Dog's Downtown

I’ve been taking my 4 year old dog here for training once a week for several months now. I am very impressed how the training completely transformed my relationship with my dog. I wish I did not waste my time and money with the group training sessions at the big pet stores. Private training sessions with a professional trainer is far more effective. I recommended Dogs Downtown to my family and friends, and they are also pleased with the result of the training their dogs. We did basic obedience training with Clifton and specific task training with Alexa. Both are excellent trainers. I would say Clifton’s training is more strict and would be better suited for willful and stubborn dogs, while Alexa’s training is softer and would accommodate shy or anxious dogs well. Someone noted in another review of their negative sentiment towards the use of martingale collar - I cannot disagree more. Martingale, contrary to common misconception, does not “choke” the dog when used properly. It merely signals a correction to the dog with light tapping action, and this is very effective. My dog did not like having martingale on but responded well once she got used to the idea. I would not recommend the consultation session unless you want to check out the facility and talk to a trainer to understand their training method. Consultation note does not seem to be passed to the training session so you are better off to schedule a training session and explain your goals to the trainer on the first day.