Alyeska Canine Trainers

I first started taking classes at ACT back in 1999. 20 years later I still take classes. I’m not a member of the club, so I have nothing to gain by giving a positive review. I’ve been involved in a wide variety of classes, seminars, and events. I’ve been in obedience and rally trials. I’ve done the drop in conformation classes on Friday nights. I’ve attended obedience seminars. And I’ve taken a wide variety of classes. I’ve taken the drop in classes that are sometimes during the day or evening. Then I’ve also been in 6 week long classes in the evening. ACT is a great place to get involved in dog sports like obedience or agility. I know without them, I probably would not have gone into dog sports. With any volunteer group, the trainers are going to be different from one person to the next.

IF I COULD GIVE THIS A NEGATIVE (-1) I WOULD. I CONCUR WITH "Morgaine Finch" WITH EVERY SINGLE WORD. FOR A MINUTE I WAS LOOKING IN THE MIRROR THINKING MY DOG WAS THE ONLY ONE ABUSED BY THIS INSTRUCTOR. I DIDN'T RETURN, WASTE OF MONEY. ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS RUN, RUN, RUN DO NOT USE THE INSTRUCTOR LYNN. LYNN IS THE ANIMAL THAT SHOULD BE TRAINED, COLLARED WITH SPIKES & SPRAYED WITH VINEGAR NOT THE DOGS. MY DOG IS NOW INTO SPORTS & DOING WELL. ANY OTHER TRAINING NEEDED, I'LL READ BOOKS.

I've taken to referring to this place as the "Vinegar Lunacy Palace" in conversation. I signed my dog and I up for a beginner's class, and it was a nightmare experience. The school advertises itself as using "positive reinforcement" to train - but day one of class the instructor started pressuring everyone to put prong collars on their dogs (not "you should get one!"but "here take this spare prong that might or might not be the right size and you have no idea how to use before I teach 'sit'") and spraying dogs in the face with vinegar for barking. You know, instead of telling people to get their dog's attention. The instructor had an amazing lack of self-awareness. "You shouldn't scold your dogs for barking, because if you raise your voice they'll just think you're barking too!" OK, fair enough, raised voices add to the excitement level...except by the second class I attended she was dealing with dogs who barked by going over to them, standing in front of them, leaning down face-to-face and SCREAMING at them to shut up. Shockingly, this didn't actually get the dogs to stop barking, though to be fair it did briefly drown them out. I had an excitable dog who was interested in greeting other dogs, and she had a little difficulty when the first class started with "loose-leash-walking" (read: everyone starts walking at once at different speeds and no regard for pacing. The instructor's advice was to "let the prong do the work!"). I moved off to one side and worked on getting my dog engaged with me, and the instructor came over to harangue me for "ruining my dog" and telling me that my dog would NEVER be able to walk without a prong. Two minutes later, when my dog and I joined the chaotic circle of dogs and walked nicely (on a flat collar) without incident, the instructor looked annoyed and pointedly ignored my dog and I for the rest of class. Instead of going over any kind of theoretical framework for training, or discussing reinforcement and distractions, the instructor showed how to lure sits and downs and then would stand around chattering at length about dogs she had known/times judges at competitions had wronged her/things she hated about winter/etc. Since most students were trying to listen politely instead of keeping their dogs engaged, the ignored dogs predictably tried to make their own fun by trying to interact with each other. As soon as one barked or tugged on the leash, out came the vinegar bottles and screaming. I paid for 6 class sessions and went to three before I decided that it was not just a fluke or an off-day on the instructor's part and stopped coming back. My dog and I now take classes at Alaska Dog Sports and The Better Companion, and the difference is night and day. I should add that I don't think prongs are terrible, but they are a tool that needs to fit properly and be used correctly to actually *teach* a dog, and that a school that markets itself as "positive reinforcement based" is unable to tell the difference between positive reinforcement and positive punishment is really a bad sign. TL;DR: False advertising, bad instruction, and poor training. If you actually like your dog, give these folks a WIDE berth