Blue Ridge Canine Academy

My Lab, Charley, just finished his 2-week puppy board and train, and I could not be more pleased with the progress he made in such a short time. Cameron and Courtney are excellent trainers—not only with Charley, but with me as well. They took the time to explain the how and why of the training and answered all of my questions thoughtfully. When I brought Charley home, I felt well prepared to continue working with him. During one of our first training sessions outside, two neighborhood cats were very close by, and Charley barely paid them any attention—he stayed focused on me and the commands. I was amazed at how well he did! Charley will be returning for the 4-week board and train, and I’m excited to see his continued progress. I highly recommend Blue Ridge Canine Academy for any training needs—you will not be disappointed!

We have a 1-year old English Lab named Sully. True to the breed Sully is full of energy, loves to chew, jump on people, and was as obstinate as the most challenging teenager…anything to get attention! We knew we wanted a well mannered, trained dog as part of our family, and began researching trainers in pursuit of that goal. Our breeder recommended Blue Ridge Canine Academy (BRCA) and while they were part of our research, we wanted to look into as many options as possible to ensure we were making the best choice for Sully. We searched for some time, visited trainers, and asked our questions. While there are a lot of options out there, BRCA’s reviews stood out above them all. One of the things that really stood out about BRCA is that they encouraged us to come in during training so they could teach us to work with Sully. All other programs we looked into were non-negotiably closed door. With our choice made we dropped our boy off with Cameron and Courtney for his 4-week ‘sleep away camp’. We of course had the typical parental concerns, will our boy remember us, will he still be that goofy affectionate loving little guy we dropped off, will he learn the things we really needed him to learn… The short answer to all our questions was YES! Cameron and Courtney loved on our boy just like we do, and the results of their efforts were immediately obvious. Not only was Sully still our sweet affectionate boy, but now he was also well behaved. Prior to training, walking Sully was a chore. No matter the leash or harness type he would drag us along our path. As he grew we got to the point that my wife could no longer walk him. He jumped constantly, refused to drop anything he may have in his mouth, and would only come on a recall if we had some VERY high value treats in hand, and even then not reliably. Our relationship has gone from antagonistic to one of mutual respect. Sully walks comfortably by our side, on or off leash, he drops when asked, and his recall is nothing short of amazing. Now we can all look forward to family walks in the park. In the past letting Sully off leash so he could run and play, or go swimming was unthinkable, but now it’s the norm. Bottom line, Blue Ridge Canine Academy stands out amongst their peers. Not only did they help Sully achieve his full potential, but Courtney showed amazing patience as she taught me how to better understand our boy, interact with him, and always set him up for success. We couldn’t be happier!! Thank you Cameron and Courtney.