Shelly's School for Dogs Reviews (%countItem)
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Shelly's School for Dogs Rating
Description: Pet Grooming
Address: 23 Burnt Tavern Rd, Millstone Township, New Jersey, United States, 08510-1102
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I called Shelly because I was seeking help to housetrain my puppy and to lower her anxiety when left alone. On our first call, guaranteed that she would be trained and that this issue would be resolved. The price he set was $3,400 for however long it took to get her training done right. He explained that his program is used for police dogs and other trained animals and that the obedience training will include commands and respect training that they would teach me. I confirmed that this would be great, but at the end of the day, housetraining and dealing with her anxiety would be the only thing that I really cared about and that the commands would be a great secondary benefit (understanding of course that if that's what they need to do to help with the housetraining, of course do it...you're the experts). Since I live in Manhattan and the school is in southern NJ, he arranged ($200) to get my puppy picked up. When picked up, I was handed a contract that basically said: This is obedience training, but not a single thing that we had agreed upon was explicitly outlined in their standard contract. It also indemnified them of any illness or injury that she would sustain while under their care.
For the first 3 weeks via email and phone calls, I had asked them to explicitly outline the specific training especially around housetraining and anxiety. They refused stating that they guarantee their "training" by providing free unlimited follow up lessons to whatever commands they taught her. Upon picking her up, they asked me to sign the contract again asking if I was satisfied with the result of the training while surrounded by the trainer and staff. Technically, our puppy followed each command that they said, but we did not send her there to learn how to heel or stay...we wanted her to housebroken. During the stay our puppy tore her ACL which requires a $3,000 surgery. They say, sorry it could have happened anytime. They haven't responded when asked for refund several times.
On April 13, 2018 *** signed his dog, ***, up for training (Contract Enclosed – attachment 1). During ***’s training we kept in contact with Ilya, emailing him on a regular basis (see documents enclosed) discussing training and answering any question or concern he had. It is our hope that through documentation we can shed light on the situation for you to see the truth. Housebreaking: On April 26th we reached out to *** via phone and email regarding the number of times *** was going to the bathroom. At this time, we proposed a Urinalysis be preformed to rule out a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). *** was hesitant about testing the urine as their primary vet had called the urination and excessive drinking, a “behavioral problem.” Please see attachment #2 for this chain of emails between, *** and our Training Coordinator, Kyla.The urinalysis results did not indicate an infection but did show a severely low level of specific gravity, which goes hand in hand with ***’s problem of excessive drinking. It was recommended on May 1st to re-check blood work for any underlying diseases. On May 3rd we were given the go ahead for further testing. On May 7th the results were in and we had a diagnosis as to why *** had been drinking excessively and urinating more frequently than normal. The Veterinarian found she had an E. Coli infection in her Kidneys. For the infection to reach the Kidneys the bacteria must be present long enough for it to travel from the bladder and into the kidneys over time, indicating the bacteria was present prior to her arrival to us. *** was started on a round of anti-biotics at this time and results were immediate. Please see attachment 2 with documentation with our chain of emails to and from Ilya, giving you additional information on the matter.Within 24 hours *** was not drinking her water excessively and after 72 hours was regulated on a normal schedule. Throughout the remainder of her time here her housebreaking problem was resolved. ACL:On May 15th it was noted by our staff that while *** was standing in a still position she would hold up her right hind leg. At this time, while on walks there was no limp observed, walking as normal. *** continued to carry on with her normal temperament with no indication of pain or discomfort. *** was again immediately contacted (via phone and email). The following day *** was seen again by Dr. W and diagnosed *** with a partial tear in her ACL. *** again was notified of this and failed to return any communication. An ACL injury in dogs is like that of a human in the way it transpires. Structural abnormalities play a large role in ligament tears and can raise likelihood of injury from normal everyday movements like planting and turning. While *** was under our care she was walked on-leash, individually with one caretaker or trainer and was not a participant of off-leash activity. As a company we understand that accidents do happen and through all our practices strive to be as transparent as possible. When we found abnormality in ***’s stance it was brought immediately to Illya’s attention. In this situation, we feel strongly that we did our due-diligence in the care and communication we provided to *** and her father. *** was pre-disposed to this condition and in normal routine and function the injury transpired.On May 19th *** completed her training and *** was at our facility for demonstration. At this point in time *** returned home with *** and was given instruction for follow up care on the ACL. Please see attachment #3 for email documentation of communication in regards to her ACL.Training:Our dog training program is a 3-4-week process where one of our trainers work with each dog, individually, laying the foundation for training. At the completion of training the owner and family is brought in for a demonstration, where they are shown all that the dog has learned. The trainer works one on one with the family giving control over to the owner by assisting them with commands and gaining respect. On the phone with *** at sign up, via email at the very beginning of training and again at the completion of training *** was notified that for training to be successful he must commit to coming in for lessons. These additional lessons with the owner are offered on an unlimited basis at no additional charge and are essential to the success of the dog. Dog training is not an overnight success when passing control and respect over to the owner. Please see attachment #4 of emails to and from *** and our Training Director, Scott, confirming at the beginning of training that he understood follow up lessons were a necessity. After reaching out by phone and email *** unfortunately has to date not come for any lessons and has not followed the trainers instruction as part of the contract (line 2 –“owner shall” #4). We have offered to pay half of *** transportation expenses to come to our facility for a lesson after he had told us he could not afford it (see attachment #4 – emails). We are more than willing to assist *** but has since been reluctant to cooperate. The responsibility and success of ***’s training is dependent on the participation of ***Conclusion:While *** was under our care we provided the top-notch service that has contributed to building our reputation over the years. We have committed ourselves to being transparent in all aspects of our business by building open and honest relationships with our clients. Dog training is not an overnight success without the participation of the owner gaining the respect from the dog. We are more than willing to bring *** in for lessons to this day to assist in passing control and respect over to him. We would be more than happy to cover half of the transportation charges to bring *** and his family in for additional lessons. We are more than confident that if lessons are followed through upon as originally agreed upon, *** will be satisfied in the training we have provided.
I will not dispute anything they provided as a response. There were a few things however that I was unable provide in my initial complaint so I'd like to provide some additional context and timeline:4/8 I filled out a form on Shelley's Website seeking housebreaking training and to minimize anxiety for my 1.5 year old Boston Terrier Puppy4/9 Shelly called me directly to talk about how he trains dogs for the police and has been in business for decades. I, impressed with his experience explain that I am looking for my dog to be housebroken, free of accidents and to be less anxious when we leave her at home alone for a few hours at at time. I explained that she has accidents when we leave her home alone for 2-3 hours, even if we would take her for a walk to relieve herself immediately before leaving. Shelley explained that this should be not be happening. At this point, I had a prior commitment with another dog trainer to have training for the same issues, but Shelly guaranteed that when we pick her up, these 2 specific reasons (housebreaking and anxiety) would be taken care of. Additionally, they provide free unlimited lessons if we wanted. I explained that we live in *** and dont have easy access to a car. He said that he'll send out a car to pick her up on that Friday for an additional $200 charge. At this point, a trained member of his staff would come in, examine our dog, talk through the entire program and review the contract. I agreed and while I felt the $3,400 training program (plus $200 for pick up) was a bit steep, his credentials validated the price. He also said that they will take as long as it takes to make sure she's trained to our likeness...even if it's longer than the expected 4 week program.4/13: Driver calls me to tell me that he can't park and asked that I come by as he's double parked to deliver my puppy. I bring the food and my puppy to the corner where the car is double parked. He handed me a standardized contract that indemnified them of anything happening to my dog, while only outlining "obedience training". There was nothing outlined in the document that specified what that meant, but given that I was desperate to get her trained, I signed and went back inside. He told me to reach out to Kyla for a copy of the contract, which I did.4/15: I requested that Kyla specifically document the agreed upon trainings that I was seeking because I felt that "obedience" was too vague and didn't hold them to any accountability to what I was looking for. Attached an email with that request, which was never responded to. (Request for Training Documentation - 1.pdf)4/17: Scott respond to confirm what they are working on, but refused to include the details into the contract. At this point, they start introducing the idea that this process will require us to return for more trainings to reinforce her training. I understood the reasoning, however, I was starting to get nervous that they were backing away from the guarantee that Shelly had provided me over the phone. They started falling back on the paper that I signed rather than the true treatment we were seeking for our puppy. At this point, they started shifting responsibility on us as the owners and that we are the largest variable. We have a perfectly trained dog, same breed as the puppy we sent over, so this wasn't a first time situation for us. My final response in the exchange was as follows:
My concern is around the generic nature of the contract and that I had no opportunity to get better specificity outlined beyond sit/stay/down. *** already knows how to sit and go down so I need to know that contractually, you are obligating to teach her more than the 5 items listed in a single checkbox. Additionally, upon pickup, I had to stand outside beside the car which was double parked on the street with the urgency to sign so that no tickets were issued. I would appreciate a more detailed outline of what will be done to have piece of mind.
I appreciate your responsiveness and like I said, don’t doubt that you can train *** well. I just want to know that the obedience training is explicitly outlined beyond just a few listed commands given the expensive nature of the training.
I did not receive a response. The entire exchange is included (Request for Training Documentation - 2.pdf)
4/26-4/27: Back and forth regarding a potential urinary issue. I had taken our dog to the vet and tested for things just a few months prior with no indication of any issue. Finally upon agreeing for them to run their tests, they found and treated her and her condition improved (relative to drinking water). Her excess urination was always an issue and having had the vets that I met with indicate behavioral issues, I was hesitant in pursuing further unnecessary medical procedures.
May 1-8: After some back and forth, they started her on anti-biotics. After allowing them to test and treat her, they were unavailable for a few days which delayed the process. At this point, she was still having issues. Once the medicine was administered, she seemingly improved. At this point they decided that no further blood test were required as the antibiotics appeared to take hold.May 16: They inform me that she has been injured and would likely require surgery to repair a partially torn ACL. This happened on their watch, but because of the contract, they refuse to accept responsibility for anything that happens to our puppy...including injury or anything another dogs does under their care.May 19: We pick up our puppy. They show us 3 commands that they taught her and said that we'd have to continue to come back for more training. I had explained to Shelly that we have no car and we would be moving shortly to *** so we had the expectation from the guarantee that our puppy would be no longer having the issues for which we sought help. They continued to push us to come back as much as we'd like, but I asked if her issues were treated and they said yes. When presented with the contract to sign for pick up, they asked me if the demonstration they did with the commands was satisfactory. I signed saying that yes, the commands they showed us were responded to with the desired outcome, but that wasn't what we brought her in for. The trainer showed how to use a choker to restrain her from other dogs, so we bought the same tools that they used and followed their provided instructions.May 20: Taking her out for her first walk of the day, I executed the heel command they taught her and us and it didn't stop her from leaping at a nearby dog. At this point, I was hoping to see a bit more restrain. When we left for dinner at 6:30, we fed her as we normally would at 6pm, took her out for a walk and then put her in her crate, with a blanket, some toys and a few treats. We got home from dinner at 8:15...not even 2 hours and the blanket was completely soaked through. We could hear her whining while we were in the hallway of our building. I understand that it may take time for the puppy to adjust, but these issues continued to surface. I refused to comeback and spent $200 at a time to rent a car to come for more training. The training that they provided did not do anything that we wanted. Instead, we have to foot a bill of nearly $3,000 to surgically repair her ACL tear. Shelly offered to split the cost of the car rental, pleading that it's imperative for us to come back for more lessons, but I explained that if he had told me as part of our initial conversation, I would not have gone with them given our inability to visit regularly.Shelly Called me to reinforce the fact that we needed to go back for further training and that he'd split the cost of renting a car and driving down there. The more I considered the investment that was made and their unwillingness to accept any responsibility for the surgery that would be required, I could not bring myself to drive back there. I decided that I would email Shelly back to share my thoughts.I went on yelp and other review sites and noticed that I actually wasn't alone in the struggles that I had had with the company. Others had expressed a similar experience, so I realized that I wasn't alone.I emailed Shelly on June 16 (Shelly Email - 1.pdf) requesting a refund. I received no response or outreach from anyone so I sent a follow up email on July 13 (Shelly Email - 2.pdf). I did not ask for them to pay for the surgery or the vet fees or even the transportation. I explicitly requested training specific costs to be refunded.July 18 the trainer (Katie) emailed reiterating that training is part of the program and that we should come back in. I explained that I have invested a lot of money in having them address the issues already. I now have another $3,000 surgical cost to account for because of what happened while under their watch. I felt that more time and money spent toward their organization was not going to yield results that we were seeking...our puppy already knew most of the commands they taught. We weren't searching for showdog status, just dry rugs/crates while feeling more comfortable being left at home for 2-3 hour spells. One thing that was revealed in the email however was the trainers admission that after treatment for illness, the condition for which we brought her there for in the first place was "unremarkable". This was a direct admission that the purpose for which we sent here to shelly's school for dogs/greenleaf was not in fact treated or addressed. Since they refused to ever include that in the contract, they feel that having us come back in to train us on her commands will somehow make us forget that these are not the reasons we came in the first place. Email - Katey. Why would they tell me that her training was complete if the trainer herself referred to the results as unremarkable?Quick Summary:Spoke with Shelly about needing housebreaking and separation anxiety issues resolved quickly. Shelly said that he guaranteed these issues would be taken care of...flat fee of $3,400 to treat this, no matter how long it takes. I canceled the other trainer I had arranged based on this guarantee. Every request to explicitly address the purpose of her stay be documented in a contract was completely denied or ignored. Illness caused a delay in training, but extended an extra week to address. Results were "unremarkable" at the time that they told me she was ready to pick up. They had me sign the contract that agreed that I was satisfied with the presentation of the training that they had given our puppy, which only reinforced the fact that they just apply obedience training in the generic context to train particular commands. They kept following asking us to come back in. We followed all fo their instructions and yet none of the lessons truly worked beyond using the cruelty of a choker chain. I requested a refund twice with no response. Then another request to come back for training with an admission that the results of the training for which we selected the company to administer was "unremarkable"I am happy to provide any additional context to what is needed, but given that I paid them for something, they admitted to it being "unremarkable" while forcing me to incur additional medical costs, I feel the least they could do is to refund the money that I paid for the "training"
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards