Southend Dog Training Avis 

Probably the most important part of dog ownership is taking the time to get to know your animal properly. SDT have produced some of the most useful, educational and creative advisory videos available.

I have been following them on various social media platforms for a few years, and they never cease to amaze me with their common sense approach, and easy to follow training advice.

I have always been an advocate for teaching dogs to understand their place within their “family”, and as a retired breeder and trainer of GSDs for both the police and prison services, I cannot recommend these guys highly enough. A dog who understands his position, and has trust in his handler, will be a friend and protector for life.

Whatever your “problem” (I promise you, it’s not the dog, it’s you!), or if you’re wanting to socialise your puppy and teach it to be a good member of the four-legged community, these guys know EXACTLY what you need.

Never bad dogs - only bad owners!

I have been subscribed to SDT since January.
I believed they were a no nonsense, no bad mouthing training company who shared the same values and morals as myself. The training guides are mostly good, being able to talk to Sam and Sophie through facebook and the app were the parts that made me choose them.
Adam posted a reaction on instagram from the kink community which invited some abhorrent comments from the general public followers. Those who quite obviously do not understand kink not care for the people in the community. After pointing this out on the Facebook group to see if it was only myself who felt that SDT should be monitoring their comments the post was deleted.

I sent an email to the help page and Gemma got back to be pretty quickly. While her customer service and manner was polite and professional, the excuse was that as Adam was "joking" and this is " the humour he has with friends ". The things that were written by the public was stuff I wouldn't want my best friend to read, let alone imagining if a child read it. It was the typical gas light answer given by those who are unable to take account for thiers, or in this case Thier bosses actions. It was distasteful, hateful and quite honestly not something that should have been put out on a public platform with out the consent of the people involved in it.
I decided to try and continue with SDT because in my opinion, everyone deserves a second chance.
Since this happened all of my FB posts had suddenly needed approvals from moderators. Something no one else in the private group has experienced. So I left it a couple of times as this may have been a one off but sadly it wasn't. Most posts have been approved around 1am when Sam has then replied. Grateful to Sam for this but I was also looking for opinions from other non trainers. Having the posts go through at 1am means that most of the time they get missed and buried under the sea of other questions. So initially I emailed Gemma to ask if this was something that was only happening to me.
Cue Evans replies to me which did start somewhat helpful, although blaming this pending post issue to "Facebook tools to filter out swearing" which in my case wasn't relevant. The mask of professionalism the fell of when asking me to find someone to volunteer to moderate the Instagram, being told "you can't please everyone" to them being told he has "lost respect for me". According to Evan, being asked to conduct himself in a professional way is an unreasonable demand. I asked for a refund as I felt that the lack of customer service, plus the values and morals of SDT were not what was advertised to me and if I'd have known this I would never have gone with them to train my puppy.
Evan has decided that as I initially paid through Google play (and apparently that's different money they don't receive ?! ) he refused to refund my full subscription. Instead deciding that refunding me 99p for a one month Facebook promotion (due to issues with the app and subscription) was more than adequate. Or in his words "we are all square already". Apparently I now have to go through Google play to get my full refund as he has all but washed his hands of it.

As a director he is drastically letting his team down, all the hard work they have put in to put money in your back pocket and this is the reputation you want to build for them. He is ruining all the hard work they are putting into the business by lacking the simple customer service skills needed to deal effectively with complaints and concerns.
The way he conducted himself today I wouldn't expect from any business no matter how big or small. There are no excuses for your behaviour. Instead of being professional he became defensive and responded in a very childish way.

However it doesn't surprise me, I'm sure this isn't the first time he has been told this, and likely wont be the last.

A small piece of advise. If this information is not new to you, change the behaviour and become a better person. Your company and staff will be a lot better off for it.

Oh my gosh from the moment I arrived (I was so nervous) Sophie made me feel welcome and relaxed me … we sat and talked about Bobbie’s issues and she was completely comforting and empathetic about the issues and a great understanding what I needed for him… we worked on the issues I was shown what to do have started to receive training to help Bobbie … I went home smiling looking forward to our life together, thank you Sophie you are amazing … now can’t wait to put it into practice (and I’m still crying happy tears)

Great session with Aaron today.
Good, sound, sensible advice to help our 2 year old goldendoodle.
He taught me how to handle tricky situations. I left feeling confident and indeed put into practice his advice on the way home and it works.
We have had some training for our other dogs in the past from Southend Dog Training and know the advice works.
We feel very lucky to have been able to get their help.

My trainer was Aaron, I went for training today with my Cane Corso for reactivity, lead walking and better overall control.
It was like a total make over by the end of the session I could walk her past another dog with control. This was purely from taking everything in Aaron told me to do. We made a plan and a goal to make sure this gets trained into her over the coming days/weeks so this behaviour sticks but I couldn’t be more grateful for the understanding and education from Aaron he is a very knowledgable teacher !! I’ve wasted so much money on trainers but this training was priceless !!!

We were made to feel comfortable straight away,my boy is a rescue and no history known, Sophie done everything at his speed, didn't overwhelm him with anything

Sophie is amazing!! Had our second 1:1 session today. And the outcome is just insane from the day we rescued missy to now and that’s all thanks to the knowledge and support Sophie has given us!
Thankyou so, so much!!

I had two sessions with Sophie to help deal with my dog Franklin’s reactivity. The reason I went was because He would lunge and be uncontrollable on the lead and I was at the end of my tether after having 2 previous behaviourists and not having any luck. They assessed his reactivity and understood why he was reacting by his behaviour and reading his body language. She then assessed my collar and lead and provided me with a better set up for Franklin to help me control him. She then came up with a plan to help deal with this by building up distance to dogs in a controlled environment and techniques to use and I literally seen a different dog there was no lunging or him being up on his back legs. She has given me the correct tools to practice out in the real world and we will have a follow up in 4 weeks time to see how we have got on. I found the service and expertise amazing I drove 3 and a half hours to come here and was well worth it. I cannot recommend them enough.

After a conversation explaining the situation with my dog, who is a rescue from the meat trade in Korea, I arrived at the centre where Aaron was waiting. He had done research on a particular breed which is in common in this country, he took time to talk, watch my dog and how we be behaved, Asking questions all the time. He identified my dogs desperate need for self preservation and how he behaves being down to a highly wired level of fear. He showed me things I can do and has given me a lot of homework. Brilliant. Will change my boys life

Had a fantastic training session with AAron Rogers . He did a fantastic job helping me help my boy Jackson by using a slip lead . Jackson was able to be around his dog Hank and not lunge and bark everytime they look at each other . 10 + stars . I Highly recommend Southend dog training.

The observations and highlighting the start of the problematic behaviour to us has enabled us to start training and take control of the behaviour

Another brilliant packwalk with Adam and other like minded dog owners.
I cannot thank all the team at SDT enough for all their help and advice on this journey with my Shepherd.

John

Had a great session with Adam this morning, we both come to the conclusion it was us that needed the training more so than our Rottie! Adam was honest, confident and direct which is something that we like in a trainer/person, within a couple of hours we had taken away so much information and felt so confident. We still have another session to go which we are looking forward to learn so much more , so Thank u also great tea!!!!!

Sophie is amazing to work with! She’s been so understanding of our family situation and helpful in adapting training to suit our current needs as we brought our baby home. Her passion for what she does is so apparent in the way she shows up to each session and we are so appreciative of her willingness to go above and beyond for a family from across the pond. Our dog’s behavior has improved immensely, and my wife and I grow more and more confident in how we can help him continue to do so. Thanks so much for all you do!

Aaron was fantastic even with the mix up on timings ☺️. I can’t recommend him highly enough he was super friendly,welcoming and nonjudgmental, giving so much advice and support. He totally understood all the issues we spoke of and we left feeling like the time we spent with him was invaluable - although we are very aware that we have a lot of work to do to embed new mindset and behaviours and in their normal environment it may be more challenging Aaron showed us that we can walk without lead pulling with two calm boys. Thank you so much Aaron for all your help, advice and professionalism

Amazing experience. Adam and his team were really welcoming, friendly and professional.
Left there feeling confident in managing my Miniature Schnauzers reactivity.
If you are struggling then I would definitely highly recommend!!

What can I say. We went to see the fabulous Sophie. The regret only I have is not going sooner. I couldn’t recommend her more.

Just got back from my first walk with George and I couldn’t be happier. If I ever have an issue with George in the future I will travel the 2+ hours to see you again thank you so much 🤗 future.

From the start to finish our engagement with South End dog training has been 5*. Gemma was brilliant on the lead up to our training session, keeping us informed with everything we needed to know in advanced. Adam is amazing to work with, for context I’ve seen 2 other dog behaviourist before driving 4 hrs to visit these guys. By far Adam is the best, offering to the point and practical advice. Our confidence has been restored in both our dog and how we need to handle him. Thanks very much Adam and team :-). Matt

Had a great training session with sofie today such a lovely and understanding woman she helped me out greatly with my dog training I would recommend Southend dog training to anyone