I was very sad to see BLDTC's sorry attempt to hide unfavorable comments by creating a new listing. Truth is truth and you can't hide from it.
I attended classes at Barb Levenson Dog Training Center: Puppy Kindergarten, Basic, CGC, Rally Obedience and Agility. Under Barb's instruction (and with A LOT of PERSONAL work) I learned a great deal about dog training and will continue to do so. BE honest! Barb's training methods borrow heavily from the best trainers out there, Susan Garrett, Susan Salo and Silvia Trkman to name a few. Her facilities are spacious, but also freezing in winter, sweltering in summer and VERY dirty. The floor Iis padded for agility, but the equipment is always out leaving very little room for other classes. Her classes are THE MOST expensive in the area, yet do not include use of the facility for practice. Finally, Barb DOES engage in high-pressure sales for the next level of instruction or continuing classes. She will try to shame and intimidate if you decline. While it is true "you get what you put in to dog training like anything else in life. If you do not work your dog it is going to be obvious in class", to call any student "lazy" is UNPROFESSIONAL. I have witnessed paying students belittled, scolded, insulted and dismissed, all under the guise of "looking out for the dog." I work very hard with my dog so it is unfair to conclude "folks that are complaining are the ones that need to practice more training." Barb does know how to train dogs, she's just horrible with humans. Unfortunately it is the humans who pay for classes. Truthfully, many clients are casual students and NOT the responsible pet owners they could be. However, they PAID for and SHOWED UP for classes. At the very least, that should earn them COURTESY, not CONTEMPT. Barb may have been in business for over 25 years, but how many clients has she lost and how many future students will she lose to unprofessional conduct and/or personality conflict. In the end, how is that good for the dogs Barb claims to care so much about?
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