A Plus Dog Obedience

I have waited a while to finally post my review of this company. I was just too angry at the owners (and myself) to rationally post a review at the time.
I brought two of my dogs there for obedience training. They were originally to stay there for two to three weeks of training but Chad and the other owner (I don’t remember her name) said that they needed to stay an additional two weeks. I want to be upfront in saying that they did not charge for the additional two weeks of «training».
My dogs did not have serious behavioral problems by any means. I brought them there to be trained to walk with leashes without pulling, especially when they encounter other dogs or see a squirrel (which is often a huge distraction for them). The method they used to train my dogs was to fit them with shock collars. I visited my dogs several times during their stay and practiced walking them around the facility while wearing the collars. It was clearly my fault for not immediately removing my dogs when I discovered that shock collars were being used on them. I naively thought that the collars did not cause any pain to my dogs and were simply used as a method to stop them from being distracted while they were being walked. I was instructed to set the collars at the next to lowest setting when walking my dogs and to increase the intensity if they didn’t change their behavior. The collars work by remote control and you press a button whenever your dog misbehaves.
When I returned home, I would place the shock collars on my dogs prior to our walks as instructed. I was immediately alarmed because my dogs would start cowering and shaking whenever I put the collars on them. When I visited my dogs at the «training» facility, my dogs already had their collars on them.
After the first few walks at home (I was stupid not to realize that they were scared for good reason), I tried the shock collar on myself. I held the collar in my hand with the contact points touching my wrist and pressed the remote with the collar on the second lowest setting. While the shock was not what I would call really painful, it was very uncomfortable. I then tried it on the next setting and I really felt like I was being shocked. I can only imagine having that kind of shock being administered to your throat.
I have since learned that the proper way to train your dog is through positive reinforcement and not by inflicting pain on them. I have worked with my dogs and by using positive reinforcement and they behave beautifully when we go on our twice daily walks. I am really angry at these people for using such barbaric methods on my dogs and really mad at myself for allowing them to be subjected to this. My dogs did not deserve this.
I would highly recommend that anyone seeking dog obedience training carefully research the training facility before bringing their dogs there and make sure that they only use positive reinforcement in their training. I hope this review saves at least one dog from being subjected to the shock treatment that my dogs were subjected to. It doesn’t work in the long run. Shock collars are inhumane and should be illegal.

We have boarded and gone to the obediance classes at a plus. Chad is a wonderful trainer and well worth the money. Our dogs are well cared for at their kennel, and come back very mild mannered (minimal stress). We will continue to take our dogs to A Plus.