Brookside Walk + Train — Local services in Boston

We came to Dinyee after going to 3 other trainers with no luck. Our adopted adult dog, Oliver, had extreme anxiety, was unable to control his flight instincts, and was afraid to be outside. It was nearly impossible to go on walks with him because he would always try to pull so hard to get home. Even going to the bathroom outside was a struggle, as he would always try to run back home. My husband and I were very overwhelmed and didn't know what to do.

When we brought Oliver to Brookside, it was apparent that Dinyee knew how to handle him. Every day during pick-up, she would take the time to review how he did during the day, and give us advise on how to manage him at home. After the 8 weeks, we also had 3 private sessions with Dinyee where she taught us how to use the training tools correctly to ensure we are able to continue our training at home.

While the 8-week program is expensive, it was definitely a worth-while investment for us. Oliver is not totally over his issues (we didn't expect he would be "fixed" after only 8 weeks given his severity), but it is clear that Dinyee has given him enough of a foundation so my husband and I can continue training him at home. We know we have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we are grateful for the help Dinyee provided to get us on the right path.

For those considering Brookside, know that success comes with a lot of hard work. You should be prepared to put in just as much or more work than your dog. Dinyee is a straight-shooter, and will not hesitate to call you out on your behaviors and actions that negatively affect your dogs behavior - but at the end of the day, its all for the benefit of you...

Brookside took our dog from being afraid of everything to an almost perfectly trained and confident pup. We chose them for training because we knew he’d have continuous, structured exposure to other dogs; we loved the ongoing communal aspect of the business, with monthly training maintenance sessions, daycare, and boarding; and because most of the intensive trainings in the area required lengthy boarding, and we wanted to be with our dog in the evenings. Our dog was adopted from KY and afraid of other dogs, difficult to take on walks, and afraid and growling around some people. After the 8 week daytime training last summer, he had a great heel and wonderful recall that allows us to go on hikes off leash, but most importantly, he (and we!) learned structure that makes us confident that he knows that we are in control and that we can teach him anything. It’s a joy to have a dog that we can take anywhere and know that he will behave well.

Do not expect frills from Brookside - you will not get daily updates (in fact, the human training happens after the dog training, which was hard for us but best in the long run!), there are no monitoring cameras or pics (although we are elated when he gets a cameo on the Instagram), and the owner will tell it to you how it is without sugar coating. What you do get is amazing training, a responsive staff, and a whole ecosystem of dog services (we even got a house call to help with desensitizing our dog to our cat). We love Brookside enough to drive from Southie to keep our dog in daycare once a week a year later. It’s a great place that has done wonders for us...

There is no easy way to put this: Our puppy died while under the supervision and care of Brookside Walk+Train.

We had been using Brookside for daycare services (PPL) since December 2021. In February 2022, we were traveling out of town for the weekend and signed up for boarding services with Brookside for the first time for that weekend. We made our request several weeks ahead of time. We were assigned a boarder that our puppy had regularly interacted with while at daycare and was familiar with. When we dropped off our puppy to be boarded for that weekend, Brookside informed us at the last minute that the pre-assigned boarder was no longer available, and our puppy was re-assigned to a different boarder, who we believe was someone our puppy was not familiar with. The last minute nature of the change gave us little option but to go with the new boarder since our flight was very early the next morning. A few hours after we dropped off our puppy, we received a call from Brookside informing us that our puppy got loose while being transported, ran into the street, and died after being hit by a car. Needless to say, we were devastated.

After this incident, we have been disappointed by how Brookside has handled the situation. For example, even after we followed up specifically to ask Brookside to refund us the money for services we had pre-paid for, it took them over 2 months to do so. As a result, we felt like we were being treated with...