Karma Dog Training Austin, Texas

Save your money and skip their "puppy socialization" s*** show. All you get is 45 minutes of complete and utter chaos with dogs fighting and jumping all over each other in an enclosed pen. The shy and introverted dogs get pushed around and attacked by the bigger bullies in the class, which does nothing for their mental state. The head trainer is nice and does what she can, but this is a bad experiment gone wrong. I found much better options and training facilities out there that actually work. You can't get your money back once you sign up so buyer beware. Also, none of the trainers on their website actually even work there anymore, according to them "we haven't updated the website in several years." This is a piece-meal facility that way overcharges for their services which is nothing more than babysitting, if that. Their current trainers are all mostly contractors so they really have no impact or authority on what they do or don't do. My dog has learned absolutely nothing from Karma, any progress made has been from my own training which I learned from books and google. Everything with pets is reward based; if you want to teach your dog to sit, stay, roll over, shake, etc., just get yourself some good dog treats and reward your pet over and over again for that behavior. That's it. That's what Karma charges you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, to teach you. There are no "secrets" that Karma or any other training facility has, it's either reward based training for the "right" behavior or using an e-collar (electric shock) for bad behavior). Do your homework before you sign up, especially here. Lesson learned!

I've tried a few different dog training/socialization classes in Austin. I can say with confidence that Zion at Karma Dog Training and her training abilities have resulted in the most positive changes in my Blue Heeler puppy's behavior. If you heed her advice and put in the work on your end, you will see the changes you are hoping for!

The phone consultation back in December went well. Said they would touch base again with me after the holidays. It’s mid-March and have yet to hear anything back. Glad I ultimately went with a different training service though.

Save your money, especially if you have a younger/high energy pup. Sent 1.5 year old dog for board and training for two weeks at over $2000. Was told with that there would be free classes on the weekends we could join later, although it turns out there aren't any because of the virus. (No mention of that though of course). I think the trainer knew her stuff, but I just feel my dog didn't retain much of it. Came home and still struggled with the simple commands. It is partly my fault as I should have worked with her more, but I feel like she made very little progress and that I was still starting from scratch. So save your money and learn to train your dog yourself , because after you most certainly will have to.

Too crowded and the dogs don't really learn because they are off leash, and some of them are bound to not get along. Theres too much rough housing, mouthy behavior, and no control. There's no room for them to get away from eachother. Total chaos, the ceasar chavez location is way too small. It would be better if it was restricted to 6 small breed dogs for example. I don't like the constant starting and ending of different people, because classes are a revolving door- no beginning or ending dates. I regret doing it. My dog is getting basics somewhere else now.

Loved Karma! Great experience for young pups who haven't had all their shots. We'd have a little play time, a little lesson time, more training, and more play. It was the perfect set up for the puppies' short attention spans. Dogs were also trained by size, so no worries about dogs being too overpowering. It's also a positive/reward based system. My corgi has been extremely responsive to this type of training.

I truly don't recommend taking a class with them if you have a smaller breed puppy. This class would end up being really stressful for my lil Vivian (chihuahua) and me. We often had to say by ourselves in a corner because the other pups were all huge, even though we signed up and paid for a "small breed" class. The trainers made me feel like I was a bother. I stopped going after week 5. Waste of time and money. Perhaps this was just the Slaughter location, but like I said, don't recommend.

The trainer is good, however way too many dogs in a cramped tiny space. 1 trainer for 12 dogs is insane. I think karma is great, it’s the classmate humans who are a bit of a problem. I shouldn’t have to see my dog get kicked by a child who is unable to handle a dog correctly or violently yanked up by his harness by the same child and nobody say a word. I do not think it is safe environment for my dog or me(because had it happened again I would not have been restrained or polite in my reaction). It is not the trainers fault there is too many people/dogs and not enough space. It was fine the first few classes when it wasn’t packed to the brim in a room smaller than an average guest bedroom. They need to be very clear about how to handle a puppy/dog as well as have rules for children(who should be allowed only if mature enough to handle it). My dog LOVED kids and now he cowers when he sees one because of this brat. He didn’t know that people could even be mean. I’m livid. I liked Karma(which is why 4 stars!), however I will be going elsewhere and paying a premium for my dogs future training needs to avoid dealing with trashy and abusive people who can’t control their children or adults with poor attitudes and ignorant/nasty commentary. If I wanted to deal with garbage I would’ve gone to a chain store.

Ashley and Kate were awesome in training our dog, Penny, as a 2 month old puppy! We took the 8-week course and were extremely pleased at how friendly and interactive the trainers were with Penny, and how they came over to help whenever we were experiencing an issue with her learning the cues. In this course, she/we learned "sit," "stay," "lay down," off-leash training, recall, and how to behave around other dogs. Their training was invaluable, and I'd recommend this class to anyone with a brand new pup or an older one who may have trouble following commands. It was a great experience, and we will really miss going there every Sunday. Thanks, Ashley and Kate!

I just attended the introductory basic training class and left within the first 20 minutes, after watching the trainer continually reward negative behavior. She had no presence or control of the situation and allowed the dogs to run the show. I would prefer to find a calm-assertive trainer that shows leadership, gives consistent rules and does not to confuse the dog on what is good and what is unacceptable.