Excellent Staff and did a great job of boarding and caring for my dog, Cheddar when she was a puppy.

Update one year later: I'd change my 5 to 6 stars if I could. My dog progressed as much as possible thanks to Instinct. He ultimately had a degenerative brain disease which explained his behavior and matched what the trainers had been seeing. Instinct not only has experience with difficult cases but they specialize in them. I learned more than I thought possible through them. They saw the best in my boy and have helped me heal. Yes, this is pricy, relatively speaking- yes, results may not be instant; yes, the trainers will be honest with you about your dog and the dynamics in your life that may be impacting things. The idea is to coach the owner while training the dog so that the frequency and intensity of training decreases over time, thus the price not only goes down over time but pays itself back on feelings of confidence, safety, and in having a team to back you up for life. I would hope that pet insurance is something that owners have looked into. Trupanion in particular has an excellent behavioral package. Unfortunately adopting a dog is not as simple as "with a good home and love, any dog can become a wonderful pet." Genetics and upbringing have to with it. Places like Instinct understand this and are essential and unique. They don't shame their owners or judge the dogs, it is what it is, and what a relief to have an outside pair of eyes help out, because as everyone reading this knows, by the time you look for a place like this you're feeling emotionally spent, scared, and hopeless already. We traveled hours to get there and don't regret a second of it. read more

Don't go to this place is a rip-off!! There is two business in this office; the dog training and a dog behavior "guru" which takes months to get an appointment, very expensive for one hour consultation that you can actually find on Youtube. The two of them are not connected business wise but if you go to the behaviorist eventually they will send you use the training part of the business. Very confused model! They couldn't helped us with our dog, we went to both businesses and at the end of the day we requested to get refund the portion that was left on our package, we contacted them via email, phone and if you go in person they don't even open the door to you with a very nasty attitude. Worst customer service, nasty attitude!! There is good private dog trainers and behaviorist for the same price. Please spend your money wise and avoid aggravating situations with this business. read more

I take my dog's training and well-being very seriously and so does Instinct. My dog has been working on her leash frustration and we have done a few very useful sessions with Suze Cullinan (one of the owners and behavior consultants) and her helper dogs. I also boarded my dog there for a few days and they respected all of her individual needs. They emailed regular updates with very nice photos/videos of my dog (see below). If you want to leave your dog with professionals that actually realize that like humans, our canine friends also need education and boundaries, Instinct is the perfect place. The training is 100% positive here so not only will your dog learn a lot but they will also have a ton of fun doing it. read more

Instinct Dog Behavior & Training - Englewood - My dog working for a treat - Pet Training Near Me - Englewood, New Jersey

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This was truly such a disappointing experience. We brought our dog for an evaluation with the owner Suze Cullinan. Apart from showing up for our appointment in the pouring rain and having to literally bang on the door to get someone to let us in because no one was answering the doorbell, the experience went well. Suze made interesting suggestions, and we were fully ready to move forward with a full 3+ week training camp. One of Suze's recommendations was that we bring the dog to a behaviorist in order to prescribe medications prior to the dog beginning camp. She recommended we use her business partner Dr. Levine, who is also a vet and shares a space with her, but informed us that Dr. Levine is booked to January. Suze said we should request an appointment and she would get on the cancellation list. The next day, Saturday October 22, we got a call from The Vet's office saying they're able to squeeze us in on November 2, and they'd email us a form to fill out. Once the form was completed they would contact us to actually schedule the appointment. The form stated "We require a 50% deposit at the time you schedule your appointment. This deposit is non refundable. The deposit is to hold your spot on the calendar and will be applied to the consultation fee at your appointment". The email also stated that the appointment was $385. We filled out the form. We left the deposit for $192.50. We did not confirm any appointment time or date. They were supposed to call us to schedule the appointment. They called us on Monday stating that "they are sorry but there is an additional fee for an emergency appointment". I asked what the fee was. She didn't know. She'd call me back. She didn't. I called the phone number she called from back to check in and was somehow routed to the East Harlem location of INSTINCT. (I was calling the Vet) Tuesday we received an email from Suze stating that she had checked with Dr. Levine and her team and we hadn't made an appointment yet. I explained to Suze what had happened, and she said someone would contact me. Sure enough I did get a phone call telling me that they were able to confirm me for 11/2 but the emergency fee is an additional $200. I promptly let her know that I did not wish to move forward with scheduling the appointment and I would like my deposit refunded. She told me the deposit is non-refundable. I reminded her that we had not scheduled an appointment. She put me on hold, came back and said someone would contact me. No one contacted me. Suze returns to the picture - essentially stating that she and the vet are separate and she has no jurisdiction over how they conduct business with their deposits. It is true that Suze is not part of the Vet office, but the actual Vet, Dr. Levine, is Suze's partner in INSTINCT. Long story short - Suze basically told us that the documents state that the deposit is non-refundable, it's out of her hands but she'd still be happy to welcome our dog to training. Mind you - no one at this Vet's office has answered the phone, and every time we call it gets routed to the INSTINCT voicemail. We had to actually contact our Credit Card Company to dispute the charge and file a claim stating that this company gave us a price, took a deposit, then essentially almost doubled the price and when we declined that fee and opted not to make an appointment they wouldn't return our deposit. Remember - we never made an actual appointment! I am not sure what the actual situation is here, or how these two people are connected but I would warn anyone that is thinking of going to either of these places to be extremely cautious. Dr. Emily Levine's office does not have it's own yelp page, but if you google her you come across INSTINCT and ANIMAL BEHAVIOR CLINIC OF AERA and the reviews/experiences are not so far off from this one. I feel that we have been bait and switched, and any establishment that is going to try to keep a deposit that they did not earn is one to completely avoid. These two businesses are tied together, and therefore I would steer clear of both. read more

If you have a challenging dog and are looking for a true partner in solving for their issues, DO NOT try Instinct. This is just a normal boarding facility, and they have ZERO expertise with difficult cases, which is their literal value proposition. To start, today we arrived at the facility and there was no record of the booking and the staff was surprised to see us there despite having made the booking weeks prior and confirming. The real issue we have with Instinct, however, is that the staff we met today was completely out of sync with the person who had interviewed our dog initially, and who told us that they could handle our dog's level of anxiety. After dropping our dog off, we were called just 20 minutes later asking us to pick him up since he was stressed and barking. This is after us having many explicit conversations during the interview that an anxious and stressed dog was exactly the situation the instinct team had experience with and was capable of handling. Not only that but instinct had the audacity to charge us for the trial ($80!) despite not seeing it through and giving up as quickly as possible. We were incredibly clear during the intake about our dog's needs in part because we live in Brooklyn and each visit to Jersey requires multiple hundreds of dollars and more than 4 hours of travel time for us. Again, we came to instinct because we were reassured that they could handle cases of serious separation anxiety and that's clearly not the case. It's a junior team and we're beyond disappointed by the lack of customer service, expertise and professionalism. Do not bother with this organization. It's training, staff and process is frankly mediocre at best. read more

We love Instinct! We live in NYC, and originally, just needed a place to take our dog (Roman - a Rottweiler) while we went out of town. Every time he came back from Instinct, I could tell he was well taken care of. After growing accustomed to Instinct, we decided to send Roman to Instinct for three weeks of training while we went to California - this initial three weeks turned into almost 5 months of Roman being in Instinct's care, as we were stuck in California during the stay-at-home order. During this time, Roman became a completely different dog in the best way possible. Before training, Roman was having a very difficult time adjusting to walking on NYC's busy streets. He was overly distracted, on edge, and unsafe. Because of his size and his breed, we knew we needed to take training very seriously. Meg (his trainer) did an incredible job with Roman. All along, she sent update emails and videos of Roman, assuring us that he was being loved on, properly cared for, and progressing wonderfully. Obviously, he was thrilled when we were reunited, but he also had a strong attachment to Meg, which let me know how much he was loved in our absence. Not to mention - Roman can now walk down the busiest street in NYC and completely ignore pedestrians, cars, trucks, bicycles, other dogs, scooters, you name it. It's incredible what they did with Roman, and now, a few months later, Roman is still an amazingly trained dog. We can't thank Instinct enough for caring for our Rottweiler and making him into the best dog he could be. read more

We've been working with Lauren for 1.5 months now and she is incredible. Our pup is fear reactive to dogs and to a lesser extent people. I've worked with other trainers in the past who were pretty good however we've seen by far the most progress with Lauren. Lauren has an excellent read on our pup and has taught me a lot about how to handle him. She's made granular observations about our pups behavior that have made a big difference in my ability to set the pup up for success and my overall level of confidence. Our pup LOVES her to the point where it makes his day to see her. Instinct's owner Suze is fantastic too - she's helped us for most lessons by handling a calm dog that Lauren and I work my pup near. Suze will actively engage the other dog so that my pup is able to be more successful. The training methods that Instinct uses are rooted in positive reinforcement and are in line with industry best practices. Everyone on the staff is really knowledgeable about dog behavior and they have protocols to ensure that dogs don't bump into each other throughout the facility. I feel very comfortable entering the facility and leaving our pup there for boarding. I've seen how they work with the board and train pups as they've brought a few out during our lessons and can confirm that all methods are positive. This is one of the few if not the only board and train facility that I would trust with my dog. While the private lessons initially seemed pricey they have 100% been worth it because of the resources (we work with two trainers and another dog every session) that Instinct has put behind our training, the expertise of the staff and how supportive Lauren and Suze have been. Lauren and Suze are constantly cheering for my pup which has created an environment where he is not only tolerating his triggers but actually having a lot of fun too. read more

If you think you want to trust these people with your dog YOU MUST READ THIS REVIEW. I enrolled my 2 dogs (American Staffordshire Terriers) in a month long intensive training at instinct and sessions with their "dog behaviorist". After 2 and a half weeks of getting raving reports and videos of their progress Instinct abruptly cancelled and expelled the dogs from the school saying they are beyond help and can not be trained. Of course, after dozens of emails and videos saying they were progressing well I had to ask if something had happened. Their answer was no but they just don't foresee them improving and don't want us to waste any more of our money. Granted we were on the hook for $9,000 with Instinct and didn't want to throw the money away either but we begged them not to give up on our dogs because we knew we didn't have "bad dogs". They maintained that there was nothing they could do and demanded we pick up the dogs immediately. I refused to give up on the dogs and took them to another trainer. This trainer has been doing it for 60 years, has trained K9 officers for state and local police, over 400 Westminster dogs including 97 CHAMPIONS. After 1 session with him he completely dismantled all of the training videos Instinct had sent pointing out every error in Instinct's training procedures, protocols and philosophy. There was little, if anything, they actually did correctly and did far more to confuse the dogs than anything else. The trainer said not only did he have to start from scratch but he had to undo all the damage Instict and their staff had done. In 4 weeks with a real trainer we were astounded. After witnessing the results during our sessions, as well as in the few days since they have been home, we have made the joke that he must've switched our dogs! Instinct said our dogs could not be trained and could never be around other dogs but the truth is they just didn't know how. They said our dogs would always be unsafe around other dogs, could actually never be trusted around humans and in reality should NOT COME HOME and instead go to a shelter. Yes, they actually said that! Our new trainer spent a lot of time focusing on dog reactivity and, while I admit there is still work to do, the progress they have shown brings a tear to my eye. They can ignore other walking dogs now, refocus away from other reactive dogs and overall compose themselves so much better than I ever could have hoped. If you want parlor tricks and have money to burn you can waste time with Instinct. BUT if you want obedience, if you want to really change unwanted behavior like dog or human aggression and you want to see real and lasting results you need to avoid these fakes at all costs. read more

No one loves the Instinct team more than my 1.5 year old Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, Bruce Springsteen. Lauren, Suze, and the team of lovely people there have worked hard with me over the past months to get a handle on Bruce's spells of over-arousal, separation anxiety (still a work in progress), and general training. They're supportive and encouraging for me as a pet mom, share lots of great tips with me, and Bruce adores the place so much, he spends 3 days a week there, playing with his friends and working on his skills. read more

Instinct Dog Behavior & Training - Englewood - Bruce Springsteen the Wheaten after a long day at daycare. - Pet Training Near Me - Englewood, New Jersey

I have two hard-to-board special needs dogs. One is very fearful. One is on the older side. And while I've used Instinct before as a boarding facility and been very happy with their services, I am especially grateful for the care my dogs received during a recent 6-day visit. My older dog developed a sudden bout of idiopathic vestibular disease while there. She went from being happy and playful to suddenly being unable to stand or walk. The staff caught it immediately, went to great lengths to get in touch with us, kept her safe and comfortable, and got her the emergency medical care she needed. And Suze, the owner, called us as well (even though she was on vacation) to make sure we were okay and to re-assure us that they would handle everything until we got back. Our dog could not have been in better hands, and I am so grateful to everyone who works there. I am also grateful they have staff on site 24 hours a day, because otherwise her condition wouldn't have been noticed as quickly as it was. And my other dog--the very nervous one--had a fantastic time. They took their time with him, respected his boundaries, and earned his trust. He came back completely happy and content (and this is a dog who once hid under the bed for three days because we bought a new lamp). If you have a special needs dog, this is the place. They will be safe, happy, and cared for. read more

Our dog spent a month with Instinct to help with some issues he was having, we adopted him and he needed some support adjusting. We came to Suze with our concerns and she was able to build out a solid training program to get him on track. During his stay, our dog worked with Meg. We can't thank Meg enough for all of the time and attention she spent with our dog during his time away. She was there through every step of the process and kept us in the loop through her emails which were informative, always so thoughtful, and encouraging. The home visits were so helpful in welcoming our pup back home. Meg was calm and patient and was so great at listening to our concerns and talking through them with us. Thanks again for the guidance through this entire process, Meg and your team really took care of our dog and have made him a better dog. read more

Meg was so wonderful! Her advice helped immeasurably - she's so knowledgeable and has a passion for her work. We're so happy we found her and highly recommend her. read more

Not sure where to begin to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation for finding Instinct Dog Behavior & Training Facility. My 14-month Rhodesian Ridgeback (Bono) received nothing short of top-quality training aiding amazing results. I truly feel blessed Bono worked with Meg; her knowledge, passion and genuine care are hands down nothing short of remarkable. The entire staff welcomed and treated Bono as part of their family. If you are looking for a high-quality training facility with an infrastructure built on integrity, knowledge and genuine care..... look no further. With deepest gratitude. Lori Tricarico (Bono's owner) read more

The short version: Instinct is fantastic. They're super talented, patient, and compassionate. They've taught my dog (and me!) really important skills, and my dog is significantly better behaved because of them. The board and train and subsequent training we did with them made such a tremendous difference in his behavior, and Instinct is the only place we trust to keep our dog while we're out of town. They consistently go above and beyond, and I can't recommend highly enough! The longer version: Suze and her team are the very best. I love my rescue dog (Desmond) desperately, but he came with some pretty significant behavior challenges. We've been working with the Instinct team for almost a year now and I can't say enough good things. Desmond has made so much progress with them. The big issues we're working on are fear (we thought it was aggression, actually, but they taught us that the growling, snapping, etc. were really based in fear) and low frustration tolerance. On top of that, he has hip dysplasia (at only 1 year old!) so his chronic pain adds another layer of complication...and attitude. Before training, we were feeling totally adrift, like total failures, and scared we might have to rehome him. Immediately upon meeting Suze and her team we knew we were in good hands. They were so compassionate and validating, and gave us hope that he could be helped. Since training at Instinct, he has come SO FAR, and we've learned a ton about how best to help set him up for success and keep the training going at home. For instance, in stressful situations where he used to have meltdowns, now he knows that lying down and staying is always a smart, safe, good boy choice. Instinct also actually cares about improving and finding ways to help every dog. For example, Desmond hates being boarded and had a hard time being away from us the first time we left him for a few days, but the next time we had to go out of town, they had gone above and beyond planning and thinking about his individual needs. And because of their efforts, it went much better! No training is a miracle cure -- it takes time and consistency and patience. But the team at Instinct is so talented and compassionate, and they continue to love and care for him, even when he isn't the easiest to deal with. We feel VERY fortunate that we found them and that they're part of Desmond's (and our) tribe. His life is and will continue to be better because of them. read more

We had a very positive first experience there, and although the second experience had some complications I commend all of the staff for their care and dedication to our dog. read more