Awful experience

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1.0 star rating
11/1/2018
We had a horrible experience with Hilton Butler dog training and I am still just sick over it. Our family was finally ready for a dog. We'd had two precious Shelties who had passed on & our kids were young at the time. My husband didn't want to get a dog, but wanted the kids and I to be happy, so we finally convinced him. Being that my daughter has asthma & allergies, we decided to get a labradoodle. She was precious, we brought her home at 8 weeks. The first two weeks were harder than we had ever expected or remembered! She was jumping and nipping on the kids, which is totally a puppy thing, but I was constantly having to rescue my 5 year old. Potty training was not going well. She ate mulch and ended up with colitis. Then she got an ear infection. We were in a puppy nightmare! My husband was ready to give the dog away. My daughter was devastated. After a weekend of ups and downs, we decided we would pay A LOT OF MONEY for Hilton Butler, this month long program. We were sure this would help us get to the point where our puppy wasn't perfect (we didn't expect a miracle!), but had a few basics down that we could work on from there. She cried all night long in her crate. She chewed everything. It was either get her trained, and miss out on a month of sweet puppy growth, or lose her forever b/c puppy life was causing a lot of stress in our family. It was not what I ever envisioned! We were not a happier family with the addition!
Christine talked to me at length when I called to inquire about the training. She made me feel like I didn't need to worry about it, that when we dropped Winnie off they would "fix" everything we were struggling with. She put me at ease that this would be a game changer. And at $2000, it should have been. I was so hopeful that we would be able to make it work and that I could make everyone happy.
I dropped Winnie off, after a tearful goodbye from the kids, and my CC was charged as I exited the driveway. Communication from then on was awful. I only got 1 picture of her the entire month and that was after my request. Texts were not returned promptly. I got the excuse of a phone being turned off, or sometimes just no response at all. Very poor communication. But, you assume....hey, they are working on a lot of big stuff with these dogs and I'll be patient b/c I want this training to work.
We saw her at the 2 week point for a visit and were not impressed. We left feeling like they had a ton of work to do in the two weeks left. However, we were still sure at this point that she would come home with some improvement. Surely all these reviews were true?? So many 5 star reviews online. We couldn't have a dog who came back to us untrained.
She came home maybe 5% better than when we dropped her off. She cried again incessantly when crated. She jumped on the kids. She peed and pooped in the house. And this is when I was taking her out every 15 minutes!! Another concerning factor was that she lost 4 lbs while in their care. A puppy should not be losing 4 lbs in a month. We were happy to have her back because we missed her & loved her, but we were still back to where we were when she left. After a short time, my husband was done. He really isn't a jerk, it must sound that way, but he couldn't handle the dog destroying our house. He was in an awful mood and telling me that he didn't want to be this way, but that he just couldn't handle the stress of the dog along with the stress he is already under. And, I was under stress too. I wasn't sleeping b/c she cried all night long and peed in her crate unless I took her out every 2 hours at night. We found a wonderful family for her. But.....We are out $2000 & still don't have a dog. My son asks to visit her every day. It's heart wrenching. I'm still not over it
Part of their services include follow up in home training. After a miserable week, we asked that Hilton come that Thursday to help. We were doing everything the manual said but she seemed to have little to no improvement. I think any improvement she showed was merely due to the fact she was a month older. My husband took off work early so he could be home when Hilton came. He was scheduled to come at 4:00. I sent Christine a text early that afternoon confirming that he was coming. No response. Then, about 6 minutes til 4:00, I get a voicemail that he was on his way to our house but had to turn around because he got sick at his stomach. I believe that is a lie. Only they know the truth, but I do not think he really got sick.
We really are owed our money back. The only thing they taught her was the word "off". It was successful about 20% of the time and something I could have taught her myself in a month's time. Bottom line is, we were robbed of our money and ultimately our dog. I wouldn't recommend them to to my worst enemy. They just want your money. They'll make great promises, but you'll get poor communication and there's no guarantee your dog will gain any skills.

Nov. 01, 2018