Dogma Training - Killarney

Rewriting this review after we have finished our time with Dogma. We had a few issues with sickness and allergies at the beginning but all was quickly worked out. The staff have been great to deal with and very nice the whole time. We signed up for the Kinderpups package which included daycare, obedience training, and puppy socailization. I think each needs to be reviewed separately. Daycare - I thought the daycare was good for our new puppy for socialization and I believe that the training the staff there did has helped set a good foundation for our puppy going forward. That said I think that it is overpriced and that the 2 months we had there was more than long enough. Also as other reviewers mentioned the requests for extra money for "field trips" where a bit much. Especially when the "weather is too bad so we are doing a trip to the grooming center inside the building". Why would I pay extra for you to take me dog to a different room in the building... After we turned down these requests a few times I think they remembered and stopped asking which was nice. In summary if you can afford it and can't stay home all day with your new puppy I think it is beneficial for the first few months. Training - In my opinion the training classes were not good (would NOT recommend) and we ended up canceling halfway through. At the start you MUST have your "report card" which is just a piece of paper that they give you when you signed up or they will threaten to kick you out of the class ( this happened to us and multiple other people) even though they have there clip board with all the info available on who is registered. We only made it halfway though and our paper was not in good shape. If you expect people to bring something like this (and for the price we pay) a small notebook or something else more durable would be nice. Moving on... We found them to be very basic and slow paced. When your puppy has sit down packed and then you spend 30 minutes getting them to sit seemed like a waste of time. And if I have to hear about the stupid spray bottle one more time I'm gonna lose my mind. I thought this was a "term class" where the people are generally the same each class. Repeating the same intro for 5-10 minutes every class seems like a huge waste of time. My last and largest complaint (why we stopped coming) is the "grading" for the last 20 minutes of the class. They have one lead instructor and a number helpers. The lead instructor goes around to 15-20 dogs/people 1 by 1 and grades each dog. In total this takes up about 1/3 of the class. Why this can only be done by the head instructor instead of having multiple people grading and getting it done quickly leaving more time for useful things in the class I do not understand. That said, We did a lot of research on our own and were quite active in working with our pup at home. Maybe if you did not do anything but the training classes you would find more value. Socialization - These were alright to get your dog out and playing other puppies. That part was great but I found there to be a lot of talking that while useful could have been done in half the time. Also there was usually a "skill/activity" that was worked on each time. For example they brought a number of random toy out and passed them around the room and you were supposed to give your dog treats on top of them to get them comfortable. They only ones I actually saw value in where the ones that moved or made sound. Our dog had no problem with the vacuum sitting on the ground... but turn it on and there is something to work on. In summary these were alright but in the end we found them a bit tedious and not worth the effort after work to get to with a small child.

I only give 2 stars on this review because you have to take into account the cost of the daycare/training. The average price (depends on how many passes you buy) is $70 per day. I brought my puppy in for Kinderpups and she loved it there and did very well with the training and socialization. When she graduated to Junior High I asked if I could buy half the passes for Junior High ($70 per day) and half for DogmaPlay ($30 per day), I was told that dogs are not allowed to go to DogmaPlay until they have completed Kinderpups, Junior High and HighSchool, all at $70 per day. Also, if they have an outing (to the train station, school, etc), thats an extra $40 per day, so potential total of $110 per day. You only get a picture of your puppy on the first day and graduation days, no pictures at any other time. You might get a video on an event day, you might not. They do not review the training protocols with you. The trainers were using different hand signals for sit and lay down than I was at home, when I noticed this at pick up time I asked why someone had not reviewed with me the training protocols so I could practice the same at home. I was sent some flyers (which were confusing to me) with a brief description on the verbal and hand signal cues. But to me this should have been reviewed at the start, and should have been included in the $70 per day. Instead I was told that if I wanted a review with the training of exactly what and how they were training my dog, it would be an extra $75 for 45 minutes. The report cards are okay, but not worth $70. Only a hand full of the categories are filled out and usually on brief descriptions, i.e. Puppy is improving on his polite greetings! Okay, does that mean he's not jumping up on people? What technique was used to train this? etc. When I complained that I never got a video or picture of my dog on an event day, the front lady never spoke to me again after that. I'd be the only one waiting for my dog and it would just be awkward silence. They are only open from 6:30am to 6:30pm. Dont get me wrong, my dog LOVED going to Dogma and I do think they do a good job there, but is it so above and beyond that it deserves more than double the money than any other daycare in the city? No. I take my dog to Sleeprover now for $30 per day and they are open from 6am to 9pm. I still get a report card and my dog comes home tired and happy. For longer hours and 60% discount, I'm much happier.

Although I have known about Dogma for many years, due to my mom's dog being enrolled in KinderPups a few years ago, it wasn't until our own puppy, Juneau, started in school that I really understood how great Dogma is! The socialization aspect and the good habits that Juneau learns from the trainers while in 'school' are invaluable. As working dog parents, it is nice to know that Juneau is getting lots of attention throughout the day and can learn to socialize properly with other dogs her age! We really enjoy the daily report cards that Dogma fills out so we can get updates on how our puppy is doing and what we can work on at home with her. I would highly recommend Dogma Behaviour & Education Centres!

I am writing this review over 1 year after we finished our puppy training with Dogma because I feel that now I have sufficient experience with other companies as well, I am able to write an impartial and informed review, and it's important to share my experience with other families that are considering training through Dogma 37 St location. We enrolled in the training when our puppy was about 14 weeks old - we found the training to be of low value as it did not teach any of the confidence boosting, agility, socializing or behavioral training techniques, and the training sessions consist in LOTS of talking and very little hands on handling. During the 1.5 hours, there are 4 play sessions of 5 minutes each. We did not find this beneficial for the dogs as they are in a room full of other pups that they can't say hi to, so when they get their 5 minutes of playtime they are overly excited and overwhelmed which can cause fights and unwanted behavior. Their training is treats based which we don't agree with either because we find that it overstimulates the dogs and they do not respond to commands unless there is a treat in the handler's hand. After Dogma, we did another training program with our pup (all done outside which is AMAZING as that's where the real distractions are) and we were thought that we are the biggest reward for our dog and just our pets are more than enough as a "treat / reward" for them! It works amazing and now we are not scared that the dog won't come to us at the dog park because we forgot our treats at home! Another big dislike is the fact that the trainers do not give you the time of the day before or after classes! We were not able to approach them with questions that resulted from the training/practice with our pup because they are too busy and they have another class after. They tell people to "send in an email" which to be honest, is unacceptable when paying this type of money and getting this low of service and value. Lastly - watch out for them pushing for daycare!!!!!!!!! About half way into the training they started suggesting that our pup needs socializing with mature dogs as she is too hyper, and they kept pushing for their daycare until it got uncomfortable going to classes because we knew they will ask again by the end of the class. Several people in our class had the same concern, and other dig owners that did training through Dogma and we met since then from other training classes experienced the same solicitation. Also, just so you know, average daycare price is $40/day while theirs is $75/day. We do not recommend Dogma unfortunately. From our experience, we recommend a dog training company that does training outdoors. Why? Some of the reasons are: the dogs LOVE it, you as an owner and your fur baby are exposed and being trained to handle day to day life where there are real distractions, their confidence is boosted and so is yours, you and the dog are exposed to different environments and learn how to navigate different real life situations, and the list can go on. Good luck with your pup!!

I had taken my dog there since she was a pup. Initially I was happy with the instructors but over the years, staff kept changing...a real revolving door. During COVID although my dog was just going twice a week (used to go 3-4 times) as I was working at home, they went and added another $25 a month charge. Small businesses did need help over this time but the final straw was their lack of service. No one managed the phones anymore....If you wanted to see if you could get your dog in that morning before work, you would not get a call back in a timely manner. They also now expect you to do the admin work as they no longer pay for this position...why? because they wanted to focus on the dogs they said. Sorry but expecting me to go into 2 different calendar areas to book my days or cancel or change was crazy. Not the same passwords, could not get in the first time, there were no instructions sent when they made change. What really ended it was that we had been going there for years and I would always get notice if my passes were running low (e.g. you have 2 days left or 3 days left) so I would buy another package on the spot. With this new system of providing no admin support or customer service, I received a transaction on my visa charging me for the day. I emailed (remember...they don't pick up the phone) to ask what this was. They said my dog had gone to daycare and I had no passes left so I was charged. Just a fyi..when you buy passes in bulk, the rates are a little cheaper. No one let me know as past practice but just charged me the higher rate. They knew I always buy a package but went ahead and did this. I was told they no longer let people know..it is up to the customer to keep track and go online to book and edit and make any changes. I was also aware that since my dog was not taking additional training or courses that very little time was spent with her. They pride themselves on providing small group training but this is not the case. They have put their energy and time on the expensive new puppy training and left the rest of the dogs whose owners are only paying daycare costs aside. Also for quite awhile they were letting dogs pee on the floor inside than take them out. I complained because my dog starting peeing in our home after we had trained her to go outside. One of the staff at the time said the dogs were not taken outside to do their business. I mentioned this to the owner who said this was not true. I was told all the dogs were taken out for a pee break at a certain time of the day. I was off work one day, and parked outside in the lot to see my dog was taken outside to pee at the times they said they take them. My dog was not taken outside between the times I was told she would be. I saw small puppies but no older dogs. Maybe it was just inconsistent but seeing how the focus seemed to be on dogs whose owners were paying for the puppy training or additional classes, I was not surprised. My dog would always come home and run for the door to go pee as we had to retrain her on this. Obviously she was not getting taken outside so had to hold it. FYI - my vet says a dog should never have to hold their pee for any longer than 5-6 hours as this can do long term damage to their bladder. Not any different from humans. Those who proudly say...my dog can hold its pee for 10 hours are actually causing future medical issues for their dogs. What started out as a good daycare years ago (had some phenomenal trainers and values in the beginning) has just become a money grabbing business. You only see the owner during their special events like Halloween. I would ask staff if she came in regularly and the answer was always no. She also was not present often at the other location. Yes the company is paying her salary and her partners so it would be good to see them working in the business and providing customer service rather than cutting admin support, and charging a monthly fee of $25 work on top of the regular rates,. Writing a monthly blog does not cut it.

I would never recommend this company. This place is a complete money grab. I paid for the assessment with my dog $100. We have a conversation, I let them know she has separation anxiety which is why we are doing this. They said that’s okay, she’s been approved to enroll for doggie school. The first visit, after I purchased a non refundable package of puppy school classes that expire in a month, they tell me she needs additional crate training to be able to attend and that will DOUBLE the price. So now it’s $140 per day of doggie school, that’s more expensive than childcare!! Completely outrageous. Don’t even get me started on their “daily add ons” $15 for a reuseable frozen kong full of peanut butter. Like give me a break!

My dog Elsa has been attending Dogma since she was a puppy going to daycare and training including their Kinder Pups programme as a puppy, as well as the Reactive Urban K9 programme. Having a rescue dog with behavioural difficulties there are very few people I would trust to take care of her and manage her issues, and the team at Dogma are fantastic. They have all of the dogs' best intentions and well-being in mind, even if that means clients coming less frequently to their business. They also hold fun events giving the opportunity for training and quality time with your dog, especially the Annual Easter Egg Hunt, a scavenger hunt around the city which requires you to work on certain skills and socialization with your dog. I would absolutely recommend Dogma for anyone seeking care and training catered to their dog's needs.

Kelly is the puppy whisperer! She has been watching our dog since he was a little pup and he always comes home tired and happy. We had to use another sitter/walker when Kelly was out of town and our dog was not the same dog after. She is the only person we will ever trust after that experience. Kelly is also incredibly reliable, which is important in her line of work. Absolutely cannot recommend her enough!!