New England Dog Training Club

Firstly, this is a review of NEDTC’s customer service — not a review of their classes which I have not taken. I am writing this review because I have been in contact with a Jessica F via email since October of last year looking for agility/​obedience classes for my Australian Shepherd. At first I was told all classes were full and that I would be put on a list to be contacted. I checked in every other month to see if there were classes available to which I was met with the reassurance that I was on their «list» to be contacted. Well, it is now March, nearly 6 months later and I have not been contacted even to let me know they were still full. I am not sure if they are just disorganized or what but I cannot see how a business can be run this way. As you can see, most of these reviews are from people from Wellesley and Belmont… I guess us lowlives who live in less affluent areas are not deserving of their services. Very disappointed.

I have brought three of my dogs to NEDTC for training. The trainers I have worked with (Melissa, Donna, Linda, Diane, and Dan) have been excellent. They are professional, friendly and really care about making you and your dog successful together. (It really is more about training YOU!) After Puppy Kindergarten, they have several Step classes you can progress through: Attention, Self Control, Real Life Distractions and Canine Good Citizen (CGC). If you want to take the CGC test, they offer that here. They also offer Rally, Utility, and Competitive Obedience classes if interested. I like the sense of progression you get with this program. They use a check box system to keep track of what you and your dog can do and what you still need to work on.
The Cambridge Armory is a large space (with plenty of parking in the back) near Fresh Pond.
Really the only thing I don’t like so much is the environment inside the armory. It is a large, echoey, and at times over stimulating space because three training rings are back to back. In the summer, classes are held outside in Danehy Park in Cambridge (back of Fresh Pond mall)!

I started at NEDTC this winter when my pup was 7 months old. He’d already been through level 1 and level 2 classes with Bette Yip (another great local dog training resource). I wanted to continue training and I wanted a more challenging environment. NEDTC came through on both fronts.
The classes are held in the Cambridge Armory — a large, loud space. My pup was overwhelmed initially. He jumped, and pulled, and barked, and focused on everything except me. The trainers at NEDTC reassured me that my obnoxious pup was perfectly normal, Even more important, they had great advice on how to handle the crazy behavior of the moment. They also emphasized keeping the training fun. It’s so easy to let frustration make both of you miserable. They helped me focus on celebrating progress (no matter how small) so the experience stays positive.
Thanks to the their guidance, my pup is now comfortable training at the Armory. He’s passed his Canine Good Citizen test and we’re working on more formal obedience. He’s also well behaved enough to go to work with me, and walks through our town center on a relatively loose leash. Not at all bad for a teen dog from a pretty high energy breed.
Ultimately, training my dog is my responsibility. NEDTC does a great job helping me become a better trainer for my dog.

We have worked with NEDTC with our rescue dog, Gus.
Gus has now mastered basic training (sit, stay, down, come, touch, paw, leave it, etc.) We are working on loose leash walking and keeping chill in the context of lots of distractions and other dogs who might be seriously scary.
The trainers have a lot of patience for the dogs and shape us up as owners pretty well. We have a lot of faith in them, and turn to them with sticky situations/​problems that we can’t seem to solve ourselves. We have invested a LOT of time and effort into these lessons, because it seems like the right thing to do. Importantly, we have learned to communicate with our dog in a way that we did not fully understand before.
This is a great resource and highly recommended.

Old dogs can learn new tricks all the time! I can’t speak to puppy class as my dog is 7 years old, but my experience at NEDTC has been nothing but positive and fun.
I was looking for something to get us out of the house and off the sofa during the winter. We also needed to do some work on a few of our basic skills (he has tremendous recall, follows hand signals and does tricks, but healing? Leave it? Not so much). Friends suggested we try Thursday nights at New England Dog Training Club.
It’s an adjustment — a big loud room with so many dogs, smells and treats, plus having to pay attention?! My pup had a bad first class, but the trainers and staff had nothing but patience and words of encouragement for us both. He has since calmed down and focused, even enough to earn his Canine Good Citizen certificate!
I would recommend giving NEDTC a chance — it’s a great resource and there is so much to learn about our beloved canine friends!

Puppy K was a massive waste of time and hopefully did not do permanent damage to our puppy.
First, at our introductory class, we were told that 25% of the puppy’s daily calories should be in the form of treats. Veterinary nutritionists will tell you that no more than 10% should be treats. We know that now. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that during some of the more important growth periods for our dog. We assumed these people were the experts. We assumed 100% wrong. 25% treat calories is a perfect way to assure your growing puppy does NOT get the proper nutrition to grow effectively. Perhaps if you stick solely to the product that they promote, you MIGHT be OK, but not explaining the ramifications of using the other «acceptable» training treats that they mentioned in class was/​is a massive disservice to new pet parents and, more importantly, to the puppies they love.
Second, telling new pet parents that cheese is a great training treat ignores the special needs and cautions around excess calcium, particularly for large-​breed puppies. Calcium has been scientifically proven to cause growth that is too rapid for large breed dogs, which can lead to problems later in a dog’s life.
Third, discouraging pet parents from using regular kibble for training purposes takes away one of the best forms of nutrition puppies need to grow. Puppy food is specially formulated for puppy growth … and large breed puppy food is specially formulated for those dogs. Work with your vet on what the right balance is for your dog, and ignore what you are told by anyone else. Sure, giving a puppy a wonderfully smellly piece of liver might get him/​her to do what you want done, and make the trainer look like a genius at the same time, but at what cost to your puppy?
Fourth, we did not get one, single tip on how to teach our dog to come, sit, stay, drop it, leave it or any other important command while we were there, wasting some of the most important training time you have with a young puppy. We were told how important the commands were to teach in those first four months of life, but were offered no creative solutions on how to execute. We showed up, sat in the class with our puppies, and worked on the commands we had already taught our dogs at home. The instructors were ill-​prepared and disorganized. The class was too large for more than five minutes of individual attention if that.
Fifth, if you are looking for a socialization opportunity for a young puppy … forget it … no more than 10 minutes of the class allowed for play. After those 10 minutes you are asked to call your dog out of play. Really ??? How, when you are not taught any techniques on how to execute this, particularly if your dog is spirited (or in our case, a heck of a lot of fun).
I could go on for pages, but it’s not worth the time or effort. Some people swear by this club. That was not our experience. Notwithstanding the abject faillure here, our puppy is doing GREAT due to an excellent dog walker, a trainer recommended by our vet, and a FREE puppy play session sponsored by a local pet store with a CPDT to monitor the fun. Oh, and we are getting it all done with kibble, toys, and the very occasional super special treat for the most important command.
If you don’t have the cash to spend on walkers and trainers, go to the ASPCA website on how to teach your puppy. The site offers a wealth of great information on positive training techniques with alternative methods if one method fails. It’s unbiased. It doesn’t hawk products or books to buy, and it’s free unless you feel compelled to donate.
Did we get anything positive from the experience at the NEDTC? Yes. We were introduced to a great harness that works really well.