Trailrunners K9 Training Center Reviews (%countItem)
Trailrunners K9 Training Center Rating
Address: Box 940, 8000 Mill Corners, Big River, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0J 0E0
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Our experience with Trail Runners was amazing. When we brought our 1 year old labradoodle there we were at our wits end. While our Molly was extremely friendly and loving with our family she started becoming very aggressive towards strangers and even nipped at 2 of them. She would also not come when called when outside. Also when walking her she would drag you along and also lunge at other dogs and walkers when we met them. With us no longer able to trust Molly's behaviour we honestly thought we may have to put her down.
As a last resort I stopped in to see Fran and felt very relieved after talking with her. She told us that there was absolutely hope for Molly and that she was acting out somewhat like a teenager does at times. She agreed to take Molly the next day even though she was busy and we couldn't be happier that she did.
When we went to pick up Molly 2 months later we could hardly believe how well she listened and how calm she was.
Fran was very thorough with my wife and myself's training when we picked up Molly. She insisted that we both be there for the training and I am so glad that she did. We now know that Molly needs to know that we are in charge and that she actually wants it that way. While it is a lot of work for us and it is ongoing we are very grateful to Fran and our staff for helping Molly become the loving and obedient dog we hoped she would become.
Thanks so much for keeping up with the training. You have followed our directions and now you have an awesome dog for many years to come. Thanks so much for your kind words.
I had a 110 lb bull mastiff called Carrick. At 130 lbs myself I could not even take her for a walk never mind, control her. She was a great dog, so loving with us and when we had grandchildren she never once so much as growled at them as they climbed all over her, pulled her ears or used her as a stepping stool. However, get her outside the house and that was a different story. She was very protective and would go after anyone that came within touching distance of her family. Walking was a nightmare as she just pulled me along to wherever she wanted to go, had no manners and would not listen to either myself or my husband. We took Carrick to Trailrunners when she was 3 and all I can say is that I wish we had taken her there sooner. We recently lost Carrick and it reminded me of how grateful I was to Trailrunners for giving us over 6 years where we actually enjoyed our beautiful girl. Not only could I take her for a walk, but she also walked without a leash. If I was walking her and ran into a neighbour, she would sit and stay while we talked without any sign of aggression from the dog. Trailrunners spent over 2 months with our girl. It is not an overnight process so don't expect it to be. When her time was up, we (the humans) had to go for our training. You don't just go, fork over your money, and take the dog home. What is the point of spending all that time and money for dog training if you are going to do exactly the same thing when you bring them home :) It is a continual process that needs to be reinforced from time to time. Just like you have to remind your child to not do something over and over again, Overall, I would highly recommend Trailrunners for anyone looking to improve their relationship with their dog and enjoy them as a part of the family
This place will take every penny from you despite failing with your dog. Our dog had (and still has) bad behavioral issues. I've never seen anything like it in my life. They are so engraved in her head and often times just doesn't make sense what she does. Trailrunners uses a shock collar to train your dog. They slap it on and it stays on. I was not overly happy about this method and I was very skeptical about this place but my husband and I were desperate as we had explored every other option and didn't know what else to do. So our dog stayed there for 2 whole consecutive months and then we went to pick her up. They tried showing us how much she has changed and how obedient she is. And yes, she was more obedient BUT she still had the shock collar on her and the remote in her pocket while she was giving commands. And I'm pretty sure any dog would be obeying when they've had a shock collar on for 2 months and is still on. Obedience however was at the bottom of our list. We wanted her behavior fixed. They did not once mention her behavior so I asked if that had been fixed and she said yes and tried to prove it by giving our dog a bone and petting her. Normally our dog would begin to snarl and growl. She didn't do this but I saw her tense right up. This is a sign that they had NOT fixed this problem. Although I felt hesitant to, we ended up paying them the rest of the money (thousands of dollars) which to this day I still regret. They sent us home with a DVD that shows their "success" and we took our dog and went home. The MINUTE we walked in the door our dog was right back to her old self (or same self for that matter). Sure, she 'obeyed' a LITTLE bettter but not when the collar was off. And again, obedience was not our concern. I turned and said to my husband, well this is nice, our dog needs to live the rest of her life with a shock collar on. This is not what we wanted at all. Despite our disappointment, we still continued what we were instructed to do for months. Nothing was working. We then contacted them for help. After weeks of no response, we tried again. FINALLY after a few more weeks, my husband got a hold of the owner. He explained everything and wanted to know what we can do next. They didn't seem to know what else to do so they just said to continue what we've been doing. Which has not been helping. At this point we were fed up and didn't bother calling them anymore. Out of curiosity, we finally decided to watch the video they gave us. Well, it was a video of them saying commands to our dog and after seeing our dog twitch her head from the pain of the shock from the remote they were controlling in their pocket...she would listen. Ya....they really fixed her. They must think their so clever but they never fooled me. So now after forcing our dog to endure 2 months in a place she did not want to be and after spending thousands of dollars later, we have the same dog we started with. It was a complete waste of time, effort, spent emotions and money. I would NEVER recommend this place to anyone. Anyone could just slap on a shock collar and charge you thousands of dollars. The thing that upset me the most, was not the fact that they didn't fix her. I really didn't think they would be able to. It was the fact that they lied. They knew that her behavior was not fixed and yet they still proceeded to charge us as if she was. This is not honest business. Please don't consider this place!
At Trailrunners we rehabilitate tough dogs arriving with aggression or extreme anxiety, and see them experience dramatic turnarounds. Dogs with a past of habituated and ingrained aggression issues are delicate and need careful professional handling to have success. We do that, then intensively train the owners to follow a carefully laid out simple progression once they return home, helping their dog maintain the rehabilitation. Occasionally clients don't follow through on what they learn here, and therefore the dog regresses after returning to home environments.
This complaint was posted a year and a half after *** was trained. On the day *** went home Kira wrote to us that they had received good value for the training. After this we emailed back and forth about ways to help them keep *** on track, exactly how she was with our trainers and staff. We did not have any absence of communication. During this time Kira said to us that she and her partner had been disagreeing a lot about their dog after it was home. We still have these emails. Division in a home, especially over the dog, leaves any dog (like a child) with an atmosphere of instability. *** does not know how to follow the leadership structure in the home, because it left her with uncertainty. We had these discussions with them, we can change dogs but we cannot fix domestic issues or lack of compliance to clear guidelines. Dogs always mirror owner's emotions. We try to teach owners to keep these in check when around the dog and only let the dog see then as their calm leader.
Kira paid the bill only after she saw that ***'s behavior was changed. Her husband wrote that the most important thing he learned was "how to settle the dog down, and to keep our space". *** looked tense (as Kira mentioned) during one short moment because she was resisting her previous temptation, to growl. A dog may still want to bite or growl the way a rehabilitated alcoholic at times wants a drink, but has learned during proper and caring rehab, to resist this urge. We demonstrate this to the owners during debriefing day and allow them to practice under our coaching for many hours until they achieve the same success, even off leash, before taking their dog home.
The training in obedience is not optional, it is essential to build dog's respect for the owner and thus stop doing the unwanted destructive behaviors. Clients are all briefed on this necessity in advance before training. We teach the dog's owners to continue this level of obedience and use calm clear direction to overcome every behavior obstacle. We are thorough and detailed. If the client chooses to "test the dog", negating the value of obedience, and not include the tools of obedience and timelines once they return home, we cannot help that.
We spend many days and hours with the dog ensuring that they understand what we want with no e-collar. Near the end of the training we use an e-collar as a tool to make the transition to home easier for the client. We teach clients how to properly wean their way off the pain free e-collar, and continue the healthy behavioral changes for the lifetime of the dog.
Many dogs arrive at Trailrunners as a last resort before potential euthanasia, and leave changed, living a happy life with their owners. *** received "behavior rehab", not a behavior "fix". She is not a machine. Dogs have emotions and memory of past behavior, but after rehabilitation they can now make good, safe choices based on following their leader's direction. Rehab requires maintenance and changes to remain successful for the long term.
First off I would like to say that we DID follow through with what we learned there. We did everything we were supposed to do. My husband paid the bill because he was exhausted and honestly thought she was fixed. *** literally was back to her old bad behavior the minute we got home from Trailrunners. Nothing was working and that is why we continued contacting Fran for help. Yes they did respond but it took forever and we had to keep calling. We didn't feel like we had their support.
Yes I posted this complaint a year and a half later but how is that relevant? I saw Trailrunners at the Modern Women show this year and thought to myself...I don't want anyone else to go through the same thing.
Yes, I did say that we received valuable training...with obedience. Not her behavior. And as I recall, the list of issues we made up for them in order of importance started with her behavior. I understand obedience is part of it but the behavioral issues was our number one priority. We had no problem teaching *** obedience. But we couldn't fix her behavioral issues. That's where Trailrunners was supposed to come in.
And I have to say...it is absolutely insulting to say that there were domestic issues in our home or lack of compliance. Yes I emailed you explaining that my husband and I had our differences in how we should be keeping things consistent with *** and yes we were incredibly frustrated with the situation...who wouldn't be? We paid a lot of money for nothing. We were upset and torn with what to do. Every couple has their disagreements that's normal but my God, this is not about us and our disagreements were never escalated to the point where it would affect *** Every household has tension from time to time. And to say that is the reason why Jeri "regressed" is nothing but an excuse. I can understand if there was continuous hostility and tension in the household but there wasn't. My husband and I get along very well. So please don't use that as an excuse for simply not knowing what else to do. Just be honest with people.
I understand *** is not a "machine" but we were under the expectation that after 2 full months of continuous rehab and thousands of dollars later, that Trailrunners would have succeeded in this. Yes it is our responsibility to continue the rehab and obedience.and we did...but only the obedience part worked.....not the behavioral aspect. We even tied her up to the couch all day and night just as they taught us....as difficult as that was for us.
As a business owner, it is their responsibility to own up to their failures and to know the morality behind charging or not charging their customer in the end. Because we didn't know any better and that's wrong.
had major issues BEFORE she arrived. Behaviour is mainly shaped by environment and leadership.
*** behaviour changed when she worked with our staff. She had a structured environment which made her feel safe and know what she was allowed and was not allowed to do. She was never allowed to growl and snarl, so she learned that growling and snaring was not allowed at Trailrunners and she stopped growling and snarling.
*** knows the dog pack structure rules and boundaries of respect for leadership, and tested our staff to see if we would follow them.
When *** realized that Trailrunners staff knew the dog rules that dogs live by, and Trailrunners staff followed the rules 100%, *** realized that she was not the leader anymore and she was willing to follow our leadership and thus her behaviour was changed.
Respect for leadership is earned in the dog world. You need to prove to *** that you are the leader and her behaviour towards you will change as well.
You were instructed that *** would try especially hard the first week she went back to her old home environment and would try to go back to her old behaviour. Old patterns of behaviour are engrained and need a very patient, persistent leader who is determined to bring change. As you were instructed in your debriefing. Leadership is about you proving to *** that you can make her respect you. *** needs to test your leadership so she knows where she fits into your pack
You are frustrated because there is something in your behaviour that has communicated to *** that you want HER to be the leader in your home. It's all the little cues that *** sees in your behaviour that tells her she is more powerful then you. Rehabilitation works when dog and their humans are willing to change. *** proved to us that she was.
Instead of trying to de-reupte Trailrunners when you saw us at the women's show, you could have asked for further specific help. And you still can. When we are in the city we can stop in and look at *** in her home environment. .