ComplaintsforK 9 University Chicago, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  09/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I paid $1,500 for boarding and training and I do not see the impact of this investment. My dog also came back with canine papilloma which leads me to question what they are doing to monitor the health of the dogs in their care. The board and train specifically mentions that the offering is appropriate for aggressive dogs, reactive dogs, and nervous dogs and it also says it will help you learn techniques to successfully integrate your dog into your home as a polite member of the family for years to come. My dog is significantly more fearful after training. We cannot get through a walk without her wanting to run away. I specifically wanted to talk to her trainer about this issue to discuss socialization training with people. Since the training, it took multiple calls and a request for a refund for the trainer to email me to discuss the outcome of the training, how to ensure successful reintegration or follow through from whatever was learned during her time there. It is unclear if there is a file on Juni tracking what was accomplished (or not) during the training. Additionally, I have experienced bad customer service and a lack of communication from the moment I made the reservation request. I had a consultation with the trainer on 8/13 where he told me that he had room for my pet to be trained on the days I inquired about. It took over 2 weeks to hear back from K9 University and I checked in over call and email to request an update multiple times. I requested a follow up conversation with the trainer to discuss new developments and I never received a call. I was provided inaccurate pick up and drop off times. They have offered partial refund of $350. Most of what they commit to offer was not delivered. I want to be reimbursed for the training, $900.

  Business response

  09/28/2022

  Here are the things that we know:
  You have a young, anxious dog that requires behavior adjustment training.
  You paid for a 10 day board and train to expose your dog appropriately to the fears it has manifested, and provide it with the ability to safely learn confidence and socialization to help combat those fears.
  You received video updates with audio commentary from myself describing her progress throughout her stay.
  The nature of the dogs body language and confidence has been documented and remains as clearly having been changed from a frightened, young dog with the inability to play, to greet dogs, and to interact with humans, to a dog that not only can approach people without relieving itself, but is excited to do so, and also shows the confidence to outwardly play and engage with dogs and approach handlers and trainers freely.
  You are not satisfied with the behaviors of your dog at home.
  
  The way any animal behaves depends largely on three key factors:
  Genetic predisposition.
  Behaviors learned from previous experiences.
  The environment that it is in at the time.
  
  Fear is centered around the limbic system of the brain. When a dog is expressing fear based behaviors humans often determine this as a dog actively choosing not to listen, however,that is a grave misinterpretation. The cerebrum is in fact that center of the brain that directs logically controlled behavior. When a dog is highly aroused,in your case in a state of fear, the limbic system overrides the cerebrum and your dogs ability to logically interpret situations is compromised. In my environment, where your dog was taught proper behavior through mirrored and shaped experiences with adept training dogs and certified trainers via socialization and exposure training your dog can be seen to flourish. It is my understanding that in your environment, devoid of dogs, proper training,trainers, handling and understanding, your dog seems to be failing. This is what we need to address going forward.
  
  The matter at hand revolves largely around the direct correlation between the lack of communication and the poor performance you are experiencing at home. How do we rectify these issues? Let us first address the previous concerns with our correspondence and video updates.
  
  You received 8 updates throughout her stay, some updates are of multiple days, during her camp. I received one exchange of text messages from you that Ill happily attach. You both dropped the dog off and picked it up at 7am before my shift starts and neither day did you text or call me to let me know when you will be arriving at the facility.If I am not there I cannot preform our sessions together. I informed you during our consultation that I run a basic 9-5/10-6 shift and am available during those hours. Your one private session that you are saying you havent received is our exit session that is preformed on the day of pick up. The dog being checked out prior to me arriving at the facility and hearing no word from you about your availability makes that an impossible equation. You have since been offered to reschedule our exit session and you have denied that, you have also been offered free sessions and you have turned those down as **********,unfortunately, require lifelong educated work and training to maintain their skills and desired behaviors. Your dog being around 5 months old gives you a little over 150 days with her and 10 days with me. She achieved marked success with me in 10 days, and from what I am hearing, still struggles in other environments. That is where our joint involvement comes in.
  
  What to do going forward.
  
  In short, not what you are currently thinking is best for her. Individual time with your dog, especially one so prone to fear, teaches debilitating codependency and creates a lifelong attachment to fear, submission and indecision. Your dogs needs more of what I provided her with exposure to other dogs and people. She needs to continue developing her index for body language and she needs to continue gaining confidence. Catering to your dogs fear, over-affectionalizing your dog, spending more one on one time with your dog are all of the things that will continue building fear. Fearful dogs need to gain independence, sharpen decisioning making and build confidence. All things that we focused on throughout camp. Your dog met and learned to trust and show positive emotions toward a slew of different handlers, several trainers in addition to myself, and multiple dogs. You need to keep up with that at home. Push your dog to succeed, do not over-protect it and positively reinforce its fear by cooing it. Go to parks. Go to daycare. Join your dog in a sport, she did good at agility as you saw, bring her to restaurants, bars, pet shops, patios, parks, do not see fear simply as a wilted flower see it as an opportunity to establish new roots. She is smart and learned a lot of the aforementioned in a very short time. Keep pushing and properly supporting through leadership not through mollycoddling. Your dog learned to combat fear via socialization, human exposure and environmental exposure. You may have wanted to see more individual training sessions with your dog, but that is not what your dog needed and it was my job to provide your dog with what benefitted her most to assist her in growth and development, not necessarily to appease what is your interpretation of training.
  
  The matter of no one calling to follow up after your training. I am not one to assume that silence means deterioration. On the contrary, in fact silence usually means things are running smoothly. Not once did I receive a complaint from you prior, during, or post our camp. It is impossible for me to have known you had these concerns if they were not presented to me. You had my email and contact information. I am sorry that you had poor signal wherever you were, but that I can also do nothing about. I informed you that the videos were too large to send via text.You received 8 videos for the camp. The first day and last day are supposed to be done together with the owner. Thus the lack of videos on those two days.
  
  You are still offered to do our exit training session, you are still able to actually contact myself, which you have always been able to do, and I am still happy to continue helping your dog and assisting in any way that I can. I was very pleased with her progress over such a short time. There have been hundreds of dogs that I have worked specifically on fear-based behaviors with, but to have a dog that goes from wetting itself and running from our trainers and handlers to being actively excited to greet us and to train and to work with dogs she was once terrified of is a tremendous improvement. I am sorry for the lack of communication that you felt, but if you want to communicate with me more the window is open, you had and still have all of my information. If you want to speak to me or have any questions you neednt but ask. I cannot assume the issues and concerns of a client ahead of time.Juni is welcome back anytime and I look forward to hearing from you so we can continue developing your dog.
  
  Best of luck,
  
  -*****************
  APDT

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