Dogwise AcademyReviews of dogwiseacademy.com

My dog didnt really learn anything, behavior is still the same

I sent my one‑year‑old chihuahua, Toby, to Dogwise Academy’s three‑week “intensive” doggie bootcamp. It was a very expensive program, and at his age, he should have been a sponge for learning. Unfortunately, the entire experience was a huge disappointment. When Toby came home, he hadn’t learned a single new command. The only thing he could do was sit—and I taught him that myself before he ever went away. He didn’t learn how to lay down, stay, come when called, heel, walk without pulling, or stop barking at other dogs and people. For a program that promises comprehensive training, there was absolutely no progress in any area. This ended up being a complete waste of money. I truly regret not reading the one‑star reviews before choosing this company, because my experience matched them exactly. If you’re considering Dogwise Academy, I strongly recommend doing thorough research and carefully reviewing the negative reviews. I wish I had.

Dogwise had my review removed. Don't trust them out dog came home skin and bones. They will probably flag this review too. My review is from facts and this is how they have all good reviews. They get the honest bad reviews removed.

I paid for dog training services for two dogs. While my first dog was in their care, a trainer was captured on my Ring camera striking her. When she was returned to me, her paw pads were raw and bloody, she had lost weight, her nipples were lacerated from urine exposure, and she was visibly yellow and distressed. My second dog was scheduled for training but never received any services due to this situation. My dog was also left in the trainer’s vehicle for approximately an hour and a half while the trainer was inside my home discussing personal matters unrelated to my dogs. I attempted to resolve this situation directly with the company CEO, providing a vet report, photos, and video evidence, but the situation was continually downplayed and minimized. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend this service.

I sent my dog to dogwise academy for 3 week board and train and he came back with horrible behavior. He was reactive and aggressive. When I contacted them I was told that my dog was already that way when I have plenty of messages from the trainer saying that was not the case and this behavior was new to her. When i continued to reach out I was told to reach out to the trainer who they admitted was not skilled with my dog breed. I wrote a review and was contacted by the owner stating that they wanted to help me and would find a skilled trainer to restart the program, but only if after I remove my bad review. This went on for a few days with no resolution until I ignored them and chalked it up as a loss. So they ruined my dog and kept my money. Then refused to help me until I changed my review. Don't waste your money. And dont allow these people to ruin your dog.

If I could give it negative stars I would. I would not recommend dogwise to anyone. I am very disappointmented with the company and the way they have handled training and customer service overall. Especially with the amount of money I paid for training, it has not been worth the hassle and stress it caused us from being away from our puppy. To start off this training journey, our puppy was picked up late when we specifically asked for early morning time. The trainer arrives about 1.5 hours later for pickup. When we signed up, they informed us that a whatsapp group chat will be created so we are provided daily updates with pictures and videos. We received pictures twice the entire four weeks he was away and 1 video. He was picked up on a friday afternoon, we reached out to them on sunday to get an update which at that time they just said he was decompressing for a day and a half. The first picture we received was the 2nd week he was away, and again we had to ask for updates and pictures. The next picture and video we received was the third week. Again, we are promised daily updates and we would not hear from them for a few days and every couple of days we would have to reach out to get updates and request pictures/videos. We received 1 weekly report the entire four weeks he was away, which was the first week. During the 2nd week we were told the trainer was sick the first week so they wanted to keep him the 4th week. So I am not sure how accurate the report was since there was barely any training completed that week with the trainer being sick. The entire four weeks, there was lack of communication from the dogwise trainer and it was always us reaching out to them to see how our puppy was doing. There was always an excuse as to why we were not receiving pictures or videos. They stated the storage on the trainer's phone was full so he could not send videos, and everytime they promised a video or picture, it was not sent. The day before he was supposed to be dropped off, which was supposed to be friday afternoon, they asked if they could keep him until monday because of all the rain we recently had in the area, they wanted a few more days with our puppy to meet goals. After going back and forth with them for a while on drop off date and time, we were so frustrated we just went and picked him up ourselves. When we asked to pick him up, the trainer provided us his neighbors address which was very shady to me. When we picked up our puppy, he was filthy dirty. He smelled so bad, we could barely breathe driving home. The trainer told us we would set up a handover session during the week, and we did not hear from him to schedule a date. After a week of our puppy being home, I finally advised them that I was unhappy and did not even want a handover session and I am requesting a refund. When I requested a refund, they finally scheduled a handover session date. I informed them that I would like an additional trainer to come out during the handover session so they can see for themselves what I have noticed from my puppy being home for a week already. Without hesitation or even looking into the matter, they informed me that the additional trainer would not be able to come out. The morning of the handover session, I got a call from Sean the owner who informed me that he was not comfortable with the situation and did not want to do a handover session with the trainer who "trained" our puppy, he would like to send someone else to evaluate our dog. The trainer didn't have to do much to evaluate our puppy because she noticed right off the bat that he was not trained and does not have the basics from a puppy that would have been trained. Again, with the amount of money I paid I expect my puppy to come back trained and be given better customer service. Our puppy is our child and family member as most pet owners would agree and not receiving updates and knowing what is going on is not a good feeling for four weeks. Now, not only do I have to spend more money to send him to training again, we will have to be away from our puppy for additional weeks to make sure he receives the proper training.

I have gone back and forth about leaving this review but after seeing the other recent similar reviews I feel it is my responsibility to say something so other's can have all the information before agreeing to training with this company. I want to firstly discuss the unreliability of the trainer. I understand emergencies/weather/etc. happen however our pick up, drop off, and after training session were rescheduled all together over 7 times. My dog was dropped back off to us after 9PM at night so the after training handover session could not occur as it was dark and I have a small child. The trainer told me for the next FIVE days he was "on his way" to our location and yet hours later would text stating he was still hours away and would reschedule last minute. I had to change my job hours around and pay for daycare for the five days the trainer was supposed to come back to show us what my dog learned for him to just not show up. Clearly he had better plans to attend then our handover session. I would also like to say that we did not receive daily updates and when he did receive updates, it was the same material in the video; our dog on a leash walking. I think all together we received 3-4 videos in a three week span. When the trainer finally did show back up for our handover session(hours late), he stayed in my driveway for less than 15 minutes, told me to get my puppy a shock collar, and left. I cannot tell you ONE thing my dog learned while he was in his training seminar. I was told NOTHING about his training and how to continue it. I made sure before I scheduled and paid for the training that they would be able to deal with my dog's specific issues, which was being too rough with my cats/chickens and I was ASSURED this would be addressed. I never received proof this was addressed during the 3 weeks. I never received after training instructions to address this issue. Within one day of being home, my puppy injured my cat. This program failed my dog/my family and now we are reaping the consequences as I cannot allow this behavior to continue for the safety of all people/animals in my house. My 9 month old puppy was a gentle giant. He would never go after any of my other dogs or INTENTIONALLY hurt any animals in my home but within a week of him being home he initiated a fight with my other dogs and did some damage. He was the most submissive dog and would fall to the floor if they even so much as growled at him. Now he is picking fights and he is a Great Dane so its not easy to break these issues up. The trainer himself told me the dogs he owns are aggressive and ironically enough now my 9 month old puppy is picking fights. He also NEVER barked. Someone could knock on my door and he wouldn't even make a peep. Now ALL he does is bark ALL DAY and as someone who works from home, this is not ideal. Another issue Dogwise didn't seem to care about is my dog came home with EIGHT wounds. He was seen by a vet who stated these look like wounds from long periods of time in a crate rubbing his limbs/scratching that were licked constantly to create hotspots. My vet has informed me due to the level of damage that these wounds will scar permanently. Dogwise sent me an aftercare package to give insight on continuing training in my home and I am almost positive it is the SAME information they send to all dogs. There was no personal information on my dogs case, his trainer, the best way to handle him, etc. They gave me a copy and paste template that I could have found on the internet. After reaching out, all they did was offer me three free training sessions with the same trainer. As I explained to them I am HIGHLY uncomfortable continuing with this trainer, they offered nothing else. I assume they will copy and paste the exact same reply they sent the other bad reviews and that just proves to me more that they show no personalization/care for each individual case as being its own dog. I did not leave this review to gain a reply from this company, I did not leave it to gain anything. I left it for others and their dogs. UPDATE : to clear up the reply from the company. The reason you think there was “less reschedules” then their actual were is due to the fact that the trainer was texting me NOT on the whatsapp. The handover session was reschuduled over 5 times to which I have texts to prove. The handover session was NOT cut short due to me having to go somewhere. Your trainer texted me hours late and said he would have plenty of time to address the hand over session before I had to leave and STILL left my house well before I needed to head out and told me not one thing that happened to my dog. He was supposed to be AT MY HOUSE AT 10AM and showed up right before 11:30 when I had to leave. My dog had TWO healed hotspots on his feet. TWO. and came back with SEVEN OPENED BLEEDING WOUNDS up and down his legs. How are you going to lie about this ??!

Do NOT send your dog to this board and training program. They are unprofessional and don’t care about your dog’s best interest. I have a rescue pitbull who came from a backyard breeding environment and was most likely bred to be a fighting dog. She didn’t show signs of aggression until she was an attacked by a cat and fear grew within her when dogs would come near her nose(where she was attacked.). I signed my dog up for their board and training behavioral aggression program to help me better understand my dog, build her confidence, and have her listen to me. They set me up with a new trainer that I couldn’t even chat with and get to know before meeting her to have her pick up my dog. That was the first sign, but I was desperate to have my dog started on a program. The trainer wasn’t communicating as much as she should’ve been and would blame her “busy” lifestyle(She works full time already, has kids, etc.) for the lack of update. She would text me separately from the Whatsapp chat about this. Why pair my dog up with someone like this? Scheduling to pick up my dog was also an issue. The pickup date didn't work for the trainer so i had to work around her schedule - NOT okay. I tried to keep an open mind until after the program to see what the trainer had done with my dog and if it helped. From what the trainer told me, she went over basic obedience training and then used an e-collar because my dog is “stubborn” and doesn’t listen. She said she has to wear a muzzle around dogs at all times and it will resolve her problems. She also said that whatever happened in my dog’s previous life doesn’t matter and that she probably doesn't remember anymore anyway. My dog was scared of me when I tried using the e-collar and it broke my heart. I stopped after the first day. She said she wasn’t able to find out the root of her aggression. I reached out to Dogwise about my experience and how i was disappointed. They basically said that they only hire the best trainers,to keep in contact with the trainer if you have any questions, and continue her training method. All i was given was basic obedience training, an e-colla, a muzzle, and a dog with low self-esteem. It was not worth $6k and you’re better off hiring a trainer that you can do lessons with in person(which i had to do after this and pay another $3k!!!!). update: to reply back to the response below. i was not interested in following up because this program was already a waste of money and time.