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March 2024 by Josh Fenton
trainer was knowledgeable, professional, and truly cared about what was best for my dog
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March 2024 by Ioana Ellis
We took our Cavapoo puppy to the puppy party from 9 weeks until 16 weeks. He absolutely thrived! We learned that up to 4 months socializing your puppy is one of the most important things to do. Ms Laura and her staff have been truly wonderful - we learned a lot and Maverick is a social butterfly who loves all dogs of all sizes. I really appreciate that they taught him how to play with both smaller and much bigger dogs too. Cannot recommend this place enough!
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December 2023 by Eryn Rolison
My puppy and I attended puppy parties and puppy basic manners and really enjoyed all the classes and instruction we received. If you're looking for great trainers who know their stuff, look no further than WOOFS!
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September 2023 by M H
Take my puppy here for socialization and it's so wonderful for her. It's safe and it wears her out! Laura and her staff do a great job!
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September 2022 by Aggie S.
My puppy has been going to woofs puppy social for 2 months now. It was recommended to us by our vet to help with socialization and teach him manners regarding dog play. He was timid the first time he came and had some barking issues. Now, a couple socials later, he's well adapted. There's still room for improvement for him but overall he's learned a lot from woofs. They also offer puppy obedience school but it was all full when we were looking to we had to go somewhere else. The staff are super nice and welcoming. They explain to you what your dog is doing and how you can help you puppy. You can book through the website and it's very easy and user friendly.There's plenty of parking as well. There's been some puppies who have accidents during the social and the trainers would ask all owners to pick up their dog while they mop or clean the p**** It's very nice that they watch the dog and really monitor play. The dogs actually play. Some places we've tried weren't as great as Woofs because dogs don't even get to play and staff from other business are rude and not welcoming. We highly recommend woofs! Our puppy, Kenji, recommends Woofs as well!
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August 2022 by Breanna Shinn
My puppy has done puppy classes, daycare, and is about to board there coming up. They have done a great job of letting the puppies play, but intervening when a puppy needs a break and it's helped so much with my puppy's socialization and bite inhibition. Also their prices are very responsible!
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February 2022 by Dani Wassef
I was a little hesitant to take my puppy (this is the first puppy I've ever adopted). I called the day before and wanted to back out, but Laura gave me comfort assurance. Still a bit skeptical, I decided to try it and if I was concerned that there was aggression from my pup or another pup I would leave.My puppy had the time of his life, and so did all the other dogs that were there. All types of pups were there and it was so nice to see the staff observe and learn the pups and work with them to help each puppy have a great time.Some dogs were reserved at first and 30 mins in came out of their shell, built confidence, and played with all the other dogs.There was even one pup that was a little too assertive, but the staff learned her and worked with her and the other pups to keep things moving in a safe and fun way.I would strongly recommend taking your puppy here. Socialization is SO important to build confidence, and teach your puppy how to play. It also helps you learn your puppy, and what their triggers are. I've had a dog that was aggressive towards other dogs, it took 2 attacks for me to learn his triggers and know which dogs he can and cannot play with- and he was older and could do damage... I kept thinking how I wish I had him as a puppy and taken him to things like this to set him up for success.I will definitely be brining my puppy here.
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September 2021 by Lindsay H.
Loved the basic obedience class with Carrie. Small class size, really well run (especially during Covid), and very effective training techniques (even tailored to dogs as needed). Looking forward to the intermediate obedience class next. And if youre considering a class, you can be added to their wait lists and notified when classes open up, so dont be discouraged if they're full/not available right away.
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June 2021 by Katie Tecza
Not all puppy socialization facilities are created equal.I brought Lady to a socialization day camp at @woofsdtc last week, which had positive reviews.I dropped her off, asked them if they had a check in process and a live stream, and they said no. She was nervous heading in and I didn’t bring treats thinking they’d have some, but they didn’t do anything to make her feel more comfortable! I chalked it up to myself being nervous and dropped her off.After radio silence for 3 hours I picked her up, and asked how she was, how long it took her to feel more comfortable, what they did today, and the girl who I picked her up from said “she was fine when I got there” and couldn’t answer any of my questions. Not even what they did that day. All I got was the card. I was upset but didn’t want to make a scene so I left and emailed them in the car in their parking lot asking for them to reach out to me with some more information on the day.Emailed, called, left a message, and I didn’t hear back for 4 days. I finally got an email, not a phone call, back saying “when I got there she was fine” and again- no information on the details of the day or what she did. She said she’d post photos and videos but never did, and I am genuinely wondering what Lady did for several hours.She whined for about an hour when I picked her up which seemed wrong- we go to a really good socialization play and train with @dogtrained as well as a class at @wholistichound and we don’t ever have that issue- she knocks out in the car. So that really makes me wonder what she did the entire time she was there.The MOST concerning part is that I thought Dan sent them Lady’s vaccination records and he thought I sent them.. well, neither of us did and they didn’t ask us for it. *i* know that my dog is as up to date as she can be for her age, but I don’t have full confidence that the other puppies were vaccinated. It’s the safety issue for me.Anyway. Get recommendations from word of mouth- visit yourself before you purchase a package, and use referrals from word of mouth. What I thought would be a great opportunity has just caused me a ton of stress.
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May 2021 by Katie Tecza
Not all puppy socialization facilities are created equal.
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May 2021 by Jorge Osuna Bezara
We love WOOFS! We've done Basic and Intermediate obedience with them and are now doing the class for the Canine Good Citizen test. All of our classes have been with Jen and we love her, she's great!
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April 2021 by Dot A.
What Anonymous said is spot on. The free puppy play interactions with one of the workers was significantly off putting. She insinuated every week that our dog was older then he actually was. Like a dummy still believing in the kool-aid I signed up for a training where it was clear that because of my dog's size and hyper activity the other Arlington purse dog owners were scared. Yes- I sought out training for a hyper dog. Silly me. We were segregated out from the class making it impossible to see into the class what was going on of course, making my dog anxious. To add salt to the wound, because of the physical 1/2 wall we were placed behind he never got to actually try any of the activities done in the classroom. The vet told us to withdraw him immediate as the set up was more destructive to him than helpful. I did not request a full refund but a refund of the remaining overpriced classes. We are now a week in where "Carrie" insists she issued a refund to an account that was closed some weeks prior. Rather than actually checking to see if the monies were returned to Woofs she references the belated receipt I had to request twice. I've called repeatedly and had to email from a different account to get a response. I don't know about boarding here but would not given the training and level of dinginess.
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March 2021 by Stephanie Rooney
Absolutely love this place! I brought both my dogs, Taz & Stella, here for training. I have recommended it to several friends as well and they love WOOFS too! The behavioral training is the best and works very well. Carrie and Laura are my favorite trainers (the others are great as well, however I worked mostly with Carrie & Laura). I love the redirect training and it’s not all treat driven (my dogs are not treat driven after a certain point). It’s effective and great positive reinforcement and redirection training.
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February 2021 by Amy J.
I really had a great experience with Woofs! over the past few years. I am very sad that I do not live close by anymore. I know trainers come and go so things may change slightly but I still trust woofs core training process and have always benefitted from their advice. I started with the puppy fundamentals class and went on to complete multiple agility classes. My dog doesn't really love to be around other dogs but they helped me work on this and helped me continue agility training while being conscious about the other dogs in the class. The other class participants were always extremely friendly and provide great camaraderie. The price may seem steep (after completing several classes it certainly adds up) but it is definitely worth it and you really do get 1:1 training advice. Hoping this review helps as I like many other only get the urge to write a review when I have a negative experience. I really had a positive experience at this facility!
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January 2021 by Anonymous A.
my partner and I took our german shepherd/Belgian malinois puppy to the 7 week puppy basics course at Woofs. The facility is clean and convenient for people living in the Ballston area. We really enjoyed meeting the other dogs and owners, many of whom live in our neighborhood. To be honest, I felt like the class itself was a let down. I expected my puppy to learn basic commands throughout the seven weeks, but the curriculum moved at a glacial pace. By the seventh and final session the instructor still was having us use the aid of treats/clickers to get our dogs to do basic commands. For as expensive and as much of a time commitment as this class was, I felt we should've walked away with more progress and several of the other owners in our class felt the same way. I also was rubbed the wrong way by the trainer and her attitude towards our puppy. From our first class she continuously made off-handed comments about our puppy having "so many problems" due to her breed. She repeatedly characterized our dog as "aggressive" due to her herding instincts and play style, which was no different than any of the other large puppies' in our class. She also did the same to a husky/shepherd cross in our class, and I've heard from other dog owners in our neighborhood that Woofs' is not very friendly towards herding dogs of all types. I get that a shepherd or herding dog might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I felt like I was there with our dog and paying to be in the training class so the instructor needed to put aside her personal feelings about our dog's breed and treat us like any other client. Her snide remarks and obvious bias left a bitter, unprofessional taste in my mouth. Overall, I think Woofs is fine for some who are looking for a convenient option in the Ballston area, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else with any type of working or herding dog. We have since started another puppy basics obedience course at a different facility and are much happier with the trainer and our puppy's progress.
