Loyal Canines Academy

This place is a front, they make you think they’re great and really care for the dogs and are great at training, that was not the case for us by any means, our dog went through more harm being there than she would have at home by herself! When we first started sending our dog here it was great we loved it the owner was very nice our dog loved it, my dog is a 10month old vizsla mix, we sent her for doggy day camp and training, it was explained to me that they played all day and were taken out throughout the day for 15 min intervals of training, our dog began training in October, all was well she loved going we were happy with her being there, one Friday night at 6 o’clock I went in to pick her up after work and heard the kid in the back say «clover has been sad all day you should tell her owner she didn’t really play today» which is very unlike my dog, so clover comes out and her eye is swollen shut and bleeding inside, I’m a nurse so I was worried about what was going on inside her eye especially with the bleeding, my dog was there since 830 am and no one even called me, also we are paying for her to be training throughout the day so clearly She wasn’t training that day because you could see her from a mile away it looked like she only had one eye, it’s now 6pm ons Friday night so our only option was to take her to Woburn animal ER, we were there all night long, luckily clover was okay she got some pain meds antibiotics and we were on our way, I do believe that it was harmless how the trauma to the eye happened however the care was obviously not good if she went all day like this and no one saw it, but I understand things happen so after a talk with the owner who agreed to credit us $ 300 in her day camp and training we sent her back, every time we went to bring her in she cried and wouldn’t get out of the car, to the point that she was shaking anytime she entered the building, it was now time for us to meet the trainer for him to show us what he had done with clover, my fiancé went in just a few weeks ago and the trainer tells us that he has not been able to train her ONE thing, he said he didn’t have the rewards that she liked so she wouldn’t work with him, again I understand some dogs don’t learn quickly but this should have been communicated, I constantly asked how the training was and they kept telling me she was doing great! Also come to find out when dogs train they do not play all day like I was told, they do a training camp where they walk on treadmills, and go in the cage, also they training they do is with a pressure collar so they pretty much force the dog to follow the commands with the pressure collar. If you care about your dog don’t send them here! I called the owner of course being frustrated that we paid for months for our dog to be trained and he clearly had nothing to say he just kept telling me that my dog made progress and some dogs take a long time to learn, which is understandable but had they told me she didn’t like their treats I could have brought in ones she liked, this was a waste of time and money for us.

What a shame.
We were smitten with Loyal Canines at first; big, new facility and a great team of employees… but it has changed a LOT. We pulled our dogs from Loyal Canines last summer and haven’t looked back.
As time went on, the number of dogs at daycare kept increasing — I once went in to drop off my dogs and the person at the desk bragged to me that they had OVER 60 DOGS in that day! That seems like an awful lot of dogs in a big, open, echoey warehouse space, and I can’t imagine the chaos and crazy energy of that many dogs in a single space.
We were told from the start that there would be outdoor space, but I don’t believe this has happened which is a bummer.
The employee turnover made a big (negative) difference — I had a great relationship with the original group, and the new hires were super unfriendly and unapproachable, and made me feel like I was a bother.
They also seem to base their training on eCollars (shock collars — the owner is a distributor for them) and prongs… I hesitantly got on board with the eCollar for a short time, but then when I asked if my dog (who was a yr old and they had trained since he was 16 weeks old) could have some additional training for leash walking, I was told «if he’s not walking well on a leash by now, you need to go buy a prong collar.» Really?! At that point, I was done.
I have also heard from MORE than one person (this didn’t happen to me, so not a personal experience) that they have walked in and seen their dog in an eCollar, when no consent was given. NOT cool. At any given time, the person working in with the dogs would have several eCollar remotes hanging around his neck — it just seemed a bit aggressive in my mind. And I can’t imagine that when in charge of that many dogs and collars, they were even being used in «the right» way (the way in which they are «supposed» to be used — very time-​specific)?
When I made the choice to leave, I contacted many of the people that I had originally referred over to explain my decision and they all thanked me and said they had been having the same feelings. All of them have I believe followed suit and left the facility.
Yes, it’s a big, slick space and it looks great on paper… but don’t believe the hype.

We have been bringing Baxter to LC since we got him as a 5 month old in May 2014. He is a lab/​hound mix, and the hound part of his personality is stubborn and very energetic. We brought him here initially because we wanted to socialize him while letting him get out some energy. The days he does not go to day care, he gets about 6 miles of walking (three 2 mile walks), so we bring him here 2 – 3 times a week to give ourselves a break.
We also had him go through about 8 sessions of obedience training when we first got him. Beyond that, we got Baxter ‘The Educator E-​Collar’, to get him to walk off-​leash for when we do frequent hikes and trips to Maine/​VT. We had the team do 8 sessions with Baxter off-​leash, and he is doing VERY well. He sometimes has issues when there are a lot of distractions, but for the most part he is extremely responsive and the training was clearly well-​done.
Finally, on the occasions we go out of town without him, we are happy (as is Baxter) to send him to LC for boarding.
I’m not sure why only 1 review on here is showing, while there are many many positive reviews that are ‘filtered’. Jermaine and the staff are very professional and good at what they do.

It’s with a heavy heart that I write this bad review. This review is about their dog boarding/​sitting service only!
I had very high hopes for this place, the owner, Jermaine, gave me a very good impression. I saw videos online of him training dogs and was very impressed. I met him and really enjoyed his take on dogs. Jermaine is great, hence why I give 2 stars and not 1. If you need some dog training, he is an excellent choice!
That being said, I will never ever put my dogs under the care of the employees of this establishment again.
At a business like this it only takes one bad apple to make this a place you must avoid!
I have two 75 lb 1 year old dogs. They are extremely well socialized, friendly and gentle. We boarded them for 4 days expecting them to be in the best of hands since Jermaine is so competent. I just picked them up today.
When I got there I asked how they did, the guy said, «they’ve been barking at me.» Which really surprised me. I looked through the glass (a two way mirror) to see my two pups in a corner, separated from all the other dogs, lying down, ears back, watching the activity, there were two groups of dogs playing and a few other dogs that were isolated. Fine so far, I understand there can’t be constant play time.
He then left to go get the dogs, there was a woman inside and she began to re-​arrange all the barriers to prepare for my dogs to be released. My dogs stood up and started wagging their tails. I think they liked her. The guy gets in their pen and they scatter with their tails between their legs. He manages to get a leash on one and the other is cowering away from him. He gets leashes on the two of them and the dogs are just running wild on the leashes, yanking him around everywhere. I was very displeased at this point, he clearly doesn’t know how to walk dogs on leashes.
The dogs were there for four days, I would hope by that point they would have built a rapport with my dogs and developed a mutual trust. Clearly not. It seemed quite the opposite, they obviously did not trust this guy at all. All he would have had to have done is crouch and extend his hand, they would have come over to him tails wagging and sniffed his hand. He clearly hadn’t done that once in the four days they were there.
When the dogs get to me they are very happy and excited and REEK like urine. They both are extremely skinny, I don’t think they’ve been eating much, probably due to the stress and isolation. Also, why do they smell like urine? Immediately after, I went on our normal run along the Wenham canal, they couldn’t even begin to keep up, they were way out of shape. It seems that they hadn’t received much exercise.
Best case scenario, this guy (and who knows who else) is just neglectful and incompetent, and left them to lie in their own urine???
Worst case scenario he is cruel to the animals.
Either way, it’s a bad situation.
Again, I’m sure some of the employees here are great with dogs, but it only takes one bad apple to make this a place you must avoid.