Ma & Paw Kennel Canine Training Services

My dog boarded there over thanksgiving break. We had to constantly work around her schedule and she also didn’t give me all the information of things I needed to bring with me to drop my dog off to board. Which she made my fault when I started to go over and she asked if I had looked on her site for the things I needed and since I didn’t have it all ready she wouldn’t let my dog stay there that night. She also acted extremely inconvenienced over me being a few minutes late when she had initially called and asked for a layer drop off time. While my dog was staying there I called to see if he was going okay and she didn’t give me much information on him what so ever of how he was doing or anything. All she said was he wasn’t eating (which is completely unlike him and he has been in doggy daycare and boarding since 4 months old) she never called me back to let me know if he did eat or what happened. When I went to go pick him up she was clearly either in a bad mood or just rude because she didn’t tell me anything about the stay or my dog and just said he was a handful and her assistant had a hard time with him. Also she had gone to Disneyland for one of the days so she couldn’t give me any information on that! Who does that!!! She also claimed they post pictures constantly of the dogs and what they are doing but I still have yet to see one photo of my dog. Upon arriving home my dog was so depressed and distraught for days. Which has never happened to him. He was just not acting right what so ever. It was extremely concerning and I would NEVER EVER recommend her to anyone and I honestly feel guilty having my dog stay there. I would give her no stars if possible.

When we first contacted for a scheduled consultation, the trainer came by and gave us info and some basic tips. After this the trainer asked for $ 250.00. Least to say I was a bit shocked and irked because this was not previously announced. We decided to still go with the lesson package to help with our dogs. We asked for dog socialization skills but never got that training. The training was kind of all over the place with no real structure. The whole point was that we wanted to be able to take the dogs to a dog park. There were 6 sessions purchased and we just let the 6^th one go. The wife and I felt this was a waste of money and felt trapped because of her secret consultation fee. Save your money and use the pet store training which is cheaper. I just noticed Cesar“s training at the dog center is $ 400. I rather have done that!

We contacted Gina about boarding one of our rescue dogs. As a non profit we have a very busy schedule. However, we had to work around Gina’s schedule in order to accommodate HER, and not the other way around. This was all during her «work hours». The first night of boarding we were called at around 10PM and told our dog had kennel cough and possibly fleas. We brought the dog to the Vet, only to be told the dog was very healthy and NO FLEAS. So after paying for a vet visit (which our non profit didn’t need to do) we brought the dog back to Gina. After a couple of days we had a prospective owner for this dog! Now we had to start the process all over again to meet Gina’s schedule to pick up the dog, during her business hours, a second time. After we told Gina the dog was not returning — he had a new home — Gina started sending nasty, unprovoked, unprofessional texts attacking our character. In order to collect our belongings, she left them outside her compound and we were told to hang her check on a clip. Gina did not return all of our items. She suddenly claimed that they were destroyed by our dog. When we asked for the destroyed items, she refused. We deducted the expense of these unreturned items from her final check. She continues to harass our non profit.
Bottom line… I would never use Gina again, or recommend her service.

So happy to have found Gina and Ma & Paw Kennel. Lua and Cooper stayed with Gina for 8 nights. We had never left our dogs for an overnight and were pretty nervous about it. They had a fabulous time and were well taken care of.
Lua is nearly 2 years old and Cooper is just 1 years old and have very different personalities. Cooper is very out going but Lua is a little shy. They are very rowdy and loud with each other. We needed to find a boarder who could deal with their high energy. Gina was perfect. She was relaxed about their craziness and antics. She was very understanding about our nervousness and kept us updated regularly. She was quick to respond to all of our inquiries. The videos that were posted helped us to relax and enjoy
our vacation because we could see that they were having a great time. I highly recommend Gina for doggy day care or overnight care.

We brought both our dogs for in home training for an agreed upon 5 weeks. We were to have a midway training session included in the package to see them and review what’s been done so far.
After emailing and calling numerous times to set it up and no firm commitment, 5 weeks had passed. During this time the trainer stated they were a week behind in training because of an injury and needed them to stay another week.
Of course we were upset but obliged and tried to understand. That week went by and more excuses and more delays as to why we couldn’t have our dogs back (another injury, sickness, an assistant on vacation, other clients, too many dogs etc…).
After 10+ emails and phone calls to set a date for us to pick up our dogs, we were asked for more time for a 3^rd time because of a neck injury sustained that set training back.
So, we decided just to stop by and who do we find in the front yard training 6 or so dogs??? Hmmmm… the one with the severe neck injury… miraculously healed???
Addition — we got our dogs home and saw a 6“x1″ scab on one dogs neck… we find out a shock collar was used on him admittingly knowing it can do that… we were NOT happy!
We did get our money back after all of this so I give credit for that.

Don’t listen to the two 1 star reviews. They have no clue what they are talking about. Gina is a true professional in her field and the best in the business. My wife and I have been taking our bulldog to her for both training and doggy care for over a year now. Our boy Winkston, who is a special needs dog with one eye, loves Gina and her team members. We trust her completely with our pooch and are beyond happy with our decision to exclusively go to Gina. After the training we saw a dramatic improvement in Winkston’s social skills with other dogs. Gina has a great set up at her house for all dogs and is a huge dog lover at heart. It’s her passion and it is quite evident after spending 20 minutes with her.

I never was able to take the puppy classes with her because she never got back to me after our initial conversation. We talked on the phone regarding information about the puppy classes and how to pay. There were periods of silence by her that made me cringe at times because of the awkwardness. I had to engage conversation in order for her to speak about the classes and details about where, when and how much. I think I was expecting her to fill those silent moments with more details about the classes or at least end the conversation to let me know that was all she was going to tell me. I was told she would email me (an address that she already had on file because I emailed her and she repeat it over the phone) with the PayPal information to pay for everything but never got it and never got a call back. I read the Unilocal reviews and noticed that follow-​up and contact are not the best. I had a bad feeling after our conversation ended anyways so maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

Unfortunately, I had a pretty bad experience working with Gina at Ma & Paw. We signed up for a training program that included an in-​home consultation, 1 year of phone /​email support, and 6 «free» puppy school classes. We were disappointed that the in-​home consultation didn’t involve any interaction with our dog and was basically Gina giving us reading materials to look over and answering a few questions that we had at that point. After 3 weeks of reaching out to Gina, the puppy classes were not getting scheduled and we felt it was important to start his socialization as early as possible. After she kept putting off the start of the puppy school program, we were concerned that it could be months before we got what we thought we had paid for. When we called Gina to complain and ask for a refund, we were told that because the puppy training classes were technically «free» that she was reluctant to offer a refund. Since we were going to also cancel the 1 year of phone support, she offered us a $ 50 refund off of that amount, which I didn’t think was fair given the $ 225 we paid for the entire package. After a few weeks of not hearing back, we still have not received the $ 50 refund and Gina has been non-​responsive to follow-​up e-​mails.

I just completed rattlesnake aversion training with my 2 year old dog, Duke and we’re so impressed with the course! We weren’t sure if our dog would show any interest in a snake, but the moment he saw one, he approached and was very curious. Gina uses a small e-​collar to alert the dog that the snake is «bad» and after a few mild buzzes, Duke finally got it and bolted away from the snake.
The course is setup so that the dog can interact with the snake (although the snake is humanely muzzled for safety) in several different ways. The dog first sees the snake, then smells the snake, and then hears the snake. There are several stations and as soon as your dog shows that he wants to avoid the snake-​smell or snake itself, you move on. Gina handles your dog the whole time, so not only is your dog safe, but so are you. By the end, which was about 15 minutes, Duke waned nothing to do with snakes. We’re very happy with the immediate results and will be taking Duke for yearly refresher courses.

I just completed RATTLESNAKE AVOIDANCE CLASS with my 2-​year-​old dog Layla. Gina, the dog trainer, and the rattlesnake handler were so nice! Basically, they put a shock collar on your Layla and let her walk up to a rattlesnake with its mouth taped, when Layla backed away she was praised, but if she got too close she was zapped! Then we walked to another spot where it was just sound, then a third spot where it was just smell. Avoidance is praised, but if she got too close she was corrected with a shock (not painful, it just really surprised her and got her attention). Then we walked further with another live snake for visual, then sound, and then smell. I would stand on the other side of the snake and call Layla to see if she walked way around it to get to me. At the end, (two shock corrections), Layla COMPLETELY avoided the sight, sound, and smell of the rattlesnakes! We get rattlesnakes in our backyard every year! Snake anti-​venom is $ 500 a vial — if you get to the vet in time, and may need up to 10 vials! So a $ 95 class was well worth it for me! And my peace of mind = priceless!!!

I can’t say enough about Ma & Paw Kennel K-​9 Training Services. We were at our witts end with our new dog and Gina (Owner/​Trainer) was able to look at the situation and find a gentle, kind and loving way to train our dog. We are thrilled. We feel like the dog has power steering on her now.
Ma and Paw Kennel also offers Rattleskanke Avoidance Training and Boarding (Cage Free).