Animal Inn Training School

Superb facilities and location with a perennial, steadfast legacy in the local dog world. Reasonably priced. However, I WOULD NOT recommend this place for first time puppy owners. Especially if you’re looking for just basic training a normal, well-adjusted home dog. Culture and vibe fit Best-In-Show-esque characters, a bit cultish (so if you’re looking to do AKC comp stuff with a dog, consider this your place). Honestly, I wish I stopped going after the first session and listened to my gut when registration online was so archaic and wonky. It’s left my puppy and I without confidence and more scared than before. Understanding that dogs, trainers, people don’t always align, I’d recommend they do a free or by-session rate to ensure fit before committing to a class. Although a reasonable price, really regretting the sunk cost. They also need to get into the 21st century of communications and UX experience- I never received any type of registration confirmation, reminder, nada. We also started off on the wrong foot not knowing where to go the first day BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF INFO and were late. My puppy is far from being an angelic but everything about this place has made it worse. It may be part of the business model as to not want outsiders enrolling. Communications cont’d- I was taking my puppy potty outside during class, leashed, in the lawn outside, gravitated towards the fenced agility arena (all well behind the fence) where my puppy and I were SCREAMED AT to go away by some woman and her puppy in the agility arena. I get elevated voices if a dog or person is in harms way. BUT THAT. WE WERE BEHIND THE FENCE MINDING OUR OWN BUSINESS. If it had been polite, I would not be writing this. It seemed I never got a memo about an unwritten rule of where my puppy can potty and not potty, especially for a first time owner. Hopefully this post can point me in a direction of better fit elsewhere for a puppy and a first time owner.

I regret taking my puppy to the puppy class and a couple beginner obedience classes held here (led by the German Shepherd Dog Club of Mpls & St. Paul). Like others have commented, they strongly recommended a prong collar - for a PUPPY!! And I was dumb enough to believe them when they told me the typical "trainer" BS about it not hurting, it mimics mom dog nipping them, put it on your arm and see... Your forearm is NOT the same as a dog's neck where their thyroid resides. They follow and push so called "balanced" training, which is a load of crap. Following their obedience, I wound up with a reactive dog who was fearful of many things due to the "popping" of the collar - aka ABUSE! I had two German Shepherds before my current one. Neither ever had even one day of obedience training - i just treated them like my children - and they were the most wonderful dogs ever who I never worried about one bit with other people and children. Now I am working through the process of repairing my relationship with my dog and essentially deprogramming him by throwing away all things dog training. It's a slow process but he is getting much better. I will NEVER take any dog to any obedience training ever again - even so called "positive only" trainers. They all follow one or more "quadrant" of IGP training, which is detrimental to your relationship with your dog. If you want to risk destroying your relationship with your dog, take him to these classes. If you just want an overall calm dog, just work on building your relationship with him and treat him like you would your child - with love and respect. Ask yourself - if you treated your best friend how you treat your dog, would he/she want to be around you? If the answer is No, you know you are on the wrong path.