Canine Academy

I have done a lot of training through Canine Acadamy with my dog and can say we have had nothing but great times and results. With the training you also get a lot of valuable information on how to be a better dog owner for your pet beyond having just an obedient pup. During one of the classes the trainer reviewed health and wellness and we covered the value of pet insurance as an item to consider ( I never have had health insurance for any pet prior) and we talked through situations and our commitment to our animals. After thinking it over for a few weeks I signed my dog and cat up with ASPCA three years ago and never had to used it until recently. Unfortunately, my dog needed surgery to repair both his knees and I didn’t have to worry one second about how to finance the vet bill because of that great advice and discussion during training. If my pup lives 10 more years the insurance will still have paid for itself after one health crisis. I very much appreciate all the information, support and GREAT dog obtained through training — it has been invaluable.

I can't imagine there is a better dog trainer on the planet than Lisa and Canine Academy. On the strong recommendation of two separate friends, I took my puppy, Oreo, to their Beginners training when he was five months old. While not inexpensive, I thought they did a great job. They make it clear that it takes an investment of the dog owner's time to have a great dog, and if you are willing to put in the time that's what you are going to get. I was impressed enough with the Beginner class that on the last day I signed up for Intermediate. The winter was approaching. Since there are no weeknight Advanced training classes during the colder months because a lot of it is spent outside, I planned on signing Oreo up for Advanced during the spring. However, even though I had a really good dog, I wanted him to be a perfect and extremely obedient dog. I wanted to be able to take him for a walk in the woods and know that he would come every time I called him. I wanted to be able to go for a walk and not worry about him chasing a car. I didn't want him to jump up on the counter. I didn't want him to snatch a piece of food out of someone's hand. I wanted to be able to take him to my sister's house to play with her dog, and I wanted him to be well-behaved. That's what I mean by a perfect dog. Both of my two friends that had sent their dogs to Canine Academy had done their Off-Leash program and they highly recommended it. Despite the fact that it costs more than double what I paid for my dog alone I thought it was worth a try. It turns out it was worth every penny. I didn't see Oreo for almost six weeks, and that was incredibly hard to do. But OMG, Oreo came home perfect. He's the same dog, has the same fun personality, but he's totally obedient. Lisa is truly a dog-training expert, and I can't recommend her highly enough. On a scale of 1-10, she's a 100.

Bella, our labrador retriever puppy, was about 14 weeks old when my wife and I took her to Canine Academy for beginners training in July, 2018. She was a cute, adorable puppy, but was very “mouthy” and her sharp puppy teeth were constantly cutting up our arms. The first two weeks of training were very helpful in teaching her the basics of settling, sitting, lying down, etc., but she was still very mouthy, even in class. The third week of training introduced the “timeout” technique and for us it was a life changer. This non-threatening, non-painful technique worked wonders. After just 4 timeouts, Bella completely stopped mouthing and became an absolute pleasure to play with, especially for our grandchildren. Bella continued to show progress in all other areas of training, so we continued with the completion of the intermediate and advanced classes. We supplemented her training with their daycare program and the extra training support and socialization have definitely paid off. She is now scheduled for the off leash program later this month. We can’t say enough good things about Lisa and her staff at Canine Academy. We have been to all three of their locations in Rochester, Birmingham and Oxford and everyone we’ve had contact with shares Lisa’s love and respect for dogs. We can tell that everyone there loves our Bella and we feel very comfortable leaving her in their good hands. In fact, we’ve used their boarding services in Oxford and Bella is always excited to go there. It will be difficult leaving her for 6 weeks at the off leash program, but we know that the end result will be the “great dog” that Canine Academy delivers. We can’t thank Lisa and her staff enough for the caring training services and support they have provided since last July. John & Pat Pew Rochester, MI As a follow up to the above review, Bella graduated from the off leash program at the end of February 2019. We couldn't be happier with the results. She is an absolute pleasure to take on long walks. No more pulling at the leash, sniffing everything in sight or licking up everything she sees on the ground. She walks with us on a loose leash and she effectively heels whenever we need her to. On the rare occasion she picks something up, she immediately drops it upon command. When off the leash, she comes whenever called, stays whenever told to do so and waits before we let her go out the door or jump into the car. Canine Academy took our good Bella and turned her into a great Bella without changing anything about her personality. We now enjoy attending all the outings that Canine Academy provides to their off leash clients. Thanks again to Lisa and her staff for enhancing our life with Bella!