I was part of the same, Summer 2011, class mentioned by “Anonymous” in an earlier review and feel that the comments are so far from the truth that they made me laugh, except the fact that she gave up on her partner and left Team Training. This made me sad, sad for the dog left behind after thinking she would be his forever partner.
I attended every training class, never late and never leaving early, but somehow I must have missed the “overly harsh correction methods” that she said she witnessed, in fact a lot of the three week team training was dedicated to proper care and handling of our dogs in any given situation, but “Anonymous” may have missed those days when she gave up and left her partner or just wasn’t paying attention.
Having had Labradors as pets for many years prior to applying to Canine Partners for Life for a service dog, I thought I knew a lot about dogs but found myself very impressed with the overall training process and learned a great deal from a very knowledgeable and helpful staff. I can honestly tell you that I’m extremely happy with my partner, the training we received together at CPL and the follow-up to date from the dedicated trainers as well as the Executive Director, who personally worked with me after class one evening to overcome a minor issue I was having.
The difference between how “Anonymous” and I handled our issues is that I addressed our problem, asking how we could collectively resolve it instead of walking away from the program. Before class, the same morning that I voiced my concern, all of the trainers were aware of our issue and they all made it a priority to work on it with extra effort in order to put it behind us, which we did in a matter of days. No torture, no yelling, no “yanking the dog off the floor”, just repetitive work with praise.
I’m not saying that I have “The Perfect Service Dog”, although often I feel he is, but He’s my partner and I’m willing to work with him and he with me, to learn new things, go new places and do things together that we could never do apart.
I have and will continue to highly recommend Canine Partners for Life to anyone interested in a well-trained service dog. Thank God for Canine Partners for Life and the difference they made and continue to make in my life and the lives of many, many others.