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Why you won't find accurate reviews of Zen Dog Training on Yelp.
Because Yelp is a privately held company they have a "system" that goes through and removes/edits content, unfortunately for Zen Dog Training of the 15 reviews we have had via yelp only ONE has been kept - the only non-5 star rating we ever got!
The other 14 (5 star reviews) carefully written by my satisfied clients were mysteriously deleted. After researching Yelp I found this to be a common theme here are some articles which explain the mystery.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/23/social-web-sites-ethics-questioned/
http://www.yelp.com/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.cnet.com%2F8301-1023_3-10168065-93.html
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/yelp_and_the_business_of_extortion_2_0/Content?oid=927491&page=1
Below are some of the old reviews I received from clients and saved. With the exception of the last one (a 3 star rating) EVERY OTHER REVIEW earned a 5 star Rating.
7/15/09 Lauren R
Gordon was great! He did the private session with the whole family. He was enthusiastic, energetic, and made us feel very comfortable. He made it a point to get to know the whole family in the private session and have the whole family participate in the session. He was also very helpful, insightful about every question we asked, and provided us with some good and new techiques to train Lexi.
Zen Dog is an excellent choice to train your dog!! and I mean it!!
Madhulika, Somerville, 7/10/09
I can tell you that these guys are great. Gordon did the private session for us, at a time when I was completely overwhelmed. All made sense slowly. I continued with puppy classes conducted by Melissa Mccue, and I have to say she is just fantastic. Unfazed, KIND to all the pups and human family, patient and really a generous person. I asked her questions on other dog related things (as my vet's office was such a failure) and she was just so forthcoming. Can't say enough and of course Sami who started with Gordon at 12 weeks, is a GIANT who graduated level 1 with Melissa at 20 weeks. And we have learnt a lot.
Patti C. 7/9/09
WE SHOULD HAVE CALLED FIRST!!!!!! We entered our Golden Retreiver Puppy into a 8 week puppy class after 3 weeks we called Zen Dog Training and in 2 Hours Gordon changed our world.
Janelle, 6/8/09
Gordon is fabulous. First off, I called him on Saturday because my dog had destroyed my bedroom door (separation anxiety). He explained that this needs to be nipped in the bud ASAP, but unfortunately he had no immediate appointments open. However, he was ultimately able to shift things around to accommodate my dog's and my need and came tonight - two days later. The free phone call alone was hugely helpful and informative.
Gordon has a very peaceful demeanor and won't come in making you do things to your best friend that just feel mean. There were NO staring contests, NO tests to see how far he could push my dog before he snapped...in fact, my dog and I really enjoyed ourselves!
Gordon is very intelligent and what he says and does just simply makes sense. He points out flaws in some of the prevailing methods of dog training which was such a relief to me.
Lastly, he will not pressure you to buy stuff or recommend more sessions than you need. Gordon was talking me out of scheduling sessions and was very mindful of my tight financial situation when he made recommendations. Truly, Zen Dog Training is a breath of fresh air!
Marla, H, 6/3/09 Newton MA
Gordon is absolutely an excellent dog trainer! He is so adept at interacting with the dogs as well as explaining techniques to dog owners. I would rate him as top notch!
Betsy Gal, Somerville, MA 3/18/09
I can't say enough about how great Zen Dog Training is. We enrolled our puppy in a group class, which was a great foundation and socializing opportunity for him. When we wanted to focus on training him more in some specific areas, Gordon came to the rescue! He gave my husband and I two private lessons in our home, and I am not exaggerating when I say we noticed an improvement in George right after the first one. Our little buddy has stopped barking as much and is getting better at not pulling when we're walking him on the leash.
Even more than that, Gordon took the time to explain to us why George was behaving in certain ways and what we could do to help him feel better. He left the whole family - dogs and people - much happier!
Martha V, Cambridge MA, 3/1/09
When my eight year old yellow lab was displaying random aggression with other dogs I was worried, but when she attacked my daughter's eight month old puppy I called Zen Dog immediately! They returned my call within one day and I scheduled a two hour in home session the following week.
Gordon and Toby arrived and spent two wonderfully informative hours with me and my daughter and our two dogs. Even though I've lived with dogs all my life, it was great to learn some new techniques, about Gordon's positive reinforcement approach, and to hear from Gordon that there is hope for teaching my sweet old dog new tricks. Gordon was full of information and great fun to work with. He left us with print outs of everything we had discussed and DVD's to help us implement what we'd learned. We're already seeing results!
Marissa, 11/6/08 Somerville
We adopted our shelter pup (a terrier-basenji-beagle-squirrel chaser) in August, and while we were told she was a year old, this girl was clearly still a puppy. Being of an 'immature' age, she not only brought lots of laughs and loves to the house, she also brought lots of trouble! This mischief maker was perfectly content to chew on, jump on, and scratch at just about anything she could find, so training was a MUST.
I found out about zendog through Dogma and Catma's website, and it sounded great. I had a wonderful chat with the owner, Gordon, and we decided on the 'Puppy Plus' package, which included a two hour home visit and 6 weeks of group classes at the Crate Escape in Belmont. Our home visit was extremely informative, and we got lots of great tips from the trainer on how to do loose-leash walking, discourage mouthing, entertain her active little mind and keep her somewhat sane during the tumultuous puppy months. In addition to the visit, we got a DVD following the trainers on home visits... I hate to say that it hasn't been cracked open yet (our visit was in September) so I can't attest to its quality or helpfulness.
The group classes were a bit less useful, as the other dogs seemed like they'd been through training before and could probably lead the class, whereas our pupster spent the entire time trying to make friends. The trainer was extremely knowledgeable, though, and did make an effort to help us out individually as much as she could (which is hard when there are 8 other dogs and their owners needing attention too). After the 6 weeks, we'd learned that cheese and chicken can work wonders with dogs (we're vegetarians so Maya isn't getting cooked chicken anytime soon), taught the pup to sit, lay down, stay off the couch (a fellow classmate suggested spraying her bum with a water bottle when she got up there... definitely not allowed in the positive reinforcement Zen Dog class, but probably the best lesson I learned!!!), come when called....sort of.... and discourage some of the negative jumping, mouthing, and attention-grabbing behaviors.
Maya still has a long way to go before she's 'trained' but Zen Dog did give us a good start and some tips to work with over time. I wish they hadn't placed us in the adult class, though, as Maya was never really in a home or structured foster care and therefore was far behind the others. This made learning a lot more difficult for her, and I felt like a parent with a struggling kindergarten kid trying to keep up with the first graders.
Overall, I'd give Zen Dog a thumbs up for their work, even if it didn't turn Maya into the well behaved girl we'd thought it would....then again, I guess she wouldn't be her crazy little self if she lost that charming puppy energy!
