Cotten's Sunset Kennels — Local services in Victory Township

Review is specific to Board & Train only:

John was recommended to me by a friend who had just had her dog complete training with him due to being reactive to other dogs. Our own dog was showing increasing signs of aggression and leash reactivity (growling, lunging, barking at other dogs, vehicles, bikes, scooters, runners. She was also barking consistently at noises outside such as people or delivery vehicles) despite working with a local trainer whose philosophy was “yes work”, so I reached out to John.

He was responsive and accommodated our schedule due to traveling from over an hour away. At drop off we talked for a while about our dog’s strengths and weaknesses and got to see where she would be staying before we left.

John was communicative all week and sent multiple photos of Ava learning her new skills (place, whoa). He called a couple of times to talk about what he was seeing from her and working on.

Upon pickup we again sat down with John for a while to go over everything she had learned before taking her outside to transfer the knowledge from him to myself & my husband before heading home. John’s philosophy is less “gentle parenting” and more “bootcamp” in our opinion, and Ava really responded to that style compared to the “yes work” from our other trainer. Note: he does use prong collars and ecollars, so if that isn’t your thing then his training isn’t for you.

She came home having learned heel, whoa, no, place, alright (release cue) and here. Over the last month and a half she continues to display fantastic skills in heel and whoa (which is more useful than I ever thought it would be). She is also very responsive to “no” with the towel “bonker” that John recommended. She has been inconsistent with “place” and has seemed a bit afraid of her cot, but is making progress and is increasing duration. She is much calmer in our home and rarely barks at outside noises anymore. She has made significant progress on walks but is sometimes inconsistent with walking by other dogs, but responds to her corrections. I even walked her down a busy boardwalk with my friend’s dog this week that had done training with John and they did great together and walking by all the other dogs.

To add: John’s costs are significantly worth it compared to many other week-long board & trains and I loved that Ava received so much 1:1 attention. This was 100% worth it and would do it...

We have 180lb Great Dane... who enjoyed a 10 day staycation in the kennel, complete with training.

Our boy was a overbearing headstrong character who seemed unpredictable.

After his stay and our training of how to handle him, our boy came home a perfect gentleman, I would not hesitate to take him into situations now , that I would have previously avoided.

It's exciting, he's like a new toy... so pleasant and obedient. This was the best experience I could have wished for... I can not emphasize enough what a blessing this has been for our family ❤

Thank you!!!...

We have one of Allison and John's Coton de Tulear puppies who is now 5 months. He is a treasure with a delightful personality, and very, very smart. We made a special arrangement with them to keep him in their home for an additional 9 weeks for potty training, crate training, and a solid foundation of obedience training...which they did! He came to us with a vocabulary of 9 commands that we are reinforcing to the best of our ability. Though still very much a puppy, Flash is already a family member and one of the best dogs...