My Tibetan Spaniel Sasha graduated from Puppy Training I and went on to graduate from Puppy Training II. The classes were all held at Pet's Discount Warehouse in Salt Lake, where Wendy (the trainer) showed and taught us what she knew. Both classes were pretty small and intimate, but there were enough puppies for fellowship. The first training class (I) was very mixed, as in the breeds and sizes of dogs. This was good, I guess, to kick start each puppy's social skills. My small Tibbie really gravitated towards the larger breeds for some reason. This class covered puppy basics, so kind of what I imagine a class called "Puppy 101" would cover -- positive reinforcement, "sit," "down," basic leash-walking, and other obedience training skills. Puppy II was a little more advanced. It mainly focused on obedience training and advanced leash-walking. Sasha and I had some personality conflicts at first, but we managed to overcome them. Once I found a treat good enough to get her motivated, my secret weapon vienna sausage, she took off and graduated at the top of her class. I recommend Sirius to any new puppy owner. Yelp 365 - #104/365 read more

Sirius Puppy Training - Pet Training Near Me

Good, but I wouldn't say the best, even though I don't have anything to compare it to. For 6 one-hour sessions, you pay $260-odd dollars. It's a bit pricey, but I guess worth it to know how to create a decently-behaved dog. There are 11 dogs in my class, which means individual attention is sometimes there but sometimes not. Also, man are they banking on this class! I called to register two weeks early and they said they'd send me the forms by email. I gave them my fax and snail mail too, just in case. A week went by and the forms never showed. I inquired. I gave her my email again. And the forms didn't arrive. I called again. Ok, I give up. At the first lesson, we were supposed to bring treats for the puppies and their shot records. Had anyone told me? Um, no! Had I pestered them multiple times for weeks? Yes. Had I paid $260? Yes. It's really more people-training than dog training, which is good. What will you learn? Sit, Down, Stand, Come, name recognition, attention, and she'll talk about house soiling, bite inhibition, steady, jumping on people, stay, of, walking, possessiveness, and the trainer will answer your questions. Responsibility? The second class was scheduled during the tsunami. I called three times to find out whether class was cancelled. No answer. I left three messages. Then I called back on Monday to see if I'd missed a class. No answer. No return phone call. It's not until after waiting Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday, until Saturday at the next class, that I get to ask Wendy the Trainer in person whether we missed a class. She said, oh, I called you. I remember. And I left a voicemail on your other number. Um, no, she didn't. Whatever, I'll let it slide. Will I return for Puppy Training Phase II? Perhaps. The part I like best is when my puppy got to socialize with the 10 other puppies! Frolick! read more

Wendy Mah is outstanding. She came to our home weekly to help us integrate a new German Shepherd puppy into the family which already included a (very) territorrial miniature dachshund. Very successful and the two lived together harmoniously until both passed away years later. Highly recommend Wendy. read more

We had our puppy training at the Pet Spot at Ward. Our dog benefitted from socializing with other dogs at an early age. The trainer was good. She definitely knows what she was talking about. She answered our questions and was available to call as well. We were able to teach our dog basic fundamentals of obedience, which helps since she is a house dog. It is a bit pricey, but overall we were satisfied with the training our dog received. read more

Recent graduates of Puppy I, though I'm not sure why given the fact our pup R Kelly'd pups 4 of the 6 weeks we were in class. Overall, I liked the training, the atmosphere, and the duration. The instructor was great and was very knowledgeable. read more

Wendy Mah maybe a good dog trainer but she needs lessons on human interaction. When we had a puppy 2O+ years ago, she was a very sarcastic young lady. With a new puppy now, we again enrolled in Wendy's class hoping she'd matured out of her young sassy attitude. Well, she hasn't. Her classes are on the pricey end. She charges $250+ for 6 sessions (once a week sessions). We felt we didn't get our money's worth and let me explain why. BTW, she conducts her classes outdoors at her friend's back house garage. It's an older house and although there were lights, they weren't very bright and as the sun went down, it got harder to see what was going on. In previous years she held her classes indoors at The Humane Society classrooms or at a pet store where the lighting was so much better. Session 1: when we got there, there were 12-13 dogs present, large, medium and small which is a good mixture. Then she realized the class was too large (she's the one who took the reservations!!??!) Nonetheless, she took too much time trying to figure what to do. She conducted the remaining class time with some very useful information but paid attention only to certain dogs. At the end of this session she said she'd break the group into 2 groups but didn't give us the option as to which time slot we'd preferred. Session 2, 3, and 4 were good. She worked with our puppies and gave us good information on basic puppy training. Session 5: Although good info was given, she wasted too much time on the troublesome dogs and neglected the other dogs. It was such a waste of time. Session 6: (last session) She said there was a lot to cover. She spent too much time talking about how long she's been training dogs, her experiences with dogs and how she got bitten by a large dog that had to be put down the night it bit her. Waste of time again. She encouraged us to ask questions, but when we did, vshe seemed annoyed. We asked her to talk more on the "stay" command but she said it wasn't that important. What??? I think it's very a important command to learn both for the safety of the owner and the dog. Overall, Wendy's class is not worth the time and money. Save your money and find someone else. read more

Wendy Mah is incredible. A few years back I reached out to her when my adult mix-breeds were having difficulties amongst themselves and one was experiencing severe separation anxiety after our family split up. She identified the behaviors, educated me on how to work them through the loss and change in behavior and they flourished. Recently I reached out to her for my 3 year old adopted mix breed and again, her expertise, kindness and insight is proving to be successful. Highly recommended! read more

Wendy Mah of Honolulu is the best person who could handle a Basenji. She was our first handler of our Pukkanut Welcome Nugget (KOA) . Stafford-Ames Morse Hawaii Kai, Hi Savannah, Ga morse.stafford@gmail.com read more

When looking for a dog trainer, I called around A LOT. I wanted a training class that would offer the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test that had classes held close to my house. Even though the class was more expensive than the others I had called about, and they spent LESS time with me on the phone during consultation, I chose Wendy Mah's Sirius Puppy Training because it started that very evening, whereas other classes didn't start for another 4-5 weeks. The first thing that surprised me was that the class is not taught by Wendy Mah. She didn't even show up to the first class to introduce us to the teacher and say that she had trained her, she was certified, etc. Okay.... We had the first class, the second class, then the instructor "forgot" to come to the third class- no call, no show. Hmmm.... She said that we'd just move the class along for another week, but I suppose it didn't occur to her that some of us (me) had already scheduled things for the week after puppy training ended and this caused me to have to cancel and reschedule appointments. Then, at the end of the course, they didn't even offer the CGC test! I asked about it and they said that my dog could take it somewhere else, some other time.... WHAT?! That was one of the MAIN reasons I signed up for the class and the instructor "couldn't remember" what all was on the CGC test, nor did she give any recommendations as to what my dog needs to work on to pass it. I would have appreciated the opportunity to at least TRY to put my dog through this test to see what we need to work on to get him to pass it in the future. For the $261.78 I paid for this class, that test should have been offered, the teacher should have shown up for 100% of the classes, and it should have been taught by Wendy Mah. To make a long review short, I'd say if you can go to someone like Karen Hashimoto, who spent about 15 minutes with me on the phone consultation explaining what the class covered and WHY it's important to cover it at that time... (when I asked similar questions during Sirius' consultation as to what the class covered, they answered: "Everything." Me: "everything... like, what?" Them: "Just everything." I'd say save your money and go elsewhere for basic obedience training. Karen Hashimoto's class was about $100 less expensive and she gave a much more thorough phone consultation, and I have a feeling that if she'd take that kind of extra time with a stranger on the phone, she'd probably do the same in your class. read more

My husband and I took our 2 8 month old puppies to this class at the recommendation from our vet mainly because it was on concrete. What a disappointment for the price we paid. Classes were divided into little dogs and big dogs. She spent more time with the bigger dogs and as a result we hardly got any training time . All of us with little dogs agreed that it was a waste of time and very expensive. We paid $500 . We got some valuable information but not as we expected. read more

This place has been negative from the get go. My husband and I are both professionals whom own our own business which is recognized and successful. This is so because we are candid with prospective patients/clients and know that answering the phone is paramount pm and if not available immediately, we return calls promptly. Pua from SIRIUS puppy training is not professional, instead evasive! does not give out her phone number, and since April 3, 2014 no one has ever answered their phone at (808)732-0258. It is more lime a message center. When, and if, Pua returns your call, she does not know anything other than her broken record of "we call from unblocked numbers because of security reasons". On the contrary, they won't give you their direct phone number to call them but they will come to your home not knowing if you are a scam, a rapist, a psycho, etc. to collect your money but they do not allow you to call a valid phone number and answer their phone - not once since April. As clients we should be the ones concerned about anonymity and giving them our personal phone numbers and residential address. My husband and I find them quite mysterious, we felt like we were calling a 1-900 number to a scam in nowhere land. Never once have I been able to speak to the proprietor, Wendy Mah, because Pua does her scheduling according to Pua, but in the same breath says Wendy Mah is not taking new clients". She should have said that to begin with for we want to know whom is going to come out to train our dog/s and their credentials. My husband and I do not want a "Pua" type who got a credential online, from Goodwill or Salvation Army. If she trains like she speaks we will have a dog with an IQ of 2. People who are willing to pay for private classes to train their animal are normally of means, intelligence, professional, upper echelon, and are not going to allow an incident as we have experienced not be disclosed to the public. Money appears to be their number one concern. Respectfully, Dr. John Thornburg and Mrs. Trish Thornburg/East Oahu read more

Was given the number for Sirius by my vet for a serious issue with my pet. I left a message and they never bothered to call back. Luckily there's lots of good advice online and I won't be needing their services. read more

We attended both what I will call Puppy 101 and Puppy 102 classes with our Rhodesian Ridgeback at the Hawaiian Humane Society. Both classes were taught by Wendy Mah. Each class had about 10 dogs and their accompanying family members, and was held indoors at the conference/training room. Wendy got everyone's attention with the question that she asked at the start of the first session. "What is the number 1 cause of death in a dog's first year?" A lot of us guessed things like parvo and car accidents, but we were wrong. The answer was behavioral problems, for which dogs are put to sleep far more often than any of us guessed. She encouraged us to work hard with our animals, not only in class, but also between sessions. That was excellent advice. This was our first dog for both my husband and me. Though he had grown up with a beagle in the household, it was my MIL who took care of things related to the dog. I lacked even that much experience. So, Wendy's classes (and her sound advice for between classes) was critical to our success. We did what she said, and ended up with a well-behaved dog. (As Wendy told us, "You will get the dog you deserve.") Who would have believed that you could tell a dog to "go do business"--and to do it in a specific part of your backyard? Wendy asked that question in one of the early classes. No one thought it could happen. We also learned what normal dog feces should look like ("little brown logs"). We learned how to avoid problems with food guarding and possessiveness. One session including training on developing a "soft mouth" -- basically, bite inhibition, which is especially important with a large dog. My husband and I averaged about 15 minutes each evening working with our dog, focusing on the lessons learned previously. It was time well spent. As Wendy advised, we made a point of having our dog meet a variety of people--both those we knew and those we didn't. Old, young, handicapped, of all ethnicities. Sometimes we felt foolish approaching people, but approach we did, and our dog learned to be social and well-behaved. Wendy does in-home consultation at a reduced rate for clients who have taken her classes. When our adult daughter (who had been severely bitten by a dog as a child) moved back to Hawaii, we called Wendy in to give her instruction on how to interact with the dog in our home. Because the dog had been well-socialized in classes, it took only a single session. Well worth the money! You and your dog will get as much out of these classes as you put in. Between the time--several months--we first thought of getting a dog, and the time she actually came home with us, we had plenty of time to read half a dozen excellent books. But it was these classes, with the immediate feedback and correction Wendy offered (to us as well as to the dog) that had the greatest impact on how we learned to handle our dog. read more