Cleveland All-Breed Training Club

UPDATE: After this review, I reached out to the Club via email, informing them I would not be returning due to harsh techniques I saw. They responded, asking what happened & I told them everything. They kindly offered a refund and assured me they were taking what I told them seriously. Tonight, upon reading my review, I received an email. They said the instructor was spoken too. Also, the dog & handler I spoke of, has moved to a different class and apparently are having a much better experience, according to CABTC. They also told me that what I told them wasn’t accurate. I did *not* lie, I told them exactly what *I* experienced. I hope the club one day moves in a more scientifically based, positive direction. Until then I’m sorry to say, I still cannot recommend training here. ORIGINAL: While I enjoy doing Scent Trials here, against my better judgement, I attempted to take an "Attention" class here. There was a very nervous golden retriever next to me who was jumping on it's owner (the dog was showing extreme signs of stress already so this was clearly an attempt to get the owner's attention) and the instructor who is DIRECTOR OF TRAINING came over, told the woman to attach her leash to the prong collar, took the leash and began VIOLENTLY yanking *as hard* as she could on the prong collar. The dog put it's paws on the trainer's arms trying to get her to stop. When that didn't work, she began violently shaking the dog with both hands on the prong collar. Later, she came over to try and treat the dog, trying to teach it to "wait" for a treat and kept hitting it in the face. (There are MUCH for effective & positive ways to teach this). She did other inexcusable things to other dogs in class. I've been training my anxious dog with positive reinforcement her whole life & she was MUCH further along in her training then most dogs in the class who had gone through all the "Foundation" classes at CABTC. I will NEVER EVER subject my dog to this environment again & I really hope anyone who is reading this comment takes this into consideration & stays FAR AWAY from the training here. Science has proven that Positive Reinforcement is the most efficient & effective form of training. The fact that a "training club", which has been around for several decades and has as it's *2nd line* of it's Mission Statement "To disseminate the latest knowledge regarding responsible dog ownership and dog training." has a Director of Training who uses violent and abusive methods is despicable.