New Hope Dog Training Center

Our dog was extremely anxious and could be aggressive around other dogs. We had tried basic training with her but the anxiety and aggression continued. We were at our wits end when we found Gene and Berk through a neighbor and after spending three weeks with them, we have the sweetest, calmest dog. By just teaching her (and us) some basic commands and communication techniques (us), we have the dog we always knew she could be. Thanks Gene and Berk!

Our Brittany attended training sessions at local dog training centers and continued to have behavioral issues, many of which we thought were related to separation anxiety. We were about ready to give up on her. I read about the New Hope Dog Training Center and Gene's extensive experience training dogs. Gene and I discussed our dog's issues, and he was willing to see if he could help. With Gene, our dog has made remarkable progress in just a few training sessions, and I have learned so much about how my behavior has contributed to her misbehaving. We are in the middle of our training and look forward to completing Gene's easy-to-follow program.

I did not have a good experience bringing my 2 - 10 month old miniature poodles whom are AKC registered emotional support dogs. I tried to make the most out of this experience. When I first dropped them off, I was greeted outside by Gene, one of the owners and was not invited inside to view the facility at drop off or pick up. Immediately I was put off by Genes rudeness. He makes very frequent insulting comments throughout this experience that makes you bite your tongue to not snap back. After meeting him and dropping off my puppies, I was already worried. I went home and searched up reviews where I saw some customers were not satisfied because their dog had been injured in their care. A French bulldog, on yelp review. This gave me a sense of uneasiness while I waited to get my dogs back in less than 3 weeks. Upon picking them up, he brought my puppies outside, the brown male dog was trembling from head to toes, my dog was terrified of Gene. Both miniature poodles had Choke chains on. Gene yanked on one dog while Berk yanked on the other repeatedly with choke chains. They told me to shock my dogs at a continuous setting at 40 and even hold the button down when they misbehave with a 202c electric collar. They pulled a lot at the leash as they walked them to my car at pick up showing they were not trained well. This session was recorded. These dogs never had issues with aggression and were very friendly sweet animals. They did not need choke chains when they weigh only 10 lbs. After getting home and examining my dogs, I noticed a scrape on my female dogs leg and my male dog had swollen testicle, which a day later turned purple and blue from bruising trauma. I have a vet report. The vet took photos of the injuries. The vet recommended I charge the facility for this vet bill due to these injuries. The vet and another reputable trainer said that these size dogs should be shocked with the electric collar no more than at a setting of 10 on nick, not continuous. Gene continued to be insulting throughout all sessions/lessons following. I kept calm and maintained a good rapport with him to complete the training even thou he was being very insulting. In the final zoom training he talked about how I was way over my head having two puppies, that I need to give my male dog away, that I shouldn’t have these dogs that he was taking volume so he didn’t beat someone up jokingly and how his mom had schizophrenia and other disorders. He likes to talk and not let you get any word in. This meeting was supposed to be about my dogs training not his personal life stories. The whole meeting he talked about his personal life stories and did not help me. My dogs have not been eating well, they are boney, since getting them back, they have had days of digestive issues with diarrhea and my male dogs testicle is still swollen, I will have to make another vet appointment costing me hundreds additional money. I requested my money back under their money back guarantee and they declined it. Do not believe their advertisements on their website. The dogs did not come home trained as advertised on their website and I don’t recommend unless you want your dog to be shocked into fear submission at a very extremely stressful level. The dogs are also kept in kennel type areas (not crates) but he said I needed to buy small medium crates at home. My playpen area similar to their kennels would not suffice they said so I bought crates for another 100$ He claims they must have been injured jumping inside his new hope kennels on their dogs metal bed posts. He will not reimburse me for the vet bill. If they were trained not to jump, they wouldn’t have been jumping inside the kennels. You will do most of the work after bringing them home. You’re better off buying your own electric collars, and doing it yourself since you are on your own anyway. I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the treatment I experienced nor the treatment of my dogs.

Gene and Berk at New Hope Dog Training were great - this experience really worked for us! When we reached out to Gene, our dog Kevin was chewing everything, jumping on the kids, escaping anytime there was a crack in the door. We needed to do something, and this was it. Gene helped create a foundation of obedience training with Kevin. When we picked Kevin up after a few weeks with Gene and Berk, we saw that he was capable of being obedient and it was really helpful to see. Gene's follow-up trainings were the key to success, though. He gave us a theoretical foundation for his approach (e.g., "an open door is not an open invitation") followed by concrete instructions about what to do and when, to make the training stick in our own home and day to day lives. Gene is quirky and fun and integrates stories into his training to help ensure that his points land. Kevin has been home for three weeks and has completely stopped chewing things he shouldn't, hasn't jumped on the kids once, and understands how to be a good dog in our house. It's been life-changing. And, comparing New Hope Dog Training to other offerings in the area, this is a great value.