I can not say enough positive things about The Wayward Hound! After a very lengthy phone…read moreconversation with Sheryl (the owner), she invited me to come observe a class to see if it was the right fit for our puppy. Previously, we attended a training class with our puppy elsewhere and I went in for the observation with a preconceived notion that this facility would be the same. I was absolutely blown away!! I immediately signed our puppy up at The Wayward Hound even though we were still enrolled at the other facility. Our class consists of no more than 5 puppies at a time and the training is all hands on training with your puppy. Sheryl and Ronaele are so warm and kind. They go out of their way to make sure everyone is doing the training correctly and they both give fantastic advice. There are always a few laughs during class which is so nice! It makes the training feel less like work and you know everyone surrounding you is experiencing the same things with their puppies. We definitely plan on continuing our training here. People have commented on how well behaved our puppy is and we owe that to Sheryl and Ronaele at The Wayward Hound!

We brought our much loved golden retriever puppy for kindergarten with Sheryl. We liked the…read morefacility and the size of the classes (5 puppies). Her training methodology works well--we didn't clicker train, which works for us (I'd never find the thing) and we loved positive reinforcement. Our puppy responded well and we had a nice time. We moved onto Agility and LOVED it. I'd swear our puppy smiled after learning the course! We plan to go back for another class and hope to achieve our Canine Good Citizen. The added benefit was the support Sheryl offered us throughout--she promptly responded to any email questions and all of her recommendations have worked!!!!

If I could give 6 stars I would! As a new puppy mom, I was so nervous about where to send my little…read moreguy for daycare. I found out about perfect paws by visiting the Newton dog parks and I got to know some of the trainers. Janie was so helpful in getting Hunny onboarded and he absolutely loves daycare. I even take him on his off days just so he can see his fr Amanda and Tracy are such amazing trainers and dog lovers!! I can't say enough great things about perfect paws and their staff. Hunnys second home for sure!!!

I found Perfect Paws from a Google search. I had a private training session with Amanda and my…read more4-year-old cocker spaniel. We learned so much in 60 minutes! We stayed in my neighborhood because my dog is familiar with the area. I learned a few techniques that are easy to practice and I can already tell my pup is catching on! From filling out the intake forms to the end of the lesson, our experience was great. Looking forward to booking another lesson in the future.

My client brought her service puppy prospect to Canine New England to work on muscle strengthening…read moreto correct a sloppy sit. The before and after videos are like day and night. The trainer built her a box with traction which acts like a small platform. I highly recommend Canine New England for this type of conditioning.

We have been taking our Aussiedoodle Flip to Canine New England for years. The entire staff is…read morewonderful and the work and attention that they have put into keeping Flip healthy have made all the difference in his life.

Brought my dog in for a bath and nail clip. There was no check-in process, they had me write my…read morenumber on a post-it. When I came back to pick up my dog they said they did the bath, but won't charge me for the nail clip because their groomer isn't actually there and they tried to clip her nails, got to her back ones but couldn't get her front ones. If an experienced groomer wasn't available I would've like to know ahead of time instead of giving my dog to inexperienced people without my knowledge. The way they dragged her in the back made me uncomfortable and even though the didn't charge me for the nails I still don't like the way she or I were treated. Won't be coming back.

We highly recommend Hilltop Canine, and will definitely be bringing our dog Stella back! We were…read moreworried about boarding her because she had a bad experience at a dog park once and hasn't been very comfortable around other dogs since. One weekend at Hilltop and that's been totally resolved! The staff listened and took in our concerns about socializing her and assured us that if it didn't work they would walk her alone, which made us feel better. After they socialized her with other dogs while there, she now can walk down the street without barking and pulling at the leash when she sees other dogs, which is huge. We loved getting photos and especially the report card and photo gallery at the end - it was great to see what she was up to each day. The staff were all very kind and seem to genuinely love and care about the dogs in their care!

We just completed beginner obedience training with our one year old rescue, Zoey. Michelle is the…read morebest! We learned so much and our dog loved every second in her class. We will definitely be back for more classes and lessons.

Michelle did a fantastic job with helping me and my puppy Mookie learn commands…read more Every Wednesday when we arrived at Puppy Kindergarten she would ask "how did the week go"? I had a couple of questions in certain command learning and she always broke it down step by step to make sure I was learning it properly to teach Mookie. Can't wait for the next session of learning! Michelle is awesome , polite and always willing to go the extra mile. Thanks, Lauren McKinney and Mookie (WOOF)

Karma was diagnosed with Lepto but was never given the vaccine nor was she ever put on pet…read moreinsurance, even after the Executive Director of Gofi Dogs was instructed to do so several times. I took her to Angell Memorial Hospital and medical care began. My name was the only name on the account. At no time was anyone from Gofi allowed to visit Karma in the ICU unit. After I left Angell, the Executive Director of Gofi Dogs visited without telling me. She told them she was the "co-owner" of Karma. They denied her access. Angell called later that week and said an "irate woman was calling them, verbally abusing three staff members, and trying to get access to Karma." They denied her again. Several Gofi staff members told me they witnessed this and said the Executive Director was completely unhinged. The Executive Director called me a few days later and said, "If I had known Karma needed dialysis and had been allowed access to her, I would've had her euthanized." READ THAT AGAIN. I don't care about the bullying, harassment, getting the Walpole police involved (the Executive Director did that too), calling a lawyer she knew I'd contact (more on that later), the lack of communication, or the flip-flopping about how much money she demanded. I only care about what Karma had to go through. Because the account was in my name only, Karma had that fighting chance. And because of that, she's alive. If it had been the Executive Director of Gofi Dogs' decision, Karma wouldn't be. READ THAT AGAIN TOO. Karma had no one as she sat in that cage for days with tubes sticking out of her and having no idea if I was coming back. That is beyond inexcusable. I sent an email to the Board of Directors of Gofi Dogs. I never heard back from them. Not. A. Word. The Executive Director of Gofi Dogs set up a fundraising platform for Karma and raised well over $1000. I never saw a dime. I contacted a lawyer and he said, "If you have any social media content up, take it down." "Why?" I asked. "Someone from Gofi contacted me and warned me about you. They don't want their reputation tarnished." I asked if it was the Executive Director of Gofi. "No," he said, "It was someone else on their board." The Executive Director also had my review taken down somehow so this is my second posting. Unethical, conniving, and shady all around.

The staff at Golden Opportunities For Independence is wonderful. They are so knowledgeable and…read moresuper easy to deal with.

I rescued a potcake puppy, Chester, at the end of April. I have young kids at home and felt that,…read moreeven being a puppy, he was very high-energy and very difficult to control. This is also our family's first dog, so we are total rookies. We all needed training, really! My friend runs a dog rescue non-profit and recommended David as he has a deep understanding of the potcake breed (among others). We went in for an initial evaluation. David determined that our puppy is a high drive dog that requires good leadership and socialization. We started with the socialization and sent him for the day to be around other dogs. It tired him out and David told us he did great with the other dogs. The problems still remained at home, though. He was nipping my 18 month old, chewing anything he could reach (which was starting to include anything on the counters since he is growing so quickly), and was pulling us on the leash when we would walk him. We did our best to try and stop him from continuing these behaviors, but our best just wasn't doing the trick. I reached out to David after a particularly rough day with Chester. He recommended the 5 night leash training package he offers. We thought it sounded perfect for Chester as it would give us the opportunity to fix all of the aforementioned issues we were having. The dog is boarded for this program and is away for the full 5 days, and so this package also included leash training for me each day (without the dog), so that I could continue training him properly when I brought him home. In regards to this part of the training, David is very clear about the commands, rewards and "marking" you should be doing. This will be invaluable when you take the dog home. Also, a bit of a sidenote, but my almost 5 year old was really sad at the thought of sending Chester away for 5 nights. David was an awesome communicator and sent us videos of him playing with other dogs and working on his training sessions. He also posts on Facebook regularly so you get to see how much fun the dogs have. When I picked Chester up, I watched David with him and could tell this was going to be a positive experience. He wasn't pulling, he was listening and following commands. I understand that David can only do so much amazing work and the rest, of course, falls on the owner to maintain all the work he does on the dogs. But luckily David, as I mentioned before, is an excellent communicator and always offers advice when needed. I also left with Chester feeling like I was really well-trained. Chester is doing AMAZING at home. He's great on a leash, responds to the marking and understands when he does something "good" and is rewarded. We'll be going back for daycare for socialization as well as boarding when we are away (the facility is wonderful). We've also discussed remote/off-leash training in the future. I would absolutely recommend David and would be happy to answer any further questions about my personal experience with my potcake puppy!

We never experienced David as a trainer because of our amusing experience during what he calls…read more"evaluation" - he charges $225 for an opportunity for an 80's style hard-sell: he scares a dog first and calls it "pray drive;" he makes references to psychology legends such as Edward Thorndike; he compares himself with the most famous dog trainers and how underpriced he is; he instills the sense of urgency - did you know that your friendly dog was an evil creature that immediately requires a weekly training course (he does not actually say that; he wants to you come to this conclusion)? He is really good with this type of mental attack - highly recommend to business majors who want to experience hard-sell practices of the 80's. Just remember that you'll pay $225 for the privilege.

Amazing trainer! Fundamentally changed my life with my dog. Leash reactivity is no longer a…read moreproblem. I can take my dog anywhere! Give him a call!

The best decision we made for our dog has been working with Matt! To start he had a phone…read moreconsultation with me where he was incredibly understanding and really listened to my concerns for my dog. He recommended the 5 week program, which we did. During our lessons Matt made everyone feel so comfortable, especially when we were simulating a reactive situation to correct. My relationship with my dog got better each lesson. So much so my dog started behaving better even with things we didn't specifically work on in training. My initial concerns had to do with aggression and had a few instances of biting. I would recommend Matt to anybody looking to do training. Seriously the BEST decision we've made for our dog and family. Matt is amazing!!

When I fist came to see Katrin I couldn't get Mickey to came down around any dogs. He just wanted…read moreto play with the other dogs! With Katrins help I just took my dog Mickey on a nice long walk . We passed about 15 dogs and Mickey did not make a peep!!! He responded so well it was awesome! I had a hard time with taken my dog off the lease in agility classes. Now I can take off the leash and do agility classes. My dog aways had a ball in his mouth and wanted to play with me. With a few private lessons from Katrin at home it is a relaxing place now ! Thanks to the instructor Katrin! This is awesome. I'm truly in awesome! The agility classes and privates have made my dog become a good dog! Once again Thanks to Katrin she is a great instructor!!!!!

Katrin is an excellent resource whether you are looking for behavior modification, pet classes or a…read moresolid foundation in agility. I have taken numerous group classes and privates with her over the years and always walk away with something new. She is an excellent problem solver and always has a new angle to try if something doesn't work for your dog. Definitely not a cookie-cutter approach.

My dog loves this place and they do a nice job at a reasonable rate. It is nearby, and easy to…read morelocate.

Super friendly staff, very accommodating, and my dog was so happy when I picked him up. I'm so glad…read moreI don't have to fight to trim his nails any more!