Starmark Animal Behavior Center

My husband and I adopted our dog, Nala, almost 2 years ago now. She’s a sweet, spunky, spirited and extremely smart dog. She has a rough past and was abandoned, so we knew there would be things we would have to work through. When we first brought her home, she was a very a happy dog. She immediately warmed up to us and loved to go for long walks! But after around a year of having her, her separation anxiety started getting worse. She started shutting down on walks and would try pulling us straight back home. It was like our home was her safe zone and she couldn’t risk going outside. We wanted Nala to be comfortable in all environments, to take her for hikes, parks to play, outings, etc. I tried for several months to work through her anxiety and felt like I was failing her. It was clear we needed professional help. From our first session with Jordan, we noticed improvements right away. Jordan was able to help us decipher her body language and read her energy in ways we couldn’t. After just a few sessions her anxiety had come way down and now I can tell she’s excited to go on adventures again! We’ve even been working on some dog reactivity that has popped up recently and I’m confident that we will be able to work through that, as well! Jordan has been so great with Nala! You can tell he truly cares and has a passion for what he’s teaching! I would recommend Starmark (and Jordan specifically) to anyone looking to improve their dog’s obedience and to strengthen their bond with you. It has been so worth it!

**UPDATE IN RESPONSE TO STARMARK: 7/26/25 @ 11:36PM** I would like to clarify some INACCURACIES in Starmark's response to my review. Firstly, Barley was not brought in due to biting a child, nor was that ever mentioned in the information I provided, as I initially stated. To clarify, he was supposed to be trained to stop counter surfing and to help socialize him with other dogs to reduce his social anxiety, as outlined in my emails to your trainer and in the original document you returned to us on the day we dropped him off. While this was discussed in a virtual meeting with my husband and your leadership team, your responses, both then and now, have been dismissive of your responsibilities. It is disheartening that we lost our dog due to what we believe were neglectful and abusive tactics, as outlined in our vet's examination and discussed in our meeting. My family lost a loving, loyal friend because of the actions of your trainers, and it is very disturbing to hear your rhetoric suggesting that this is due to our lack of understanding of your training methods when, in fact, Barley was not trained to begin with. You claim that he received solid care, which is unfathomable to us. On the first day after we dropped him off, I brought a new bag of dog food and flea medication and asked if I could visit him. However, your staff asked me to come pick him up from his kennel and administer his flea medication myself, and I was not given the opportunity to visit with him; I was immediately asked to return him to his kennel. Moreover, your staff sent us photos showing Barley visibly malnourished after two weeks. Paige admitted in those emails that she hadn’t worked with him for at least 8 or 9 days. When I requested another visit, as other dog owners were allowed, I was turned away. You were made aware of these issues but remained dismissive during our meeting. Regrettably, your response misrepresents the facts. After returning home from your facility, Barley was immediately taken to the vet due to injuries to his neck. These injuries, caused by your trainer's negligence and the use of a very tight prong collar, were contrary to your trainer's assurance that she would not use such equipment. She agreed to use the collar we provided—the same brand that you use at your facility and approved for Barley during our initial meeting—but the one she used was two sizes too small, which I clearly pointed out on the day I dropped him off. I feel misled regarding the collar situation. As mentioned in our meeting, Barley’s injuries were not limited to the exterior of his neck; he could not eat, drink, or bark due to the swelling from the injuries sustained at your facility. We provided a copy of the vet visit report during our meeting. We declined further assistance from your facility, both financially (for the vet visit) and behaviorally because, as we communicated, our trust in your company had been broken, and we were uncomfortable allowing you to work with Barley again. Unfortunately, we later had to contact you again to inform you that our vet had to put Barley down due to extreme aggression toward people after receiving what you referred to as "solid care" from Starmark. Furthermore, during our meeting, you assured my husband and me that you would meet with your staff to ensure that your trainers are using appropriate training methods so that further injuries to other clients' dogs do not occur. That was our only condition. Therefore, to hear you say things like "issues already present," and to claim that he was biting others prior is very misleading to the public. Unfortunately, Starmark will continue to respond with clear falsehoods and relentlessly and shamlessly deny their responsibility in public, which is vastly different than our conversation via zoom meeting. As I mentioned in my original post and above Barley has NEVER bitten a child, nor was the ever stated, written or emailed to them. His behaviors as mentioned to Starmark, Paige and Keith in writting, emails and and our meeting.