Jon (the owner and dog trainer) is FANTASTIC!…read more My husband and I adopted an adult, 4 1/2 year old rescue/stray named Bolt in January 2021. He's a whopping 8lb. and a Chihuahua/poodle/Yorkie terrier/Maltese mix aka a mutt! He had no training at all. He was definitely a mess. Anyways, we desperately needed some dog training, and I searched all over Albuquerque. Jon was the only person I could find that offered a free consult. I really didn't want to pay to meet a trainer. What if it didn't work out? However, He came to our house for the consult, and Bolt LOVES him. Jon does 3-4 private lessons (sit, place, walking on a leash) and then "promotes" them to dog group class. He's really patient, loves to talk about dogs, and helps to trouble shoot weird dog behaviors. We have been in group class for about a month to 6 weeks. Bolt went from being scared of poop bags and not knowing his own name to being able to sit, place, come when called, and is working on down, off, leave it, and leash walking. Group classes are great, everyone is very supportive and friendly, plus Bolt gets to work on tuning out distractions, as they are held at local parks. Overall, I have been SO happy with Jon and Swagger Dog Training. He's amazing and the service he provides is top notch. If you need a dog trainer, PICK JON.

Jon came out to our home and worked with Katie, our 65 pd. goldendoodle about 4 years ago. She is…read morenow almost five. He has a way with him that dogs respond to. Katie is well behaved, mostly, and is now a big sister. Hoping to get our 25 pd. labradoodle trained by him. If you've ever researched dog trainers you know that that are many that overcharge, don't return phone calls or texts or do what they say they can do. Jon is a star!

My partner and I recently adopted an adorable and sweet Pitbull/German Sheperd Mix from this…read moreshelter. Though the inside was not very nice, I know that the staff do their best to take care of the animals. The place looks pretty standard for an animal shelter, sterile and much like jail. I was glad to take my dog out of there. I'm assuming the aesthetics of the place has much to do with funding. What I really appreciate is the fact that all of the staff were incredibly helpful and accommodating. My partner was the one who picked out the dog and I was running from a play performance to meet her before they closed. I came right before closing time and was graciously accommodated. The shelter paid for the spaying, all vaccines, tags and microchipping of our doggy before they let her go home with us. I'm very thankful for all that. We both feel very lucky to have the dog that we got.

I've been thinking about volunteering, so I got a tour of the place. The kennels were very clean…read moreand intact. It's sad that we still have animals with no home, but it is some comfort knowing places like this exist where the staff are loving and interactive with the animals.

The women at the front counter when you want to adopt an animal are problem oriented. They're rude…read moreand don't care if an animal gets adopted. They're shameful.

I am not reviewing their training, I had an appointment with them for an initial meeting. They are…read morethe only trainer that I have met that charge a fee to meet you?! And if you cancel ahead, they keep the fee! I would find another trainer, obviously this trainers motivation is MONEY $$$

Paul came to our home and we have two dogs that were a bit challenging and he helped us quite a bit…read morewith them. We continue to work with our dogs even after Paul has finished training lessons with us. They love "school" aka their training times and will continue to work on their behavior skills. But they have much improved, thanks to Paul and his training all four of us.

Paul has done amazing things with our 1 year old, reactive Rottweiler! He listens and explains…read moreextremely well! Great behavior training!

My wife and kids have been wanting a dog for a long time. I was holding out because of allergies…read moreand possible damage to our home until my wife found Cali (a Goldendoodle) at Desert Sage Doodles. She is hypoallergenic and doesn't shed. We got her at 11 weeks old and we couldn't be happier. She was already pretty far along with her training, she is so well behaved and sweet. We have been keeping up with the routine started by the breeder and it is going very well. I would highly recommend getting a dog from this breeder, you won't be disappointed.

Shelby and Gregg are awesome Great customer service and…read morevery empathetic. We needed to get paperwork on two of our dogs and they tried there hardest but could not help. They mentioned that the tags are Albuquerque that we should try Sunset Garden location. I love that they took the time and really tried to help. Thank you so much for having a wonderful staff!!!

We were allowed time to meet our dog in an environment she was used to, with staff she knew…read more Everything was clean and organized. The gentleman helping us gave us tons of time to get to know the dog, was honest about the training she'd need and was very knowledgeable. It was a great experience from start to finish and we left with an amazing pup. We couldn't be happier and our Perdita is the happiest dog you'll ever meet.

We adopted our Border Collie mix dog Norman aka "Norm" from Westside Animal Shelter and I'm so…read moregrateful we got him. This was my first time adopting a shelter dog on my own, although all the dogs at home I grew up with were all stray dogs that my dad usually got from some golf courses he played. The process was a bit time consuming...given COVID, the shelter could only take very limited number of people in at a time..so you'd have to sign up on a virtual/digital wait-list to be inform when your turn to go into the office was. We arrived around 2pm on a weekend...and our wait was around 1.5hours. They were definitely limited by the number of staff and I wished I knew they needed many volunteers earlier (I talked to one staff when we went in to pick up Norman after his neuter..and the staff mentioned they were 11 people short!!)..so I could stop by to help in any way I could before this adoption. We had Norman for a lil less than a week now and I was so happy with him. At first he seemed shy and timid..but he definitely made huge improvement and progress each day! With more and more days..I found he loved nature...walking..and interested in plants (he was a stray...and from his behaviors..it sermed he didn't really have much interaction with people or other dogs at home before). He's also very gentle...no barking..no aggressiveness at all. Somehow his pot training process was a cakewalk! I didn't really have to teach him much what to do and it seemed he kindda preferred to elimite outside of home anyways! I can't wait to work and spend more time with him. Thank you ABQ Animal Welfare for letting us adopt this precious dog as a new member of our family!

So grateful for the knowledgeable staff that helped my fiancée and I get a sweet kitten…read more We were recovering from a very VERY bad experience with the East Side Animal Welfare. One that left my fiancée cut up from a cat they neglected to tell us was aggressive/skittish even when I asked. They have little cards describing their personalities, and they are filled out beyond correctly. You can tell handlers get to know these animals very well. We greatly appreciate the fast service, knowledge, and eagerness to help us find our little Tiger Lilly.