Sparks K9 Services

Short story: Best trainer out there! John can work with any kind of dog and get fantastic results. He's dedicated to helping you succeed with your dog and if you stick with the program and do your homework, you will be amazed with the results! Long story: We have two dogs. One who became very reactive to most people, especially children and all dogs. Both of our dogs were uncontrollable on the leash. They were excessive pullers and would often times get loose if we ran into something unexpected (bunnies, etc). We had been through training courses with each dog in the past, yet saw little results out in the real world. I was referred to John by my veterinary office and enrolled our dogs in the Novice Obedience group classes. On the first day I knew this was the place for us! The people attended the first class without their dogs so that everyone could understand dog behavior, instinct, and the expectations for the classes. The second class, we all entered with our dogs in an orderly fashion. It was night and day from what I had experienced in other classes that have been chaos from the beginning (dogs barking off the wall at each other, pulling their people over, etc). Even though this is the Novice Obedience group class, John makes a huge effort to make sure each and every person understands what he is teaching. He does a great job of demonstrating and explaining all different scenarios and challenges that you may come across. After each class, we are given weekly homework that we are responsible for practicing at home and in different environments. He sets you up for success and has an AMAZING website that gives you detailed videos, notes, and information for the week. I cannot tell you how useful it has been to be able to go back and watch how we are suppose to be practicing. In addition, there is also a forum to ask him questions and get guidance along the way. He is very responsive and detailed in his responses. We are in week 9 of the 10 week novice obedience class. Our dogs can now heel off leash with automatic sits when we stop. They can walk by distractions (bunnies, people, skateboarders, cars, dogs) and ignore them all. They can stay for extended periods of time in all sorts of environments. And best of all, I can now walk my two dogs together and have the same results. It's more than I ever expected out of one set of classes! John teaches you how to set your dog up for success, how to communicate with them clearly and if you stick with it and practice daily in between classes, you will have the BEST and most rewarding relationship with your dog that you could ever ask for! Every dog deserves this!

I want to start off by saying that IMO - dog training is a matter of preference, not everyone's style is compatible with your own. In the case of Sparks, I wasn't thrilled with their style of training. Having to use a choke chain and "pop" my dog into correction just isn't for me. The other thing that got to me was the poor quality training videos I had to watch. Some of them had really bad audio and I couldn't make out what John was saying. Additionally, when talking to John, I felt that half our sessions involved John talking in analogies. Rather than just going into the meat of the training, John managed to explain in 50 different ways (often very repetitive) of what a dog is saying/thinking/or doing. I have no doubt John knows how to train dogs using his style.