Pet Athletic Club

To be an effective teacher, one must first be an effective listener. I believe this holds true across the board, no matter the subject or the species you are teaching. I have waited 4 months to write this review as I did not want it to be emotionally driven. Scott is absolutely a fabulous dog trainer when you have a stable, well adjusted dog that needs basic training. However, if you have a dog who has specific issues, such as fear aggression, lack of confidence, separation anxiety etc., please read the rest of my review before you move forward. I have a two year old malinois who has several issues, including but not limited to, anxiety, fear aggressive, destructive behavior, lack of focus, etc. I spoke with Scott four times in a three month period anguishing over whether the four week board and train program was the right decision. Aside from the cost, I wanted to be sure that we were making the right choice for our dog. Each time I spoke with him, I explained her situation. That she had taken her basic, advanced obedience class, had her canine good citizenship award (a big step for a dog that tried to bite the trainer in her first 2 classes) as well as completed a 6 month therapy certification class. Our issue was not training obedience. We had that down for the most part. He may have heard me but he did not listen. He was more concerned about diagnosing my dog over the phone, correcting my terminology, explaining definitions of the terms he used, and assuring me what miracles he could work with her and had no recollection of our prior conversations as well as boasting about the champions that he trained. In the end, we took a chance. I was desperate. I wanted so badly for this pup to live a life free from anxiety, just a normal, stable dog life. After a four weeks of no contact with my dog, I waited patiently through a 3.5 hour meeting to see my dog. He told us nothing ground breaking. He "taught" her 11 of the 12 commands he promised, 10 of which she already knew. (He couldn't teach her to speak, she would not bark for him) He showed us his training techniques, videos of him working with her, stories of how wonderful she was and how easy she was train (i would hope so after nine solid months of weekly training classes). In reality, he changed all 10 of her hand and voice commands and taught her 1 new trick in 4 weeks. He was degrading and confrontational during the meeting with both my husband and myself. He assured us that her separation anxiety was well on the way to being corrected, that she only had a few accidents in her kennel while she was boarded (which the staff confirmed my suspicion telling me she had been having several a day), etc. We brought home our pup and she was easily twice as bad as she was prior to training. In addition to not being any better, she developed other troubling issues she had not displayed prior to training. She began pacing, chewing, scratching, whining, and she was completely uncrateable having accidents almost immediately after entering her crate, one of the biggest issues that we had hoped training would he correct. In the end, I think if he could have stopped talking about how great and wonderful he was for just a minute, if he had spent just a minute listening, truly listening to what her issues were, maybe if he had jotted down some notes about what she did and did not know, he he could have stopped correcting my terminology (with his own definitions), if he would have just listened, he could have been so much more effective. For those who are dealing with these issues, there is hope. We found a wonderful vet located in Ft. Wright who does primarly holistic work with animals. She has done a wonderful job of giving our pup the chance she needed. With her help, all of the anxiety driven symptoms have disapated, my pup is laying next to me sleeping like a baby right now, something we never experienced our first 18 months with her. While we still cannot crate her, she no long destroys things in the house, a happy medium I can live with.