I had high hopes for Tri-Valley K9/Felix S. when I hired him to board & train our 2 Shepherd mixes for a week (8 nights specifically). Unfortunately, our experience was very disappointing.
We wanted our dogs to work on obedience and off-leash training. One of our dogs is a quick learner and the other is very treat-motivated. We understand that one week is not enough to perfect these tasks however, we expected the learning process to begin under the trainer's care and the owners would be recapped on what was taught in order to reinforce, and continue the training.
However, after the entire week, we felt that there was not any training to "continue". The one training video we received was of our dogs learning "place" and "stay" - both commands that they already knew. Felix mentioned they walked around the park every day....was there any training here? Or was he just walking our dogs? Cause they walked the exact same way when we got them back.
Additionally, we specifically mentioned training goals we wanted to be addressed. One was reactive towards larger dogs and the other was very sensitive to loud noises/busy streets. When asked if he worked on those concerns, Felix stated that he did not witness any of those behaviors at all - so it was not addressed. My question is - were they intentionally exposed enough to express those behaviors? (During our 1-on-1, we walked along the busy street and my dog instantly became skittish and started pulling away from the street...it was not difficult to witness and address the behavior.)
Felix informed us that he was in the middle of a marketing restructuring and although the updated costs were higher, he was willing to accommodate the former pricing structure of $175/night/dog.
We spent $2800 for a week of boarding & training for 2 dogs.
I requested daily photos and updates and for the entire week, we only received 3 sporadic photo updates - all prompted by my request. I only received 1 actual report on Day 2 which stated that they did not do any training yet because our dogs have not adjusted to their new environment yet.
Pick up and drop off were fine. However, the 1 hr recap session with us was scheduled a couple of days after drop off. Felix completely missed our appointment and didn't realize until we texted him 15 min into our scheduled appointment. We ended up meeting the next day.
Felix could not specifically recall what commands/training they worked on during the one week with him. We did not see ANY differences in our dogs' behavior. While the one-hour session was okay, it does not make up for the one-week training we were promised.
As a gesture for completely missing our originally scheduled appt, he offered an extra free lesson where we can work on off-leash walking using e-collars. It has been a month since we scheduled the makeup lesson. He canceled and rescheduled twice. I texted him 2 times to see when we can reschedule this makeup appointment and have not received any response. At this point, I think it's safe to say we have been ghosted by Felix since Oct 2, 2023.
It is distasteful when you offer something to make up for your mistake and then never follow through with it.
Overall - I would NOT recommend Felix's board and train. He seems very disorganized and scattered with many commitments all over the Bay Area. Unless you are doing a 1-on-1 where you have his full attention, I would not trust he's allotting the appropriate time and training for your pup. Avoid the costly mistake that we made with Board + Train. The only good things that came out of this experience were that (1) my dogs came back safe and healthy, and (2) the one-hour 1-on-1 session went well. read more