a little confusing, as we talked to 3 different trainers over phone/email, although all of them recommended Jose for us. At the end of the day, we trusted our decision to move forward, and we are incredibly thankful to have our boy in the hands of a highly experienced and trustworthy dog trainer.

    I could not recommend RefinedK9 enough! We first worked with Theo a couple of years ago to work on…read moreour dog's reactivity. The 1:1 sessions and group LRA classes were invaluable to us. Everyone at RefinedK9 has been amazing -- since then we've boarded our dogs with them many times while on vacation and it's a great feeling knowing your pet is in the care of someone who knows them well and will give them the enrichment they need while you're away. In terms of results, last weekend we went on a trip with friends and their dogs. Our dog was able to comfortably hang out in a new house with other dogs they hadn't met before. No reactions or stress -- just a happy dog being able to coexist. This was definitely something our dog wouldn't have been able to do before working with Theo & RefinedK9.

    Top Dog SF - Puppy Head Start student Chester meeting Luna as he becomes a Top Dog SF Ranch Dog!

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    I can't say enough great things about Top Dog SF! This might sound a little unconventional, but I…read morejust hosted a 10th birthday party for my dog here after he went through a really intense health journey last year so this milestone meant everything to my family and I. From the very beginning, the process was incredibly smooth. Reaching out through their website and coordinating the booking for a non-hosted event was so easy, and the communication was clear, responsive, and genuinely helpful. The space itself was absolutely perfect and exactly what I was looking for to celebrate with close friends and family. Everything came together seamlessly, which made the day even more special and stress-free. I catered food and brought my own decor and it was an easy set up and takedown. I'm so grateful to the team at Top Dog SF for helping make this meaningful celebration possible. I would 100% book here again. Thank you so much!

    Top Dog changed our lives! We enrolled our puppy Donut in the Puppy Headstart program, and we could…read morenot be more blown away. They truly transformed him. As brand-new dog parents, we had no idea where to start, and Mike not only trained Donut every day, but also coached us on how to reinforce training at-home. The daily training videos they sent were incredibly helpful and made it easy to repeat everything on our own. Donut is now more confident, relaxed, and well-mannered - we're honestly so impressed and so proud of how far he's come. And the best part? He LOVES going to school. He happily trots through the door every day, which tells us everything we need to know about how well he's cared for. The whole staff has been nothing short of amazing: so patient, kind, and truly invested in every dog. Donut was especially loved by Mike, Michelle, and Raina, and we're so grateful for each of them. Natalie, the owner, is also an absolute pleasure to work with and runs a fantastic program. Yes, this program is an investment, but it is worth every penny! We could not recommend Top Dog SF more. If you're on the fence, do it. Your dog (and you!) will be better for it.

    Citizen Hound - Toby's pack with Shannon!

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    Citizen Hound has been an absolute gift to our family for over 7 years. From the moment David came…read moreto meet our tiny 9-week-old puppy, we knew they would be in the best hands -- and we were right. The entire team has shown incredible love, care, and professionalism every step of the way. They've not only given our dog years of fun, exercise, and socialization, but they've also helped us learn so much as dog owners. Every walker we've met has been warm, reliable, and clearly passionate about what they do. Our dog absolutely adored their time with Citizen Hound -- the excitement when they arrived said it all. Knowing they were with people who treated them like family gave us complete peace of mind. They're more than just a dog walking service; they're a community of people who genuinely care. We'll always be grateful for the joy they brought to our dog's life, and to ours. If you're lucky enough to live in their service area, don't think twice -- your dog will thank you every single day.

    Hands down the best dog walking service in San Francisco!…read more The basics: Monday through Friday they pick your dog up from your house, bring them to a park/beach/open space and let them run, play and socialize for 2 hours before returning them back home happy and exhausted. What sets them apart: Citizen Hound is a safe, reliable and extremely well run organization from the top down. Communication between the office staff, dog walkers and owners is second to none. They'd always let me know when they were picking her up, dropping her off and precautions they'd be taking during seen and unforeseen situations such as atmospheric rivers, tsunami warnings or Fleet Week. My wife and I received pictures and/or videos of their doggy adventures almost every day. It was easy to see how happy my little girl was by the giant smile on little her puppy face in those wonderful photos. Over these past four years, our dog walker, Shannon, became part of our family; always going above and beyond to care for us and our dogs no matter what life threw at us. When I needed to leave on a moments notice as my dad battled cancer and eventually passed, Shannon was there. Through our engagement, our marriage and the birth of our child, Shannon was there. He always cared for our dogs as if they were his own. I like to think in a way, they are. Their excitement and joy anytime he walked through our door was so pure and beautiful. Last week we moved out of the city to a spot with a little more room now that our family has grown. Knowing we wouldn't be seeing Shannon every morning was by far the hardest goodbye. Whoever ends up filling our spot in Shannon's pack, you are an extremely lucky dog and dog parent. Thank you Citizen Hound for taking such wonderful care of our whole family.

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