Our girl has been going to CDT since 2017 when she was a puppy- they are wonderful for boarding, training, daycare, you name it!

Good things: the staff seems very sweet and friendly. The area was reasonably cool on his hot day. Not so good: the smell is reflective of cleanliness. There are NO BEDS or towels or anything soft in the cages. Some cages are very small stainless steel, the rest are compact concrete runs with concrete walls with chipped paint. Many of the dogs seemed extremely stressed. They were either aggressively (not happily) barking or pathetically shaking in their cage. I noted two poor greyhounds who were clearly seniors and were trembling in their barren run. The outdoor play area is concrete covered in urine soaked outdoor carpet. When I asked about the odor, the supervisor told me that it was time for the outdoor area to be steam cleaned (gets done monthly) and that they didn't have mop heads currently inside so that's why it's worse than usual. Please take a tour before dropping your loved one off. Tour wherever you take your pet and if they don't allow tours, do not leave your pet. I had planned to use them for mon-fri day care but instead am using one of the other three places I toured that far surpass in every way this facility. read more

Don't recommend this to be a place of work or a place to take your dogs. Very understaffed, management is very very unprofessional for their workers so I've heard. Business offers training and takes money for it but does NOT do it. There's no telling what they take money for and then don't do it. In the back where customers aren't allowed (for reason) is very nasty and falling apart owner only fixes stuff when it breaks or when the issue becomes bad enough. I've heard of very aggressive dogs being allowed out with other dogs and they get in fights almost everyday. When I was dropping my dog off one time I witnessed one of the fights and it was really bad. All of the dogs was going after one of the dogs trying to come in and sadly only had one, ONE person trying to stop the fight. If they can't get more people to help and they can't control the dogs then I will continue to not recommend this place for the safety of others. I don't want someone's dog getting hurt. My dog no longer goes here!! read more

We absolutely love Creative Dog Training, especially Brian and Whitney. We recently adopted a dog from the Greater Birmingham Humane Society and decided he needed some help with his manners and we needed to learn how to direct him properly. After 4 Basic Respect classes and several sessions of Intensive Day Care, he has gone from a wildman to a relatively well-behaved dog. We are now in a second round of classes and he continues to improve every week. We love him so much and truly believe that the staff and trainers at CDT love him too. When we drop him off, he doesn't even look back to tell us goodbye - he just goes with the trainer, probably because he is excited to play with his new doggie friends! read more

Alright, let me just state some of the reason why CDT should be the place to take your fur babies! It's a long list, but I'll give you my top 3! 1st. CDT is so well kept & loved by each and every staff member (go in and ask for a tour, it's darn worth it). It's such a clean and tidy facility to board, drop off your dogs for the day, or even just get a bath/nails done (Wednesday's are 1/2 price bath days, IT'S AMAZING). Your baby is ALWAYS greeted with a smile and tons of love! I feel so confident in bringing my boy there daily. 2nd. The energy at CDT is unmatched. Each play staff, supervisor, and business owner have such love for every second of their job. There's always a smile & happy to comfort you in any question or concern you have about your pup, the care, & anything in between (heck, they'll even sit down & just have a chat with you if you need). 3rd. Lastly, but not least, every dog is treated like it's CDT's own. They're always getting tons of love, cuddles, and treats (with your permission, of course)! There's even this PAW-some candy basket for you or your children to have treats too! I love taking my boy due to the fact he is VERY social with both people/dogs & CDT meets both of those requirements of up-keeping his socialisms. He always goes home happy & tired. There's no other place I'd trust my pup with! read more

Do NOT take your dogs to CDT in Homewood. (this review does not apply to the other location, although it is the same people who own it) This place is not sanitary. The workers leave dogs in pee and poop filled kennels for hours before they are cleaned. The dogs don't go outside from 4pm to 7am the next day. So if you are boarding your dog, there is a long period of time before they will get to go outside. They have had 2 cases of kennel cough since spring break, and have still been using the same sponge to clean all of the dog bowls. Ever since I worked there for 2 months, they have not changed the sponge, despite the fact that I requested several times for a new sponge to be used. If your dog is having a health issue while boarding, the workers will not tell you about it if they don't think it's serious. There are dogs who get incredibly sick either from stress or other health problems that result in blood in the vomit and/or stool. The only thing they do is take the dogs food and water away and don't let them outside. The dogs water bowls are only checked at 7am and then again at 4pm. So your dog may be going without water for any number of hours between those times and the workers will ignore it. The bowls are only cleaned once per day, so if your dog is boarding for several days, there's a very good chance that they'll have the same bowl of water over the course of their stay. They have a major rat problem there, so often times there is rat feces in the water bowls. The dogs are left alone all night with the rats, which your dogs could be eating over night, making them very sick and possibly catching diseases. The workers do not have first aid training, so if your dog chokes on the mulch that is outside in the play area, then they are told to "look up an instructional video" to help the choking dog. They don't pay attention to what the dogs are doing because they're too busy on their phones to care. So if your dog poops mulch (very bad for his digestive system) then it's because they were eating it from the play area. There are also several dogs who eat poop, so if your dog has that habit, it's probably only getting worse because they think they're allowed to do it while staying there. When the dogs are playing outside, they are sometimes not given water for several hours due to certain dogs not liking the water hose. So if your dog freaks out about water hoses, there is a good chance that they're outside without any water for up to an hour and a half. I have witnessed a coworker giving the wrong dog her medicine. There were 2 black dogs named Lola, and one of them was given the others medicine. Once that realization was made, still nothing was done about it. If your dog is not good with other dogs, they are set as "individuals" where they play by themselves. These dogs are only getting 10 minutes outside to play, and then they get 10 minutes inside to play. The other dogs never have to resort to the inside play group. They are supposed to have another 10 minutes to play but are usually skipped because the workers want to go home early. So if your dog is boarding over the weekend and they're not good with other dogs, then they're only getting about 20 minutes of outside time every day while the other dogs get over 2 hours. The weekend hours are different, so all of the play groups are shortened and the dogs are left alone for a lot longer than they normally would be. Their medicine is put in pill pockets in their food. If the dog doesn't voluntarily eat the pill pockets, then that dog will not be getting their medicine that day. The dogs only have access to their food for a couple hours a day. So if your dog is a grazer and doesn't eat all of their food at once then they will be eating very little over the course of their stay. The kennels are painted very poorly, paint is always chipping off the walls, usually because dogs are chewing it off. Especially puppies love to find something to chew on. So you can pretty much guarantee that your dog is eating paint during the hours that they're in their kennels. Workers regularly spray dogs in the face with Bitter Apple spray. This spray is supposed to be used for dogs that have problems chewing their fur, and is not meant to be sprayed in the eyes or nose of the dogs, but they are regularly sprayed in the face if they are barking in their kennels. If there are a lot of dogs there, like over spring break, there is a good chance that your dog got skipped for certain play groups simply because of the workers not writing lists correctly/not knowing which dogs are there. There are several dogs who stay there for free, simply because they are friendly with the owners. There is one dog who is living there, while the owner has to pay $1,200 a month for her to do that. Unless you provide toys or bedding for your dog, they will be left in the kennel with absolutely nothing. Sometimes without even a water bowl. If you request for your dog to be given read more

Please trust me that you do not want to use these people of all the dog training experts in Birmingham please reconsider. They will try to force you to sign up for a package and claim that it is "discounted". They will tell you that it is refundable but it is not. Please Beware!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, please review what one employee said about what happens behind close doors and ask to see where the dogs are kept especailly in Homewood. They will let you see but they will make you wait so that they can "fix any problems".... please don't do this to your dog! read more

My dog and I give Creative Dog Training 10 stars!! My dog is a rescued stray that had a list of social problems when she was first rescued. She started attending their Daycare Program and in no time she's become our little "social butterfly". Honestly I don't think I've ever seen a happier dog and she now greets people with ease. The staff are ALL fantastic and the facility is top knotch!! Wonderful place... your dog will LOVE it!! read more

DO NOT TAKE YOUR DOG TO THE HOMEWOOD BRANCH. The cahaba heights branch, iffy. I worked at Creative for a long while, and never would I bring my own dog there - not even once - for fear of abuse. Everyday I saw terrible things happen to the dogs that were entrusted in the care of the people who worked at the homewood branch. Damien was the worst, I plus many others have reason to believe he despises dogs. Most of the dogs that were taken to Creative seemed scared of Damien when he walked out into the yard, for good reason. The owner of the business, Margaret his mother, actually did care for the dogs and did not like how her son treated the animals but would not say anything because she seemed scared of her sons. Damien would beat the dogs with hats for barking, choke them with leashes - for fun not training. He would hit the dogs and would also turn the hose on dogs out in the yard, drenching them for barking at cars or other dogs. Abuse such as that with water has been known to cause deep issues mentally with dogs, such as a horrible phobia of water. Damien had terrible rules set in place that caused regular dog fights, as well as encouraging the other employees he had hired to treat dogs the same way he did. He absolutely does not care about anything more than your money. If you absolutely must take your dog to Creative, skip the homewood branch. I worked at other dog boarding places, no matter the Davis family says the way Creative handles dogs is NOT the standard, but in fact abuse from a family that sees dogs as nothing more than a way to make money. read more