The Barkley Academy Testimonials
Paul, Lucille and “Bonnie & Clyde”
We applaud the Barkley Pet Hotel Trainers, Vendy Fris-Clark and her staff of highly skilled professionals dedicated to making our two beautiful beagles, Bonnie and Clyde, the best puppies that they can be. Our beagle puppies are littermates, brother and sister. They are the most adorable puppies that we purchased from a beagle breeder. We began to experience some sibling rivalry issues after about 5 months. Their fighting behavior seemed to be getting out of control. We sought out the help of the professional trainers at the Barkley Pet Hotel & Day Spa. Vendy, the lead trainer, and her staff came to save the day for us, providing an outstanding behavior modification program. The puppies were incorporated into the doggy day camp for socialization skills, and the trainers gave them individual sessions several times per day to rectify their misbehavior. Our puppies were with Vendy and her staff for approximately 5 weeks. The puppies returned to us with remarkable improvement. So well behaved with all the training commands being followed, walking without pulling, and pillow down, stay executed masterfully. We are eternally grateful for the dedication and personalized care that they provided for our puppies. I enthusiastically, recommend and encourage any dog owner to utilize the services provided by the Barkley trainers, Vendy, and her staff.
Eileen and “Jack”
Thanks for helping me learn how to work with Jack. He has enjoyed the class and we are enjoying the improvements in his behavior. This was a great experience. We’ll be back!
Steven and “McKenna”
This review is for the Barkley training staff, Dawn, Dee and Vendy. Our German Shepherd was not very social with other dogs and had several training issues. Very stubborn. She was still a puppy at only six months old though! She went through the Barkley Training Academy and came out a new dog. She was there for one month, and it took two weeks for her to come around. Once she did, everything started falling into place. Since then she has been through the basic and the advanced training classes. The staff is wonderful and they treat the dogs like their very own. She has all the basics and we are building on them every day. She has also been to day camp and grooming, as well as her veterinarian is right next door in the same building. A great one stop shop and all the staff have been great and treated her wonderful. By the way, they also have a large outdoor pool that they use with the training academy. If your dog is not water safe, this is a great place to change that. At the end of the day, we have been using the veterinary services, grooming, boarding and the training academy and have nothing but praises to say about the staff. Give them a try and see what we see every time we stop by.
Leanne and “Dodger”
This class changed our life!! Our dog is not holding us hostage anymore! We are working together as a happy pack … More practice to come!!
Brad, Jayme and “Winston”
We love our training at the Barkley Academy. In just 6 short weeks our puppy, Winston, has learned to sit, stay, down and walk like a gentleman on a leash. Vendy and her team made the classes lots of fun and they were extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Thanks!
Jan, Patrick and “Bentley”
I just wanted to take a few moments to thank three members of the Barkley staff involved in beginner human and doggie training. They are Vendy, Dawn and Dee. All three of them were outstanding in the basic obedience training I just graduated from. My humans (Jan and Pat), say they have had Golden Retrievers for over 30 years and both have never seen a training team as good. The ratio of trainers to doggies was better than my humans had ever experienced. (3 trainers to 7 doggies), and the training staff were so nice and obviously love dogs. The training itself was very positive and did not involve a lot of yanking me around with a leash and choke chain. However, they did put that loop thingee on my snout that was not real fun, but it DID help me and my humans learn (and it wasn’t so bad after all). I also enjoyed the other part of the pawsitive training approach, use of doggie treats, yum! They even took a graduation photograph with me and my humans, wow! Anyway, Dee and Dawn were always ready to “jump in” and assist the humans and keep the learning process going whenever my humans got a little confused about something. In a related matter I wanted to also thank Vendy and the staff for ensuring I was introduced to swimming in your pool. My humans say the Golden Retriever they had before would never swim and wanted to be sure I learned to like swimming. I did get to show off my swimming skills last week in a muddy creek where I swam and chased crawdads, wopee!
Finally I wanted to say how much I have enjoyed my visits to the Barkley where I was boarded overnight for several days each visit. It was fun, and whenever I go to the Barkley for a training session I want to visit the Pet Hotel area. My humans again say they have never owned a dog that liked going to a dog boarding facility.
My humans said to make sure to request that a copy of this letter be place in the personal files of the three employees – Vendy, Dawn & Dee.
Ina and “Scout”
Great experience for both me and my dog! Safe place for me to introduce him to other dogs. Doing lessons in the circle of dogs has given him more ability to handle distractions and he now is an absolutely amazing companion to take with me because he listens and behaves so well now!
Evan and “Maverick” (the Pity)
Training class was just what Maverick needed, and we couldn’t have had more fun. Thank you so much to all of the staff for their awesome help!
Peter, Beth and “Magic & Gidget”
Vendy and her team did an amazing job teaching us how to properly train our dogs. We learned a lot, not only about training, but also about what motivates our dogs and this empowered us to be better owners and will certainly lead to a better relationship with them! All of the trainers were extremely knowledgeable and patient and we highly recommend them!
James and “Roxie”
Vendy and her staff at the Barkley Academy are amazing. Words can’t express my gratitude for making our week old English Bulldog who had all the typical puppy behavior; a safe and well mannered bulldog to have around other animals, kids and adults. Getting a new puppy can cause craziness to any household, but Vendy and her staff eliminated all of that stress and craziness for our family. I don’t know how they do it but Vendy is a dog whisperer and so is her staff. Not only are they great with dogs, but they are kind and very understanding people. They treat every dog like their own, with great love!! Vendy, Dawn and Dee we want to thank you for your kindness, for training Roxie those four weeks and for training us too. Today Roxie is 7 months old, she still goes to Vendy at the Barkley Academy to stay consistent through her growing stages. We would not have the dog we have today without your intervention and we will continue to work with you at the Barkley Academy so Roxie stays well behaved. Like Vendy told me, consistency in training and love is the key to a happy dog and family. Thank you for ever and ever!!!
