Instinct Dog Behavior & Training

We are so glad we called Instinct! We had a bad experience with a previous trainer, but the second Ayelet got on the phone with us we knew we were in good hands. We were even sent an hour long questionnaire about our dog's history/health/behavior/etc. prior to training. Y'all...they care so much! We have a 1 year old rescue pup who's dog reactive, and we've been pretty much unable to take him on walks or near other dogs at all. Jenna helped us overcome all of this and we could not be more grateful. She coached us on how to slowly warm him up to lots of different scenarios- we even had a playdate with another dog today with no issues! His reactivity will be something we'll continue to work on for months, but I can't tell you how relieved we are to have gained some confidence with it. Jenna really helped put things into perspective and helped us understand how to read our dog and take things at his pace. You really can't rush progress like this, and I love that Instinct doesn't promise "quick, fast, easy results" because those are not effective or even possible. We would absolutely do this again if given the chance, booking with Instinct was a game changer.

This review is specific to the 1 week training camp. I gave three stars because the facility itself is clean and friendly and they are very professional. They send photos of your dog with cute little notes and the atmosphere is nice for a boarding/training facility. Clearly this place works successfully for some dogs and their owners. My personal experience: Unfortunately, 1 week training feels like a money grab if your dog needs more support. We were recommended 2 weeks initially but it was out of our budget so we signed up for 1 week with no push back from the staff which made us feel they were equipped to give us something for our money in a week. We were not looking for magic at all, just looking for some foundational training or bare minimum some tips for a non-aggressive 1 year old Golden Retriever who pulls and gets over stimulated easily. What we got was a call around day 4 saying our pup should be put on meds and there nothing to show for 4 days because he's too over stimulated- which was the whole reason for coming to them in the first place. We took a whole survey and said he gets distracted and over stimulated before booking. Ended up paying almost a month's rent to be told what we already knew along with non-professional advice to put our dog on meds. They offered to comp us if we wanted to come back but that's a tough sell. We even thought that upon picking him up there would be some sort of in-person acknowledgement or "hey sorry this didn't work out", nope. Overall I'm glad I didn't sign up for the recommended two weeks, since they tried to convince us to put him on meds on day 4 anyway. If your puppy needs real guidance, and you can't afford their long term boarding, I would recommend investing in a personal trainer and not the 1 week camp. your money will be better spent.