When Hounds Fly (Queen West)

things I liked: - facility well managed - staff are passionate about what they do - safety measures in place for COVID things I did not appreciate: - extremely long wait time (a month) to get into the orientation and class. Our experience, submitted enrolment request on Sep 15, got accepted on Sep 16 (fairly fast), then tried to book for orientation session because you cannot attend any class before the orientation (makes sense to me at this point). On Sep 16, the earliest orientation session I could get in is on Oct 17 (smh at this point). I have no choice but wait because apparently they have the highest rating per Google and Yelp and I want to make sure my puppy gets the best training. Then got my login on Oct 19 (fairly quick turnover for them) and successfully booked my first class on Oct 20. To be fair, I was able to secure 1 spot for each of the following week. - puppy play time is relatively short. The name of the course is puppy socialization. Thus my expectation is for my puppy to play for like an hour and come home exhausted. But the reality (we have had 3 classes so far, 2 with Claire, 1 with Racheal) is only 5 mins play session * 2. My dog is on the high energy side so this could also be why I don't think it is enough for him. The remaining of the class is just the instructor explaining some basic concepts. Pups and human just sit still and listen. - The following point could also be caused by me having a different expectation: I was expecting the instructors to intervene and tell me dog when to stop and actually teach my dog manners. However the only thing they were doing is just to pull the dogs away from each other. I mean, it solves the problem on the scene but it is not helpful to the puppy or puppy owner in the long run. If the puppy is playing too rough, teach us how to calm him down by you doing something to calm him down first. - Teaching material is too basic to someone who has experience with dogs. I didn't find the lectures value adding to me as they are really general - majority of the material can be found on google. - They give rawhides to dogs. I appreciated the treats however google "rawhides" and you can read the controversy yourselves. Overall, I don't feel like we had enough play time during each session and I find the lectures not that value adding to an experienced owner. However if you are a new dog owner who knows nothing about dogs, this may be a great fit for you as they do go through a lot of basic things and everyone is extremely helpful when you have any questions.

The classes are really useful, you can get a lot of good tips to improve in your dog behaviour

When Hounds Fly is a business with absolutely no concern for their customers. I paid them $300 and they have refused to give me anything. I purchased classes but as the second wave of COVID-19 got worse, I was not comfortable or allowed by public health restrictions to gather and have these classes. When Hounds Fly expected me to book classes within 6 months, and expected online classes to be booked if in-person classes could not be held. This was not what I purchased. More than 6 months later, the province is opening up and people are starting to gather again. After taking my money, they are refusing to offer me anything. I cannot get a refund and I cannot get services. The company can reply and point to their policies that "clearly state" that they have a 6-month completion timeframe and no refund policy. I can understand not offering refunds. But refusing to provide any services, after I paid them hundreds of dollars, because a pandemic prevented me from having classes is just callous disregard for their customer. My dog is one of the most important things in my life. If you are going to have anything to do with my dog, the most important thing is that you care, about me as a customer and about my dog. I'm sure their trainers are all great people who care a great deal about the dogs they work with. But When Hounds Fly is not a company that cares about me or my dog.

We loved out experience with When Hounds Fly! The puppy classes are very well organized, they are very informative and we had a great time. Their COVID protocols made us feel very safe but did not take away from the experience at all. Would highly recommend for those who just got a new puppy!

Thanks for an information packed puppy class, Hu! Your classes are really helping us with Piper. She loves school.

We love when hounds fly! We have had such great experiences there with several trainers, including Rachael, Claire, and Hu. Our puppy loved his socialization classes and we learned a lot about puppy behaviour and how to go about training using positive reinforcement. The staff are very knowledgeable and seem to really enjoy what they do. I would highly recommend When Hounds Fly to any new puppy parents. We can’t wait to start our puppy in the foundations class!

Beware of "expiring credits". We could not finish our puppy classes as we were moving, and asked to join the next round of classes. They said no, and gave us credits to be used for other classes. I recently enquired about taking more classes or doing a phone consultation using our credits, and was told that our credits expired in November and that their policy is on their website and on the payment page however it was not mentioned in the welcome email and the orientation slides that show their policy. Interesting. So we paid for nothing. I see that many other customers had their credits expire during covid lockdowns. Feels a bit scammy.

Extremely organized and knowledgeable staff, delivering a consistent message, with an overall goal of teaching the owner how to train their dog. There is no wasted time during lessons. 1/2 hour question sessions are available as well. The resources provided are extensive. The training and benefits are immediately apparent. A huge step up from the puppy classes that I took at a local big box store.