Fur and Feather Works, LLC

I enrolled my 3 month old Saint Bernard puppy in the Puppy Kindergarten class on November 20, 2022. My concerns about the class and the trainer, Danielle N. began on December 4 in which after the socialization play session, my dog was panting heavily. I am a retired physician and orthopedic surgeon. The heavy panting did not appear to concern Danielle N., or she chose to ignore it, although it concerned me as a health issue and sign of overheating. On December 11, there were only 2 dogs in the class--my puppy and another smaller mixed breed puppy. Danielle N. had them running vigorously on the hard slick linoleum surface of their training facility. My dog is usually a very gentle, placid dog as are Saint Bernards. At this session, my dog was extremely riled up and very excited during these vigorous play sessions. I don't know if Danielle N. is familiar with the precautions of giant breed puppies which include NOT allowing them to run vigorously on hard slick surfaces as they can be damaging to their developing bones and joints. Also since I was concerned about my dog's heavy panting after his play session from the prior class, I brought ice cubes for his hydration, and also a large towel for him to lie on. The trainer, Danielle N. was critical and reprimanded me that I needed to bring higher value treats, telling me NOT to bring ice cubes, telling me to use a different bowl for water, and NOT to bring a towel. She said she was concerned about client slippage for the ice cubes. I wiped up the water myself off of their facility floor with my towel. I called Fur and Featherworks on December 12 to speak to Danielle N about my concerns. and I was told to email Danielle N, which I did. At the last session that my husband and I attended with our puppy on December 18, 2022, we were segregated to a separate area away from the rest of the class, and with high partitions that my husband and I could not even see what Danielle N. was demonstrating to the other class members. This was extremely frustrating. I brought high value treats, a different water bowl, water and not ice cubes, and no towel as recommended to me by Danielle N. Even still, my dog was not allowed to join in any of the socialization sessions, and we were segregated from the other owners and dogs during the class exercises. This segregation did NOT go unnoticed by another dog owner as she approached me after the class asking me why our dog was not allowed to join the other class members. I called on December 19 to speak to the owner, Joanna M. about my concerns. She has not returned my phone calls. Finally, and it is with great sadness that I even have to mention this. My husband and I are Asian. I received an email on December 20 from the owner Joanna M. stating that it is not her intention to make anyone feel singled out or uncomfortable and unhappy and to let me know that she refunded my tuition. However, whether intended or not, I believe that conscious or unconscious bias does exist. My perception is that my husband and I were treated differently that their other clients. From the way that Danielle N. spoke to us, treated us and segregated us from the rest of the class, did not allow us to participate with the other members in the class exercises and socialization, and with the owner Joanna M. refusing to return my phone calls to discuss my concerns, the entire experience with Fur and Featherworks has been very upsetting to me. While the refund of the tuition is helpful, I do hope that ALL of the clients of Fur and Featherworks will be treated respectfully and equally in the future. I had hoped that I could speak with owner Joanna M. to express my feelings about the situation, but she has not returned my phone calls. Unfortunately I do NOT recommend Fur and Featherworks

Joanna helped us ease some serious tension with our two cats. For four and a half years they had lived together peacefully and then one day something just snapped in one or both of them. We went from two cats who were roommates that sometimes played and cuddled...to mortal enemies that could not even be allowed to make eye contact. After a few months of keeping them separated at all times and trying all sorts of reintroduction techniques we found online, we contacted Joanna. She gave us some insight into cat behavior and tips for re-training their little brains. She warned us that cats won't always end up buddies in the end so we just hoped for peaceful co-existence. We spent a few weeks working with Joanna and implementing the tools she gave us to recognize signs of stress in cats. And then, one day it was like that switch just flipped back to "normal". Our cats not only co-exist again, but they'll even share lap space and it makes so so happy. We are extremely grateful for her help. Our cats are our family and we were at our breaking point when she came in and helped us turn things around.

I can not say enough amazing things about fur and feather works! Everything was so smooth and efficient! We practiced real world things! They really understand dogs and how they learn best! Depending on what your dog needs they will adjust the lesson for the day! I have a Shepherd and they knew exactly his temperament and what he needed to succeed!! I could go on and on about all of the amazing things they do!

I would highly recommend Fur and Feather Works. We did their Lassie Package (Puppy Kindergarten, Basic Manners, Rocket Recall, and Walkabout). I appreciate the fact that the trainers work with the dogs/humans at their level. I never felt like my dog, Rosie Cotton was awful or I was doing a terrible job with her, despite the fact she was a crazy lab puppy. I’ve learned so much on how to train her and I appreciate the skills / techniques the classes taught us. Our puppy has made so much progress over the past year, she calms down within a few minutes, she jumps way less (almost there….) she lays on her mat while I’m cooking – with only a gentle reminder. She sits on her mat during dinner, she can sit and stay and comes when called. Just recently while we were in the front yard my dog saw a neighbor, she used to run to go say hi, but since we’ve been using the techniques learned in class, she sat, looked at me for instruction and came when called. Fur and Feather Works has given me confidence as a dog mom.