High Drive Dog Company

Carly transformed our low confidence new puppy into a confident, playful pup in just 6 weeks. When we brought our new rescue Salem to his first training class two months ago we were shocked as he hid, shook, screamed in fear and snapped at other puppies during playtime. After having an older, easy, confident yellow lab for years we weren’t prepared and didn’t know what to do with a very scared new puppy acting this way. As someone that wants to dress their puppy in sweaters and hug them all day while telling them what a good boy they are, it was hard at first to swallow the pill that we were going to have to start treating our little fur nugget very differently than we had been. Carly is so knowledgeable and is able to perfectly articulate how a dog thinks and interprets what your behavior is telling them. Her methods WORK. We started bringing Salem to daycare once a week in addition to class so Carly and the team could really fix his fear based behaviors and it’s like we have a whole new dog. In just a few weeks Salem started being confident with strangers, stopped trying to hide from other dogs, is heeling off leash and played joyfully with all the other puppies in his last two classes. We are so beyond grateful for Carly and the High Drive Team and can’t give enough praise. Leave your defensiveness and opinions at the door and be prepared to do the work and you’ll have your dog behaving like the pup of your dreams if you follow her methods.

This review is in regard to the overnight boarding services offered by High Drive. I had a sudden death in my family and High Drive easily accommodated my need to board my dog without much advance notice at all. The boarding paperwork was comprehensive and informative. Catie communicated with me via email in a very responsive and friendly manner with lots of detail to answer my questions. I had to switch the scheduled time to pick my dog up and High Drive did not charge me extra and was very accommodating and kind to my needs in a high stress time. I was able to text the kennel line directly to rearrange the time of pick up. We are currently in training class 2/8 for our dog and the training was maintained while she was boarded and they staff the kennel for 2-5 more hours per day than other boarding facilities. The owner herself works at the kennel during the day and her staff members are skilled in her techniques. Thank you, High Drive!

Training a puppy is a lot of work but can still include joy and compassion. I found neither of those things at High Drive. I don't know how the pet nor the owner can be expected to learn when the owner is being berated and too afraid to speak to ask questions. Their philosophy is to overwhelm shy dogs as opposed to what they refer to as coddling them. In trusting their technique I signed my puppy up for day care with them only to be called to pick up a traumatized pet a few hours later. Their trainers weren't even able to get him out of a kennel to join the daycare group and didn't communicate with me about what had happened until very late in the evening. Their methods were very wrong for my dog, very wrong for me. We have found success at another facility that teaches the same concepts with a different presentation, one that allows for patience, compassion, and joy.