Sit Means Sit Dog Training Richmond

I am writing this review under a relative's account, as I do not want my review associated with my name for professional reasons. At around 8 months old, my dog began displaying some signs of aggression. He was resource guarding and nippy during bath time. After researching and contacting several training resources, I decided to give Sit Means Sit a try based on their many positive reviews. During my initial meeting, the owner did a demonstration of the collar with my dog, which he seemed to react negatively to, but ultimately, he performed the behavior after several minutes of e-collar use. I signed up and dropped my dog off for the 15 day training a few weeks later. Upon leaving him with staff, I noticed him snap at an employee when she began petting him. This was an entirely new behavior for my dog, as he was extremely people friendly. He loved attention and pets. The employee brushed it off and said it was likely due to him smelling the scent of other dogs. I should have trusted my gut and left. Over the course of training, things seemed to be going well. When I took my dog back for the final training session, he growled and bit (drawing blood) one of the employees as she went in to pet him with praise. I was embarrassed and confused about what happened. Within the next few weeks, I began to notice my dog doing this more frequently when people went to pet him, even after initially acting positively when approaching the person. This began happening with people he previously knew and was very fond of. I began making the connection between the collar use, and discontinued it shortly after. I wish I had made the connection sooner. Within the next 7 months, I sought out resource after resource to help rehabilitate my dog. He saw a vet behaviorist and was prescribed anxiety meds. He worked with two great and experienced behaviorists. Nothing seemed to help with the intense anxiety and lack of trust my dog experienced with people. This had negative impacts on me as well, as I was the only person my dog trusted fully, and I was unable to board or have family dog sit. I had to give up having a social life for months. My dog also suffered from the lack of socialization with other people and dogs. He began deteriorating rapidly. I became pregnant and it was recommended that I attempt rehoming him due to his impulsivity and unpredictability. No sanctuaries or shelters would accept him (including Animal care and control). When it became nearly impossible to handle him safely, I made the extremely difficult decision to euthanize. I have gone back and forth with writing the review for some time now. I do not wish to malign the business, employees, or owners. I am sharing this for anyone who is on the fence about using aversive training methods with their dog. Please consult with a vet behaviorist first. Save yourself from being saddled with the immense guilt and shame I deal with every day.

Sit Means Sit has changed my sweet dogs life in the best way. We got Finnegan in December. He’s 5 years old and lived a hard life and had a lot of aggression toward other dogs. So much so that I wasn’t able to walk my two dogs together. After four weeks of individual training with JP and the wonderful team at Sit Means Sit, Finnegan is going to group classes with dogs that would have been an extreme problem in the past, for which he is happily running around and meeting these days. Our lives have changed for the better and Finnegan has more freedom and confidence. Definitely a highly recommend.

The owner and staff are reasonable people and were very caring and attentive to our dog, Duck. He was in the 15-day program with a confident recommendation they could help with his anxiety and gain control of behavior issues. The program did help him. He can now sit, lay, stay, and "place" when we are working with his training collar. However, he never learned to heel or demonstrate increased confidence on a neighborhood walk. I was told that it would help his confidence to take him to new places, but the result of that is shaking, the desire to return to the car as quickly as possible, and other actions that demonstrate the severity of his following. They did help him some, but I guess my thoughts were that more good had been accomplished with this substantial investment. It may also be that my hopes or expectations were set too high.

We started training about 8 months ago when my dog was about 10 months old. We did not do the boarding sessions and my dog still made more progress in two weeks after just two one hour sesions with JP than he did in the four months prior. I was initially apprehensive about the collar, but we have SO much freedom to run, play and be safe off leash that I am confident my dog's life has improved. This training was some of the best money I've ever spent. We moved from Richmond to Dallas and both teams made it easy to transfer our training. Thank you to JP and Kelly for being great.