Ahimsa Dog Training Seattle, Washington

Learned so much here and the instructors were awesome!

I have nothing but good things to say about Ahimsa! My puppy has participated in Kindergarten and Elementary, and I plan to enroll him in at least one more class. The training goes a lot further than I feel like the PetSmart classes do (previous puppy participated in those), and the real value comes from the in-person training to accompany any online videos you might find because the instructors will take the time during the class to help you work out unique ways to train your dog. I was struggling to teach my puppy to lay down for the longest time because the top search results weren't geared towards short excitable long-bodied dogs, and even then I was having a hard time translating what I was reading to his training. Both Ken and Wynona were awesome teachers when it came to talking out and demonstrating different ways to teach new behaviors. I've also seen reviews that Elementary wasn't enough of an advance from Kindergarten, but I found any repeated lessons were helpful reinforcement for my pup, and the instructors were always open to covering different topics when asked!

I recently took puppy kindergarten and puppy elementary with my dog Jagger. I feel like puppy elementary was not a build up upon Puppy Kindergarten. They were the exact same class. We did the name games, and allot of look at me drills. I had two different instructors throughout the duration of the class. The first two classes, I had hope we were going to get in some new skills. Then, we had a new instructor. It felt like the class was starting from square one. There was no advanced “anything” in this class. All in all, I was disappointed with the classes. These classes are expensive and time consuming. I really wanted to take more classes with Ahimsa, but I am not sure I can justify them biased on my experience. If I am feeling this way, I am sure others in these classes feel this way as well. Most of the skills worked on in both classes can be found online with a little time. Don’t waist your time or money here. Look up Zack George or McCann dogs. The info is free, and way more useful then these classes. Or better yet, for the price of these classes, the money may be better spent on personal dog training secessions. Every single person I have talked to that have used the Ahimsa dog training classes have said similar things. It makes me sad. I really wanted a place to continually work with my pup. I think I may be looking elsewhere for future pup training.

Heard good things about this place and wanted to try a class here. I asked to sign up for an interest list for a class for my two dogs. I was told they had to clear basic manners and intermediate manners first since our dogs hadn't trained with Ahimsa in the past. (We recently moved cross country). Well, I must say it's incredibly frustrating to have to undergo basic manners again when our older dog has earned his CGC and the younger one has taken private lessons and can do all the basic training listed in both their basic and intermediate manners classes. As a side note, we also do dock diving, agility training and nosework with both our dogs so suffice to say, we're into training our dogs. Disappointed to say the least. We'll be finding another training location.

The class was a little too scripted for my liking, it felt like we were listening to a tour guide. Our puppy didn’t like the sound of the clickers, and all of them going off all class just scared our puppy. We spent most of the time trying to comfort her and calm her down. We asked for some help and were told to just try it at home and see how that goes. They also suggested we come LATE to the next class, even though they originally say to arrive early to pick a spot favorable to your pup. We did not get this choice and ended up in a scary spot for our pup. Our puppy ended up having a really rough rest of her day. We have attended classes elsewhere and didn’t have any of these problems. Just be careful that this is the right place for you before signing up for classes. We will not be returning to finish the class. Update: the owner calls me multiple days in a row, leaving no messages, just to say that the instructor may have been the problem. When I told her it wasn’t just the instructor, it was the facility and the program that I was displeased with, I was hung up on. Winona, I would not recommend calling everyone to “help” if you are going to get frustrated and hang up on people. Moved ya down to a one star. Please do not EVER call me again.

We were very disappointed with Ahimsa. I do not think Ahimsa can handle dogs with serious behavior issues. We tried private lessons at Ahimsa with our deaf rescue dog that came to us with behavioral issues due to a bad car accident. The issues included reactivity and redirecting at certain triggers like birds and cars. Despite these issues, he is a very friendly and happy dog. His reactivity happens in and instant and is a response to a trigger - it never felt aggressive in a manner that was mean or fierce. We wanted to make an effort as long as we could keep him and everyone around him safe. Initially we liked the training experience, we started with video trainings due to the pandemic. We were able to teach our dog many signs and commands with the help of the trainer, but we were never able to get the reactivity and redirection under control with them. At our first outdoor in person lesson, the trainer was very unaware of her surroundings, we kept telling her when a bird or a plane was nearby, she kept facing the dog with the triggers behind her, putting herself in an unsafe position. at the end of the lesson she said that we might not be able to do any more for the dog. When I asked what would happen to the dog in that case, she told us that he would be impossible to re-home, so we would take him out for a burger and then take him for one last trip to the vet. She never directly said we would need to euthanize him. Although I understand it is difficult to tell someone the may need to consider euthanasia, this felt like a very unprofessional and insensitive way of delivering tough news. When we asked if there was any other training methods that we could try, we were told that we were doing everything, and that anything else would be inhumane. Ahimsa practices positive only dog training, which I thinks is totally appropriate for many normalish dogs. Only a harness was okay, no to a gentle leader, no to a neck collar, no to a martingale, and certainly not a prong collar. A vibration collar was begrudgingly accepted. Remember, our dog can't hear us - he responds to hand signals and touch. No leash pressure was acceptable. Even giving a tug on the leash to get our dog's attention followed by giving him a treat seemed to be considered bad. And although now we are able to get his attention by touching his hind or his ear, early on he was too fixated on his triggers outside to respond hand signals or touch. Giving a light tug on the leash attached to a gentle leader is how we were able to get our dog to stop redirecting when seeing a bird. Now he automatically turns to us for a treat when he sees a trigger and he is able to be around birds without redirecting. We took our dog's behavioral issues very seriously, safety is paramount to us. We consulted our vet and vet behaviorist after the recommendation and they were both disappointed by the trainer and felt there were still options. We were not willing to consider euthanasia until we felt that we had tried the different training resources available to us. If at that point we did not have success, we would have felt okay considering euthanizing him. It would have felt informed and not hasty. Over the last year we have spent a great deal of time learning about dog training and working with our dog. We have been able to get our dog's reactivity and redirection under control with an online training resource called Consider the Dog and with the amazing help of a new dog trainer. Our new trainer practices a balanced style of training that is responsive to the dog's personality and behavioral issues. They have worked with us to find the methods that work for our dog, that he is responsive to, that help to keep him safe and happy. They along with the vet and vet behaviorist have saved our dog's life. I do not recommend Ahimsa.

It's located in an industrial area with only street parking, so we often struggled to find parking and had to walk several blocks with our not-fully-vaccinated puppy to attend (although it gave us many opportunities to practice "leave it" with trash on the sidewalk). Puppy Kindergarten classes are quite expensive for the value you get. The facilities were disappointing and they teach you and the puppy very basic skills that could easily be done elsewhere for less money, or even at home. They also offer the ability to swap classes, but the tool to do so is confusing, unreliable, and limited in functionality. I opted to call the school because the tool didn't offer exactly what I needed (to swap to a different type of class), but they rarely answered. When I finally got an answer, I was told that it's too late to swap my classes, and was criticized for not using the tool correctly. They want a 24 hour notice for changes, which is reasonable but also frustrating when the swap tool doesn't work and they won't answer your calls.

Meh, didn’t work well for my dog as they mostly employ luring to train. 100% for owners who dislike discipline. This canned approach only seemed to work on companion-type and lap dogs whereas the other hunting/work dogs grew tired of the carrot and stick approach to training. Oh, and the facility is next to a permanent encampment so have fun with parking.

By far the best puppy/dog school I have ever experienced. My first dog went there and is such a well behaved dog now. My second dog is going through their training currently. They teach you how to properly understand dog body language and the healthy way to address issues your dog is causing. Because of this I feel like I have been able to bond with my dogs very well. I would highly recommend this school for all levels and ages.

Awesome place! My puppy and I have learned so much.

Eh. Nice people. But I'll save you hundreds of dollars by telling you just to click and treat, redirect.

Great experience for my mini poodle puppy.

Friendly, educational. Both for the dog and the human.

We love having puppy playtime! There are such knowledgeable people making sure every pup has a positive experience no matter their personality!

The trainer are without a doubt experts on dog training and behavior. We had absolutely the best experience with private and group classes, all online! Highly recommend for anyone with a fearful, reactive or sensitive dog. Simply the best.

We attended the Growly dog 101 class and I just have to say, the trainers here are the most professional and energetic I’ve ever met. It is great value for how much individual attention and training tips each individual dogs get for this class. My dog is working with reactivity issues due to pre-rescue experiences, so I’ve seen my share of dog trainers. The dog trainers here—more specifically Kara whom I worked with most—is always SO ENERGETIC AND FRIENDLY and they make you as a pet parent feel confident and encouraged (trust me some dog trainers out there can make you feel like you failed at raising your dog). The class I attended is a group class of 4-5 dogs per 2 trainers for 4 weekly sessions. They remember each dogs’ individual quirks and help you tailor exercise for your dog. We feel like we learned a lot of skills that we are planning to practice on with our dog. Highly recommend this place!!

My dog loves this place! Trainers are very skillful and make dogs motivated. We are happy about start taking classes here with our 3 month old and signing up another upper classes.

On time. great service. Will be back

Not sure about the others experience but mine hasn't been good with Puppy Kindergarten. I've not been able to attach the money's value to these classes. If you have done enough research about raising the puppy(watched bunch of videos on youtube, know how to teach basic commands), then I'd not recommend putting your money on this. Things that I don't like: 1. The instructor's voice has never been clear. Without mike it's hard to hear in the one big room where every parent is talking and pups are whining or barking and one class when the mike was used it was still unclear. 2. It's hard to understand the value in most of the things they teach. Touch, making the pup eat treats from a hard plastic surface among others. Or at least I've failed to understand but then the whole point of getting these classes was to educate myself and puppy more than what is already available on the internet. 3. The swap classes functionality doesn't work as desired, possibly due to a software bug. I was unable to swap a class a day before and the options available for swapping seems to go less as you move towards the end of the course. Overall, I'm unhappy. My pup still have 2 classes left and I wish I could get refund for these and save my time going to and fro for little value this class provide. Puppy socialization is important and that can be done at Puppyworks in Capitol Hill for $12 for half an hour and not spend around $37 for an hour where about 20 mins or more are spent on puppy play.

My dog loves it and they have lots of great trainers.

Amber is a life-saver! Due to COVID-19, our little toy poodle was in lack of socialization and she was incredibly scared of people, dogs, and everything???? We booked several sessions with Amber for private training. She became a completely different dog after that! She is getting so much better - being able to play with other dogs and meet people with more confidence! We learned so much from training with Amber and we are very grateful????

These are true professionals. It might be a premium cost, but is well worth it.

I love Ahimsa! I've taken my (now) 3-year-old Collie here when he was a puppy and they absolutely set him up for success. My favorite part is that the folks who work here REALLY care about your dog, as well as teaching & communicating with you without coming across as holier-than-thou. Now, I'm taking a second puppy here and I'm so excited to bring them.

The people at Ahimsa are the best in the business, not just Seattle. Look at the calm puppy, and the happy fur parents!

Friendly and knowledgeable staff. Great setting for training dogs with controlled distractions.

They are amazing. Super caring and loving with the puppies. Boot camp highly recommended!

Another 5-star review for Ahimsa!! We've been attending puppy kindergarten and now puppy camp since the beginning of July 2020 and they are incredibly professional, knowledgeable, and caring about the development of puppies. Guided by newest science and using positive reinforcement principles down to an art, we are thrilled with what we and our puppy have been learning. Something that's really important to us is feeling as though Covid precautions are being taken seriously. They disinfect frequent touch surfaces often, I hear them asking people to back up to give one another at least 6 feet of space, they all wear masks, the garage doors are open for ventilation. The level of precision they take in their training is evidenced in their care for humans too in these pandemic times. Not only do we feel our puppy is in expert hands, but the way they are conducting business during Covid actually inspires me overall that people can care about one another through mindful action. We just moved to Seattle and this is one of the things about big cities we love - expertise and cutting edge knowledge applied and embodied.

They are very professional and my puppy Lola can be very distracted but they saw her learning potential and taught us some valuable lessons and tricks to ensure Lola grows up to be a wonderful young dog

Really good and they've done a good job of accommodating covid regulations.

Top notch training facility with great trainers.