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April 24, 2021
Mark Finch and K9 & Co. Retreat,
We started coming to K9 & Co. with the intention of giving our new 8-month-old dog, Gypsi, a head start in obedience training as our elder patients are moving in with us. We wanted to do as much as we could to help our dog acclimate to new people quickly and avoid danger to them (e.g., jumping up on them, etc).
We brought her in for day school and were told she "wasn't ready for that" but would benefit daycare in the meantime to socialize her. We dropped her off for daycare/day school from December 2020 through April 2021, two/three days per week. Never did she get into day school save ONE time on March 5th, 2021. No report was given to us regarding what she worked on (if anything) on this date.
Additionally, we called and scheduled a home visit for February 3rd, 2021. We received a phone call on February 3rd (the day of the appointment) stating, you “forgot we were scheduled"; so we scheduled another date on March 15th, 2021, again received a call cancelling the appointment. We got NO follow-up regarding rescheduling the home visit, and it was never discussed again.
After slowly integrating Gypsi’s routine into your day care several times per week and after formal evaluation on December 6th, 2020, you recommended “a tailor boot camp to help Gypsi”.
On March 15th, 2021, we dropped her off for boot camp and were told "we don't have time to follow up with you on a 'daily basis' or keep you informed daily on her progress and to remember no news from us (K9 & Co.) is good news". However, your website states, "You work with the owners every step of the way"...
I can say that none of our expectations were met. The cost of the “Boot camp” is fairly expensive, and after 2 days shy of 4 weeks, Gypsi had learned nothing. I’m not even sure she received any training at all. I suspect she was let out of her crate several times per day and fed, but no active instruction occurred. In fact, she had new abrasions and scabs on her elbows indicating excessive crating, requiring medical care as well as a urinary tract infection diagnosed by our veterinarian.
We called many times to be updated on Gypsi’s progress only to hear, “We are not sure what Mark has done. You’d have to talk to him.” Your website indicates, “We take pride in working with our pet owners every step of the way in their pet’s training process.”
This is false. We have never heard from or seen Mark Finch, and the only communication we received was after WE called your establishment and asked how Gypsi was doing, only to be told that essentially you did not know and that “No news is good news”.
I emailed a couple times to get some report on how she was doing only to get NO info other than "she's fine and adjusting..."
We called a few times only to get the same short answers with NO details on how things were going and what was being worked on with her.
We emailed asking for a date for her to come home along with some stipulations we have, with NO response...
AND NEITHER ONE OF US HAVE EVER HAD ANY CONVERSATION WITH MARK FINCH (the elusive dog trainer)...
On April 14th, 2021, I contacted Chase Bank to stop payment to K9 & Company Retreat for services not rendered.