Eagle K-9 Academy Bethany, Connecticut

My happy healthy female 12 week old German Shepherd went to work with Thomas Hunt Jr and his son Christopher Hunt on the AKC STAR program for a 10 day board and train. We informed him that The puppy was a Service Dog prospect for our 6 year old autistic and hard of hearing daughter. We were told that they would use positive only methods and she would come back having mastered "sit", "down", "come", "heel", and "stay" with both verbal and hand commands. That is absolutely not what we got back. She came back with the AKC star puppy ribbon but having not mastered any of the commands verbal, visual or otherwise as promised. She was very thin, anxious in the house, has severe separation anxiety, experiencing crate and house breaking issues that weren't previously there, and fearful/fear aggressive toward people, especially men. These issues can absolutely prevent her from becoming my a service dog in the future if we cannot reverse the damage done. On top of that she came home with kennel cough and then got our elderly dog sick, and she quite sick with breathing difficulties. After reaching out to Mr. Hunt we were told not only did his dogs also have kennel cough and we were not informed but that "I'm pretty sure that we brought a dog into the facility that had kennel cough already and they infected the whole kennel room." We have now had 3 vet visits in the last 2 weeks for both dogs for evaluations, meds, and stronger meds for our elderly lab. Also to note Mr. Hunt and his son insured me that they use only positive methods and upon receiving videos of my dog's training it shows they don't. In fact the first video shows them using very outdated alpha roll and claiming it as a relaxation technique. Further videos show the use of frequent collar corrections on a chain martingale collar when Freya didn't preform as desired. Positive only does not involve chain collars or collar corrections. Only once was it shown that they use treats as a method of positive reinforcement. I was lead to believe that I had left my dog in a responsible person's hands, but I was sorely let down. I reached out to Mr. Hunt for a refund ($1400) and for the vet bills ($107 at that time after pet insurance reimbursement) to be covered so I can take my puppy elsewhere in hopes of undoing the damages he has caused and determine if Fr is going to be able to bounce back from this and resume training as a service dog. He is refusing to do so stating that "Your dog did complete the program. We have provided a complete service" but he "Will still honor our lifetime guarantee." Why would I trust my dog with this man after everything that has happened? My dog may have been there for full 10 days but she cannot do any of the commands she supposed learned and passed the star puppy test with. I'm not a novice owner and this is way more than just handler error on my part. This is not something anybody else should get duped by. This was my daughter's one chance at a service dog and if Freya becomes unable to be trained for her then my daughter looses her chance of independence. We cannot afford to buy another puppy prospect to replace her, nor do we have the room for a third large breed dog. Also, our insurance will only cover her as a service dog so we would have to rehome our daughter's best friend. Pictures include before and after pictures of when my pup went to training base how thin and malnourished she was when she got home. Also some conversations

They did a great job training my previously abused rescue. That dog loved going there as well when I was on vacation. We never ever had a problem. Always a great experience!!!

My dog had good training at this place it was worth the money I invested.

My dog was here for 5 days. He was supposed to stay for 2 weeks. I went to go see him after those 5 days and noticed he was being mistreated, he had a shock collar on, he was in a very dark dog kennel with no food or water. I got videos sent to me of “simple training” he already knew what to do. $1,500 spent on nothing. Once I realized my dog was being mistreated I took him back home immediately. I paid the full amount & left. When I brought him back home he had a rash, I went to the vet after & had to pay more money for separate medical expenses & care. Would not recommend this place to anybody!! Do not bring your dog here. The place alone was very disgusting and not clean. The smell that came out once you opened those doors were horrifying.

If I could give them no stars I would. They took our family’s dogs for a 2 week training. They lost our dog and they failed to find him. When we were called to come help find the dog, no one was there looking for our lost dog. Their property is not ideal for a dog training facility as it is on 3 major roads in Bethany. Most unprofessional experience ever. Do not let your dogs go here.

Great service and Owner was very friendly and easy to talk too.

He starved my dog for 10 days and told me he was eating fine everytime we called .. dog 10 pounds as a puppy !! And came home with a bacterial and ear infection . Not somewhere I’d bring my dog ever ever ever again .. felt like I put my dog through complete hell bringing him here

This facility has severely abused multiple dogs to the point where they no longer trust humans. Do not send your animals here if you care for them at all.

Trust your dog to this pawsome training facility!! Family owned for 3 generations now and all the members of the Hunt family are caring, compassionate animal lovers so your dog will be in great 'paws'!

Place is run down. My dog got diarrhea because of some bug it picked up there. FYI you can’t train a dog in 10 days. My puppy came back scared, doing some of the things it was thought, but terrified it would be punished if it didn’t. Almost $2000 later I was upset I allowed this to happen to my dog. Don’t waist your money. There are better places.

Good trainer. Both Tom and Tom Jr. Very trustworthy

The owner and trainer appeared to be nice people... but the truth is, they did nothing with my dog. Our pup went in already well trained but we wanted two issues corrected. They instead made a video of what our dog already knew and did not …

Tom Hunt senior and junior are offering a 10-day training course and afterwards you can board your dog with them for only $30 /day with re-training automatically included. We had our 3 months old German Shepherd puppy there for training and it was a great experience! Hands-on and very personal care with lot of great advise and tips!

They are the dog whisperer's of Connecticut!