$180 for 1 class. First class was cancelled by this organization, Instructor was ill…read more Understandable. We requested to delay class 2, our pup was not ready and thought it best for him and the rest of class. Requested to reschedule for a later class and was told it would be at full price. No credit for any of the money to apply to future classes. Expensive and disappointing. They ask for flexibility to meet their needs, but not flexible in return. Spoke with them about this. No change. Please make sure you can live with this when considering your needs. If your pup is ill, behind, or life interupts, it will be at your expense, literally.

Dog's Best Friend Training is a life saver! It was about 10 or 11 years ago that I brought one of…read moremy Jack Russell Terriers, Karrera, to Dog's Best Friend Training. Specifically, to the Reliable Recall Class. This is because, Karrera, would completely blow you off when you called her to come. I can not tell you how many times she ran across the farmer's field whether it was corn or soybeans. This was after excavating her way out of the fenced in yard. I finally said to my other half. We need HELP! I contacted Dog's Best Friend and worked with Chelse in the Reliable Recall Class 1. Karrera did well with this class however, we felt that we should enroll her in the class, again, so we did. She was successful after the second time around and then, the Reliable Recall Class 2 came along. So, we enrolled her in that class. She did well. Fast forward several years later. I took Karrera hunting in our backyard in the month of August so, the corn was tall. She got to the point in hunting that she got frustrated and took off into the corn field. I thought to myself, I am never going to see her again! And at that moment I remembered to whistle 3 times. Well, guess who showed up at the front door? YES! KARRERA! Now fast forward, again, Karrera is going to be 13 years old on November 1, 2025. I took her hunting in Indiana. I had on me a treat pouch with cooked Lamb (this is something that our dogs only get when we are at shows or hunting). I called her, she came, I treated! She got to her first sett (hole in the ground) and I took her off her leash. When I wanted her to come to me, I would whistle 3 times, she came, I treated. She was off leash running smelling and being a dog. Yes, I was still nervous about her being off leash but, this Reliable Recall Class is worth it's weight in Gold! If there is any class that I would recommend to any one it will be this one! Thank you, Dog's Best Friend and Chelse for helping me and Karrera. With that said, I am also a breeder of Jack Russell Terriers and I start doing a whistle recall as soon as when the puppies are 3-4 weeks old. This way they go home with a basic recall at 10 weeks. People are really impressed when they come pick up their puppy and they are already coming to them on a basic whistle.

Excellent dog walking service! Scott and Mike are amazing!…read moreTrue dog lovers who take pride in their work

Scott Takes great care of my Australian Shepherd. My dog knows Scott's name and gets excited just…read moreknowing he will Be boarded whenever we are leaving on a trip

I expected my 7 month old pup to avoid the muddy area at the dog park. (What was I thinking?)…read more I'd never used a self-serve dog wash, and they said to just come in--and laughed at how muddy she really was. It was a little pricey at $18 but they were conveniently located, provided everything we needed for our state of disaster (including a big waterproof apron for me), and welcomed my little mutt like we were going to a party.

*ex employee! Unsafe environment for people and dogs! lovely staff who all care for the dogs but…read morevery negligent and dismissive management* I'll start by saying that I have not worked at Madison West for about two years now, so I'm not sure how management/staff is now (but looking at recent reviews it's seems like not much has changed.) The owner may also remove this post as well. The time I was working there the owner would never bring her own dogs there- which is incredibly telling about how poorly everything is kept at this location. That being said- I cannot recommend working here let alone boarding your dogs here. Dogtopia as a chain has a very inefficient and unsafe boarding model that- since working at other boarding facilities I've learned in retrospect- is also a huge waste of time for employees. The facilities are rancid and there was black mold on the drop tile ceilings in basically all the rooms because there's virtually zero ventilation and the dogs are pooping and peeing and vomiting on the floor inside all day (when brought up to management, my message was completely ignored.) It doesn't help that some of the cleaning equipment is broken as well (mop buckets missing wheels, chemical dispensers broken, and industrial floor scrubbers on the fritz because a dog chewed through the chord at one point.) I am a relatively healthy person but the whole 6 or so month I worked there I was continually sick and I'm very confident I had mold poisoning. I also threw up my first day of work because the putrid smell of ammonia and other excrement was so sickening. Management completely ignored employee input about certain dogs needing to be taken out of group due to poor and unsafe behavior (I was bitten TWICE by two different dogs who had continually displayed aggressive behavior that was not compatible with daycare.) There's a lot of stressful and downright dangerous situations happening DAILY for dogs and staff due to negligent management. The laws also limit 15 dogs to each person supervising them. Over a holiday weekend I was watching 38 dogs on my own. Half the time your dogs are being kept in small, rusty cages stacked on top of one another. (Ask for a tour of all the rooms- they probably won't let you.) Dogs get toes stuck in the wires, defecate in the crates, and try to fight one another through the crate walls. Between trying to keep up with cleaning, writing notes for bogus report cards, and breaking up fights- handlers rarely get to actually spend time with the dogs :( Staff was also made to work when ill or injured- one of my coworkers was made to work on a sprained ankle because we were understaffed. Management was also very dismissive of my report regarding harassment from another employee and I was made to work with her and try to "work it out" despite getting eery "goodnight" texts for several nights in a row. When you get pictures of your dogs know that we were explicitly told to crop out any crates, poop, or unhappy looking dogs from the background of photos. For the sake of all the dogs and staff, I truly hope things have changed around Dogtopia- but until I have proof of that, I advise you all to take your precious pets elsewhere :/

Dog Face Training is great! We're on our second class with our pup, and it's been helpful for us…read moreand for him. They use positive reinforcement only, which is what I was looking for when I looked around. They have lots of locations around Madison and plenty of times. Jada has been our instructor, and we love her (as does our puppy!). Class sizes are small -- there were 6 or 7 in our last class and only 4 in our current class. They also have extra opportunities for socialization. We love them!

After writing a review, the owner reached out to me to ask me more about my concerns. She emailed…read moreback and forth with me several times and was very professional, helpful, and resourceful. She let me know what steps the company was willing to take to ensure that my concerns were addressed and I felt a lot more comfortable and secure to give this company another try. Since having this open dialogue and discussion, our class has been very smoothly run and positive with many chances to ask questions and get feedback. I appreciate that they took the time to address my concerns and talk openly with me about things, that is really what makes all the difference!! It has been amazing since!!

I have two dogs that were not behaving, not listening to my commands, going potty everywhere. I…read moreread through other dog training reviews and found this one was best not only price wise but experience too. My dogs are listening more, and not being loud in their kennels like before. I definitely would recommend this company for training ur dog.

We had Dennis from The Family Dog help us get acquainted with our new puppy and give us helpful…read moretips on puppy training. From the first time we had Dennis come over our pup immediately took to him- he's a dog whisperer! We are forever grateful for him giving us the confidence & training in helping us get to our desired behavioral outcomes & making sure we have the necessary tools & tips moving forward. Definitely recommend The Family Dog!

I worked with Cortney from Focused Dog Training about a year ago. I had just adopted my 4 year old…read moredog. She was/is wonderful! I say was and is because even after our sessions ended last year, she's still available for questions! Every now and then my dog will do something new and I don't know how to handle it. I just text Cortney and she's always quick with advice and ideas. During our training, Cortney came to my house and provided everything I needed like a mat, collars, leashes, etc. She walked me through training techniques and practiced with me at each session. I always left our sessions with homework to practice and continually reinforce the training. She took us (my dog and me) on walks and taught me how to use a leash correctly and appropriate commands and behaviors. The best testament to Cortney's skill is how EXCITED my dog is to see her. Whenever Cortney's around my dog is on her best behavior and can't wait to hang out with Cortney! Highly recommend Focused Dog Training!

We sent our two dogs to Jayson for a week of bootcamp. Best money ever spent on them! My favorite…read morepart is now being able to walk with our two dogs without them pulling us for a "run" on our walk! They walk right next to us with no pulling or reacting to other dogs or distractions! The "place" command is wonderful! Highly recommend Jayson for dog training!

Our dog was attending Ruffin it for about a month, 3x a week. He passed his trial days and it…read moreseemed like everything was going well at the start. The last few times we took him to be dropped off he would stop in the doorway and not want to go inside, note that he has always LOVED daycare at his previous daycares. In the past he would try to sprint into the door to get inside, definitely not be hesitant. I can't say if something changed in how he was being treated, but it was a bad sign, and made us hesitant to consider taking him to Ruffin it since we couldn't be sure what was happening during the day off camera. We were told that Thursdays were ideally for tiny dogs and dogs that didn't want to play, which we could see on the cameras wasn't accurate. There were plenty of dogs much larger than our dog in the small dog room, and lots of dogs playing even when our dog was sleeping on the bench. But we were told that our dog was too high energy to come on Thursdays, so we agreed to try him out in one of the bigger dog rooms only on Thursdays. He did a trial day and it sounded like it went well. When we took him the next Monday they sent him to the big dog room again which was a surprise to us since we had thought he was only doing Thursdays in the big dog room, but we were trusting their judgement of where he was the best fit. When we went to pick him up, we were told that he has been in an isolation room since 9 am and had failed his trial days and thus wasn't allowed back. Since he had passed his trial days in the small dog room, our understanding was that he was just going through trial days in the big dog room to see how he interacted with bigger dogs for Thursday play. There was no communication from the staff that if he didn't play well with the big dogs he couldn't come back any day of the week, or that there had been any issues reported at all in the small dog room. The staff didn't call us to let us know that he had been put in isolation at 9 am, so he had to sit in the room for 8 hours until we came to get him. They claimed an email was sent which was never received, but even if there was, a phone call should be mandatory when locking a dog up so the parents are aware. All our communication with Ruffin it had been done via phone (texts and calls) up until this point, so only sending an email makes no sense. It felt as if they were trying to hide the fact that they locked him up. If we had known we would've left work to come pick him up sooner. Instead he had to sit in the room all day, and while they told us he was given bathroom breaks it didn't seem as if that was true given how much he peed as soon as he got out (he normally pees every 2 hours so there's very little urine each potty break. He peed for a solid 2 minutes straight after this day as soon as he got outside). It's totally fine if a dog isn't a good fit for a daycare, and we would have accepted that answer if it had been conveyed to us, especially considering our own hesitations. But instead, there was no communication leading up to this incident that there were any issues with our dog at all besides his high energy on Thursdays, and there was no communication day of to let us know that anything had happened. Instead our dog sat in a room by himself for 8 hours and we were charged a for full day of daycare that did not happen.

The first time I took Skipper to Ruffin' It it was like dropping off a shy scared kid at…read moreKindergarten. He did not want to leave my side. The second time he went he tried to jump out the car window as soon as we entered the driveway. Luckily he was tethered. Skip loves to see all his pals and I love seeing the pictures of him having fun. The staff always great Skip like he is their favorite dog but I have a feeling that every dog is also a favorite.

Sit Means Sit has been life changing for us and our pup! From the very beginning they we were…read morereally impressed with the knowledge and friendliness of the owner (Mike) and his staff. Our trainer was so amazing with our oversized pup. We knew he was in good hands every time we would drop him off. Not only did our trainer dona good job with our pup but she also did a good job with teaching us how to train and ensure what was learned can be replicated at home. We had known idea how much we would learn throughout the process. Our pup wouldn't have the life/freedom/confidence he has today without Sit Means Sit. Thank you so much Mike (and team)!!!

Everyone at Sit Means Sit has been so great! My dog Murphy was in dire need of some help when I got…read morehim 2 years ago, at 4 months old, and he was afraid of everything including his own reflection. They have taught us so much and I am BEYOND grateful for what they have and continue to teach us thru group and advanced classes. I would recommend them for anyone with a dog!!! Well worth it.

We've been working with Liz since before she went out on her own. She'd cared for Hanna & Jager our…read moreChinese Shar-pei while they were still with us. Riesling our French Bulldog has never been to another spa and doesn't know how good she has it. An aside, Riesling is trained to use a potty grate system in our home. It sits on the tiled floor in our bathroom. This occasionally causes her confusion when we travel. One day we went to pick her up from the west side location. Riesling had spied an air vent in the floor that looked like a grate. Apparently in need she released a load of molten diarrhea down into their vent. We got an update that it happened but Serenity was otherwise nice about it. How does the saying go? Something something accept the things I cannot change ...

The employees here are so much more than just groomers. They take such great care and support for…read morethe work that they do and they love animals! Every time I come in they ask about my pet and if there are any updates. They listen to what I say about my pups and tell me how they were during the process when I pick up. They are always so careful and treat my dog like their own. I love spoiling my babies and the pet spa is such a little dog treat:) highly recommend to all people who want to treat their doggies