The Leash Connection

Carey Lawhon did not train a dog with us. The words are from Madelyn Koon who did bring her dog Bentley for training. Why she did not use her own name I don’t know. She used her own name to give us a one star google review – but “Carey” gave us two stars, hmmm. Yes we did take Madelyns post off Facebook (which was basically same thing you see here) as it is filled with false information and Facebook was notified as such. Let me clarify our experience with Madelyn and Bentley who was 6 mos old at the time. My information is based on notes made on her registration form for group class in August 2020. I could not remember these details from 15 months ago if it wasn’t written down. Madelyn phoned to say she could not make first class due to medical emergency. 3 days before 2nd group class she did a private class (one on one) so she would know the commands for 2nd group class. If 6 mos old Bentley was an aggressive dog he would have shown it in private class and would not be allowed in group class, we would continue to work private classes. They did come to week 2 and you have Madelyns description of events. First of all Richard (trainer) never “made it clear” Bentley was aggressive because of his breed. No dog, no matter what breed, is just assumed aggressive by us. Only 3 days before this class Madelyn and Bentley spent 2 hours working with Richard in a private class. Richard had his hands on Bentley and knew he was a good puppy – only untrained. Our training is a combination of food, praise and correction. In Madleyns class there were 3 other women with their dogs (class sizes were limited due to Covid). Now Bentley is with other dogs in class and as a youngster and full of himself, he was likely pulling and trying to get closer to the other dogs in class. And the other dogs were probably pulling and excited too. That’s why you come to a group class – to work around people and dogs! Two of the first commands we do are “Easy” to quit pulling and “Leave It”to stop going after something. I am sure Madelyn was doing her best to maintain Bentley as days before they were doing these commands in private class. Richard likely took Bentley to get some control as other dogs in class is a huge distraction for a 6 mos old puppy. It was not done because Bentley acted like he wanted to hurt another dog. A correction was done to find what level Bentley needed to do “Leave It” command. Our training room is 30 x 40 feet. I guarantee Bentley or any other dog has never been yanked across it -EVER. If one person spoke up about what happened, as Madelyn states, I have a feeling the other women in class would say something and class would be a discussion about what happened right then in class – not 15 months later in a post. As to Bentley having tears from pain, I did a search online and found dogs do not shed tears due to emotional response. Dogs tear ducts work to wash away debris or irritants. “Crying” in the way of showing tears is strickly a human thing. Lips quivering can be from feeling chilly, excited, yielding to a leader (person or dog), exhausted or trying to do something and cannot. 98% of our training is done in front of owners, private or group class. Our drop n train customers pick their dog up everyday and we go over that days training. Her statement “I refuse to go back there” well she did come back to week 3 of group class in August of 2020. She did come back in to our store before week 4 to let us know she was moving and could not attend. I gave her Bentleys graduation bag and told her she could come to a week 4 in the future (she never did). “love to give them a couple chances before deciding if I like them or not” She had at least 6 hours of “chances” by working with Richard in one private class and two group classes all 2 hours each. 15 months after training I guess she decided not to like us. We are sorry Madelyn remembers class like she does. Our goal is to help people and their dogs be a good team.

Thank you Loretta, Blaze is a handful but nothing we can't train together!