The Canine Center for Training & Behavior Austin, Texas

I took my deaf puppy for puppy primer and puppy basics. It was so helpful as one of the Instructors has deaf dogs. Now I have a very reactive Australian shepherd that is going to private lessons. You can work with the staff and get exactly what your dog needs.

PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOURSELF OR YOUR DOGS THROUGH THIS! First red flag: we called for 2 weeks and left voicemails and noone returned our calls. It was not until my husband physically visited the office that he was able to get a consultation for our two dogs. Jane is not the best with people and hopefully communicates better with dogs as she was abrasive and condescending to us. My husband and I chose to overlook this as we understood her to be a professional and expert in her field. Jane passed us off to another trainer (Nicole) assuring us she had trained Nicole herself every day for at least 8 months and that we would be in the best hands. The very first "lesson" Jane scheduled for one of our dogs was for a "tutor day" and this involves dropping your dog off. We were perplexed as we had just spent 60 minutes explaining that our dogs had severe separation anxiety but Jane was supposed to be the expert. The tutor day is at least 6 hours, and we were called in less than two to pick up our dog as he had completely shut down and they could not work with them. We were in a panic as the person on the phone would not tell us what went wrong only that we needed to pick up our dog. It was horrifying! And, it set our dog back to even worse than he was before we began. We should have left then, but everyone makes mistakes, right? Further, scheduling was a ALWAYS a nightmare. We could not seem to get anyone to schedule any lessons for us and found it challenging to get a return call. If Jane and The Canine Center didn't have time, then they could have told us so we could go elsewhere for help. Instead, they happily took our money and my husband and I had to extend our stay in Austin by another month (costing us more money) because of the set back from Jane’s “mistake”. More so, we were double billed a few times and when I asked for my account to be corrected, the office staff was still unresponsive and “forgot” to address the issue. Office staff did eventually return my call to get it corrected. After extending our stay in the area another month, we were again with no lessons for more than a week. Nicole kept trying to get Jane to approve our lesson schedule and Jane kept disrespecting our time. Nicole was the only redeeming aspect out of the entire experience building rapport and developing trust with us and our dogs. To this day, our dogs still hate Jane and will not go anywhere near her, and we trust our dogs’ instincts when it comes to people. The office staff is nice and polite enough when they finally get around to responding. Finally, while I am driving to a lesson, Jane called me and told me Nicole had resigned and she didn’t have anyone to cover my lesson (an hour before!) and asked if we could reschedule. Are you ‘effin kidding me?? I had not heard from Jane since our first consultation and then she just thought I was going to allow my dogs to be put with just anyone?? And potentially her again?? Don’t be asinine! Fool me once yada yada…She just didn't want to lose our money. What's worse is I get a couple of emails dragging me into The Canine Center drama following Nicole's departure. The first email was cryptic and stated, “The Canine Center is seeking legal remedy and professional sanctions around animal welfare…”. A few days later, another email accusing Nicole of “certain circumstances when a dog’s welfare did not appear to be Nicole’s priority of the moment.” What?? Are you serious?? Jane had assured us we were in the next best hands aside from Jane’s herself! This was NOT our experience with Nicole at all and we were being dragged into a smear campaign! I emailed Jane in response letting her know that I thought her emails were “inflammatory and unprofessional.” I asked her to call me if she really wanted to know about our experience to learn from it and improve her business. As of this review, Jane has not reached out at all and so all I can think at this point is she really didn’t care about me, my husband, our experiences with her business, and certainly NOT my dogs.

This is one of the best places possible to train your dog. The staff are brilliant and use scientifically based best practices got raising happy, healthy, and well behaved dogs.

Cannot say enough wonderful things about this establishment and the amazing people that run it. Thanks for all of the help, guidance, and support with my best friend.

First rate training center for all aspects of canine training.

Just started my second class at The Canine Center. We got great training tips in Adult Basics, and now are having so much fun in Introduction to Nosework! Love both trainers we have had so far.

Excellent trainers and great classes!! Taken several of my pups there and I highly recommend them!

Do not go here. Trainer told us to euthanize our one year old puppy because she is dog aggressive. We are now working with another trainer, at another agency, that absolutely has proved to us our dog is trainable.

We're doing the 6 week puppy training class here, and after just 3 sessions, I've already seen a huge difference in our 2, unruly 5 month old chiweenies. I highly recommend this class. We're looking forward to taking some of the others as they get older.

Great folks teaching classes here. Long drive from NW Austin at rush hour. Would recommend classes at off hours if possible.

Trainers are incredibly knowledgeable. Some improvements can be made in the scheduling system and timely communications, but I suppose those are normal growing pains for any company.

I expected more, perhaps due to the reviews I found before bringing my pup here. While the content was good, the execution wasn’t the best. Also, the office side didn’t seem to have it together. Overall, it was ok for the money if your dog lacks most skills, but it left me feeling like I was just another cog in their business, rather than a valued customer.

Sheri, Jess,Curtis & all the others were so helpful in teaching me and helping to give my rescue dog the confidence she needed to be a happy dog. I can't say enough about the team. I highly recommend!!

I am currently working on my 3rd rescue with TCC and I can honestly say that they are the absolute best option in the area. If you are interested in understanding what motivates your dog, how to approach their behavior from a better point of view, and develop a meaningful bond with your dog for a lifetime, this is the place. They will give you all the knowledge you need, so you can take it home with you and incorporate it in to your lifestyle and your family. Understanding why your dog is behaving the way they are, and how to address it, is such valuable knowledge. Their tutoring (doggy day care) is PRICELESS. The full day experience, among other things, is tremendous for *proper* socialization. It helps teach how to tolerate being with other dogs and humans, without piling a bunch of dogs together and expecting them to somehow learn anything meaningful besides rude play behavior, at best. Fear, reactivity, and injury, at worst. Skip over all the others, this place is the only place you need for your companion, at all stages of life.

My dog and I love this place! From the excellent staff to the fields and wide open spaces to play, The Canine Center is excellent! Excellent training, agility, nosework, seminars and more! We've been coming here for years and will continue doing so.

They have been doing a wonderful job with our dog Lana. She is learning so much and enjoys every day there.

Awesome trainers and wonderful facilities

Outstanding trainers great place to work with your dog

The canine center is great! From agility, to take home boarding. They do it all and really are more fun than dirt! Thank you!

Only have good things to say about the Canine Center. My dog June and I attended the adult basics class and learned a TON. Our instructor Pam was incredibly kind and patient and her love for dogs and teaching was easy to discern. Will hopefully take another course here soon.

We've been coming here for training and activities with our dog since we adopted him 7 years ago. The Canine Center trainers approach training not just with positive reinforcement, but with a view to creating a great relationship with your dog. I highly recommend them.

Knowledgeable trainers and staff provide all levels of dog training from puppies to adult dogs. Set in the open spaces south west of town where the dogs have plenty of space and fresh air. Doggy daycare is also available.

Great place for doggy day care and training. The staff are super attentive and really do a great job with my nervous, shy dog. They are able to adapt per each dogs personality and their one on one training sessions are awesome.

One of the best dog training places in Austin. I have had lessons and classes with most of the trainers here and they are all professional and know their stuff. I have also used their board with a trainer program for when I have to go out of town. My dog has some behavior challenges so knowing she is staying with a professional gives me some added piece of mind.

I tried so hard to like this place as it’s right down the road from us but have had overall a bad experience. When I found this place, I called and called and got voicemail every time as nobody would answer. I decided to send an email inquiring about training classes for my 8 month puppy, waited over a week for a response and still nothing! I then emailed again and was like hello? Anyone there want my money? I finally got a response back and was able to sign up for the basic adult training class. The owner of the facility was actually the trainer for the specific class and I could tell in the first class our personalities were just not going to mesh. I also realized that the class was not what we were looking for overall so I cancelled and got a credit on my account. I already paid so I used my remaining credit on private lessons to focus on what we needed help with. Our first lesson was great, much more pleased with my experience than before and we were getting somewhere. I work from home full time and I am able to really set time to focus on training my dog and the trainer said she would be sending me detailed notes after the training for reference. Again, I waited a week and no response or notes. I called today and actually got a nice gal on the phone and she is going to get with the trainer and I can hopefully get the notes soon. I feel like when I spend hundreds of dollars, I shouldn’t have to harass for someone to get back to me. I still have a balance on my account and I’m going to try Paul as I have heard great things and my neighbor with the same breed has been using him as well. Third time is a charm right?

Effective training in a calming environment.

I am a foster for Austin Animal Center. One of the dogs had a concerning history and needed some training that required a two week board and train. After the two weeks were up, I drove to the Canine Center for a training/hand-off session. It was a very informative experience! Special thanks to the Friends of Austin Animal Center for sponsoring animals that need extra care. Canelo and I am grateful for the support.

Great Place, znd our dog loves going here.

Time and money well spent learning and growing as a dog owner.

Jane and her team might as well be dog-speaking wizards from another dimension, 'cause these folks have done magical wonders for the temperament of our 2-year-old pup we recently got from a shelter. Do yourself a favor and look no further.