The Pet Republic

The advice I got in puppy socialization class at Pet Republic was pretty unhelpful, to be honest. The trainer said it wasn't even worth it to start training my puppy until she was older, which directly contradicts helpful advice I got from other trainers. They also were heavily reliant on clicker training, which I personally find to be impractical when you're in the real world. You're not always going to have a clicker with you, and even when you do, when you're holding a leash and a toy or a treat and other things in your hands, it's very difficult to also hold a clicker and press it at the right time for the dog to learn. I recommend socializing your puppy using checklists online, Youtube videos, etc over going to the Pet Republic. And I recommend a different trainer overall.

TL;DR - Great experience, don't believe every negative review you read. UPDATED: Since posting we have gone to 4 total classes and a private training, across 4-5 different trainers, and we remain very happy about the results and experience. It's not "cheap" but it's not expensive either and we do get our money's worth especially with how quickly he's picking up skills at each $40 obedience class. I'm impressed with the facility, layout, the helpful free phone consult, training methods, staff, and scheduling system. My dog (and I!) have already learned a lot - Dudley learned how to sit within 20 minutes in his first lesson. Now, the reason I am writing this. Initially I thought twice about signing up based on some reviews here. I am so glad I went despite my doubts, and I'm coming in hot to address issues I find with those reviews. First - philosophy / methods - for complaints like “the approach doesn’t work immediately” / “they should teach verbal cues first” / “they give too many treats” / “they should offer corrective measures” / “watch online videos instead” / “a different trainer gave different advice so now I know they’re wrong”, then I suspect you didn’t put in effort to search for a trainer.If you're a parent, and you enroll your kid in a random school, and then realize halfway through the first week that they’re speaking gibberish to you, and now everyone is confused… and then you talk to a teacher from a different school, and complain about how your kid’s curriculum is deficient - then everyone’s going to walk away confident that the school is bad and wrong. But why didn’t you realize that you enrolled in an Italian-immersion school? It's not the school's fault that you didn't check the curriculum and don't speak Italian.... Read the website, google positive reinforcement, watch the orientation videos they send, call for the free consult. Or, if you realize you want a different curriculum - go find one. It doesn’t make this one bad, esp. if you don’t really commit to it and then claim it doesn’t work. Second - issues with policies. “They wouldn’t make an exception for me!” Ex. They wouldn’t bend their open hours, or their refund policy, they wouldn’t give me individualized attention that I didn’t pay for, they didn’t cater the group class to me and my dog, and they don’t offer dog socialization…. One said sticking firm with their refund policy = “they encourage sick dogs to come in and compromise everyone’s safety”. Twisted logic, not their true policy, and some exceptions people complained about could actually create unsafe situations. ex. no students let in early - there are behavioral reasons dogs and owners can't mill around inside, unstructured, before class - it's not a customer service thing. I'm glad they have clear policies they stick to, it's safer for me and my dog. Finally, there are a couple accusations that the staff are malicious. Ex. Instructors are unfriendly, everyone there hates small dogs, some dogs are unfairly labeled "irreversibly problematic". Are any of these claims true? Who knows, I don’t. But I doubt a staff dedicated to dogs would tell you that any dog is beyond help… and doubt they would automatically hate 50% of their clientele for being small. Do I believe that some small dogs probably exasperate the trainers? Yes. I am sure some big dogs do too! Do I think it's likely that a staff labeled a dog "inherently untrainable"? No. I can believe that a staff may have tried to say if you, the owner, are not willing to learn new techniques, then everyone (including the dog) is at an impasse. Can I believe that some staff are not super friendly sometimes? Yes. Why? Because they’re human. I have nothing to gain from this review, I just hope they stay in business so I can keep bringing Dudley back. It happens to be perfect for me and my dog, but it's not for you if you're looking for corrective training methods. If you’re on the fence about going, don't let the bad reviews keep you away. I’m glad I took a chance and went, and my happy and increasingly well-trained dog is glad too :)

My experience here was disappointing. I signed my dog up for a one-on-one consult so I cannot comment on the classes they offer. I have a small older dog that shows reactivity towards other dogs, and I was hoping to learn some techniques to help curb this behavior. First, I was disappointed that the trainer did not do an assessment of my dog’s behavior to determine if her reactivity is fear based or just social aggression. I’ve been around dogs long enough to know a training plan should be built around the individual dog’s needs, not just a blanket plan. Second, I felt like the trainer spoke to me like I was clueless. I worked in vet med for 7 years, have two dogs, and am now a therapist, so I’d say I have a better than average understand of both dogs and behavior. But I am not an expert, and I was there to learn new techniques to help my dog. The training methods here use A LOT of treats. Your dog does anything? Treats! I felt this went way beyond traditional positive reinforcement methods. She also didn’t encourage any corrective training methods which is I guess is dependent on the trainer. When I questioned giving my dog treats after showing reactivity towards another dog, she told me that you cannot reinforce fear-based behaviors. This is frankly not true AND she never even determined if my dog’s behavior was fear based. I shared this comment with another trainer, and they were shocked another trainer would say this. The training plan included a lot of games (AKA more treats), enrichment activities, and a “reactive vacation” to keep my dog away from others for two weeks. Nothing in the plan to help/correct her reactive behaviors. Overall, I just feel the methods here don’t align with my or my dog’s needs. Another review said they don’t seem to like small dogs and treat your dog as a problem rather than meeting them where they are. While I’m sure that’s not the intention of the trainer, I felt the same way after our consult. I had another consult with a different trainer (not here) shortly after this and learned a lot more about my dog’s behavior and learned training techniques that my dog has been responding well too. If you feel this place isn’t right for you, it may not be a good fit. I also want to share that I arrived at my appointment 10 minutes early and the trainer told me that we needed to wait outside. It was 90 degrees out, and there were no other people/dogs inside when we arrived. It was HOT and I almost left because who makes a senior dog wait outside in the heat like that? Their client care could use some improvement.