Urban Dog House — Local services in Milpitas

Our 1.5-year-old German Shepherd, Claire, has been attending training classes at Urban Dog House once a week and boards there whenever we are out of town. Our experience with them has been nothing short of transformative.

When we first adopted Claire from a shelter, she had a challenging past—raised mostly in a crate with minimal human or canine interaction, and a survivor of a car accident. She was anxious, unsettled, and lacked basic manners. However, from our very first private training and assessment with Dexter, the owner of Urban Dog House, we noticed a change. He provided invaluable initial tips and integrated us into their Level One Obedience Course. The course covers all fundamentals and basics, crucial for Claire’s development.

One of the highlights of boarding at Urban Dog House is the personalized care Claire receives. We always look forward to receiving her report cards, which include pictures, videos, and detailed updates on her progress. It’s comforting to know that we can also plan extra sessions with obedience and agility trainers during her stay, ensuring continuous and comprehensive training. Additionally, the option to have her bathed and her nails clipped before pickup is a wonderful convenience that adds to the seamless experience.

A special shoutout goes to Steve, the agility trainer who also taught Claire how to settle and decompress at home. His impact on her ability to relax and feel at ease, especially after her past confinement, has been remarkable. Claire adores him, and his training methods have greatly contributed to her improved behavior at home. We've even signed her up for swim lessons this summer at their on-site dog pool, excited for her to enjoy another fun activity under their care.

The community at Urban Dog House is fantastic; fellow dog parents are passionate and supportive, creating a nurturing environment for learning and growth. The structured training has not only helped Claire but also us as pet owners to understand and manage her needs better. The ability to observe advanced classes was a bonus, giving us insights into future training opportunities.

Boarding at Urban Dog House is a worry-free experience for us. Knowing that their team upholds our training methods during Claire's stay gives us immense peace of mind. After a recent two-week boarding during our Europe trip, Claire returned even more well-behaved. We were particularly impressed with her improved ability to settle down and relax at her designated “place,” something she struggled with immensely due to her past crate confinement.

Urban Dog House has played a pivotal role in transforming Claire from a skittish, anxious dog into a confident, well-mannered companion. We could not have asked for a better partner in our journey of pet parenthood. Highly recommended for anyone looking to enhance their dog's behavior...

I spent $75 for my dog to be evaluated in Cooperhaus k9 in Milpitas. After that, the trainer provided us several options to choose from. Eventually we signed up the group lesson for our dog. During the evaluation, we concerned the dog might not be calm around other dogs. The trainer thought the dog was fine, no problem. We were relieved since it passed the evaluation.

After attending two lessons, the manager forced us to move to private lesson (the private lesson is much more expensive) because he thought the dog was not suitable for the group lesson. We wanted to pay just two lessons and asked for the refund. The manager refused to refund the money. When we signed up the lesson, No one told us that they might kick the dog out of the class and no refund at all. We felt we were deceived by this company.

The manager is utterly lack of people skill , and very cunning. His attitude is like switching to private lesson, take it or leave it, don't even think about getting refund. He was so rude. He not only hung up my wife phone call. While talking to him in person, he didn't even want to listen to my questions and suggestions and just walked out of the room. When I tried to get him back to talking, he started accusing me touching him, and threatened to call the police. Eventually we left with a strong feeling of being literally thrown out of this facility. Therefore avoid dealing with this manager, he seems to have no patience at all with the customers. I have wasted $300 and received nothing worthy from this school.

Beware of this training center, you might run into the same situation if they think your dog is not good enough for their group lessons. Don't relay on the evaluation, they won't honor the evaluation at all.

I made a mistake by choosing this dog training school because I only focused on the positive reviews from internet. You should pay more attentions on the bad reviews that are the ones carrying the crucial hidden problems about this company. You can exercise your own judgements on the bad reviews. If the bad reviews make sense to you, you might be able to avoid the future troubles and unpleasant encountering. I would give zero star if I could. They still owe me at least $125, but I don't expect they have the conscience to pay me back.

Maybe Cooperhaus K9 has its forte on dog training. Perhaps my dog is not suitable for their set up. All the conflict and confusion can be prevented if they could just show me their policy before I signed up any program. This is what I kept trying to suggest to the manager but I was cut off by him again and again !

Thank you for reading this review

latest update for this unpleasant event :

One day after posting this review, I received a email from Cooperhaus K9 stating that $125 has been refunded to my Visa Card. Maybe this review did make them...

Urban Dog House is a great training school and I highly recommend them.

Both Dexter and Steve truly care about the dog's being compliant, happy in their compliance, with fewer and ultimately no corrections. This philosophy is reinforced in all their training regardless of who you work with or whether you do private, public, or pack walks. You get the sense the trainers really care about your dog and they care about teaching you so BOTH parties are happy and successful.

Some highlights:

-They offer so many opportunities to train your dog (group classes, private classes, swimming, agility, pack walks....) I have done group classes (currently level 2), private lessons, and have participated in a pack walk. I appreciate the real life settings to put into practice what has been learned in group classes. Additionally, the private lessons I have done with Steve have been very effective and really encouraging.

Dexter and Steve are willing to work with different training tools (flat collar, martingale collar, prong collar, e-collar...). I really value this. They don't force a "type" on you. They also care about the tools being used correctly and that your dog is not being over corrected. I see consistently that they care about your dog and want to make sure communication from the handler to the dog is clear, appropriate, and effective. I think this is super important and I think Dexter and Steve do a great job with this.

-They welcome all family members to participate in classes or pack walks (or whatever). It is important for family members/handlers to hear the same message and have the opportunity to practice and ask questions. Not all training facilities allow this and I am thankful Urban Dog House not only allows it, but encourages it. My daughter has done most of the classes with me and therefore the training at home has been more effective.

Some notes: -Classes/pack walks etc... tend to run over the allotted time. You can always leave when you need to, but I just plan cushion in my schedule.

-The trainers talk a lot (something I notice about most dog trainers :-) and sometimes I wish we practiced more, but what they share is valuable.

Bottom line - I am learning, my dog is learning, and our relationship has significantly improved because of the training we have received at Urban Dog House.

Give them a try - I believe you will be...