Man's Best Friend

When I sent emails and eventually phone calls, my call and email was not responded to for about two weeks. When the woman that owns the place finally called back, she was kurt, rude, didn't answer my questions, especially when I asked about prices. She had a very car salesmand type of attitute, I didn't like her.I met a couple of people in Downtown Vancouver , and they told me they had a really bad experience there. They couldn't see their dog in the kennels but insisted and when they did they said it was filthy, all the kennels were filthy. Their dog wasn't trained and came home sick. I also know an adoption outfit, that took a dog back that they had adopted out to a man in BattleGround and "Mans Best Friend" contacted them without contacting the owner, and the rescue took the dog back. The rescue that was is out of Houston, but she bragged/laughed that she sent someone to retrieve the dog with no prior contact with the owner. She told me it was because the dog had escaped from the owners yard previously when mans best friend told them, but didn't call the owner either. She then went on to tell me that she sold the dog to someone else for 500$. Those issues and based on my own experience with this woman, tells me that at best she has horrible communication skills with customers, doesn't respond and is not someone I would ever recommend as a safe place for your pups.

If you want to help your dog in a positive way without causing pain, keep searching for a different obedience school. Man's Best Friend advertises a positive affection-based style of training while aggressively using a choke chain collar.

Be prepared before your ''free evaluation'' with Man's Best Friend! Our ''free evaluation'' cost us $1,000 and caused us heartache.

1. Strong sales tactic - B.B., Trainer and Store Manager of the location in C[redacted], TX, recommended the board-and-train obedience program as a solution for our Border Collie. He also insisted that we make our decision on the spot and sign the contract that day, stating that they had to process the papers one day before we brought the dog in. This is probably the tactic they use on all their clients.

2. Non-refundable payment - They insist on a large deposit that is non refundable. Make sure this is right for you before paying.

3. No warranty or responsibility - They take no responsibility for anything that may happen with your dog and give vague answers regarding how much time they spend with the dog or what should be accomplished. Our dog came back not knowing the basic commands of heel, sit, stay.

4. Use of choke chain collar - Their training method is cruel and painful to the dog. It is not at all the affection-based style of training they promise.

At our request, B.B. showed us the collar they use in their training (they kept referring to it as a training collar or a correction collar, but never as a choke chain collar, as they should). He explained that, when the dog moves suddenly, the collar makes a noise that startles the dog. We were naïve to believe his explanation and entrusted them with our dog.

Then, after the two week period, we went to take our dog back. We watched a demonstration through an observation window. We saw the trainer, T.C., drag the dog a few feet using the choke chain collar. The dog eventually started walking. He also started coughing. He was coughing when we entered the room to get him and coughed for several days after coming home.

During the 30-minute training we received that same day, prior to the above demonstration, T.C. told us that we should intensify the reprimand in proportion to the dog's disobedience, by yanking the training collar on our dog's neck harder and harder. It was, he explained, the equivalent of a dog biting another dog on the neck in a dog pack.

In spite of the initial denial, it didn't take us long to realize that we had allowed ourselves to be deceived. We had paid $1,000 for the kind of training that we DIDN'T want.

We did some online research at home and found out the so called "training collar" they use is listed as a choke chain collar on the American Humane Society website.

A choke chain collar falls in the category of aversive training collars.

The following is stated about choke chain collars on the Humane Society website:

''There is no way to control how much the choke chain tightens, so it's possible to choke or strangle your dog. It can also cause other problems, too, such as injuries to the trachea and esophagus, injuries to blood vessels in the eyes, neck sprains, nerve damage, fainting, transient paralysis, and even death.

It is best for your dog if you avoid using a choke chain. More humane collars and good obedience training should make it unnecessary to resort to this aversive collar.''

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