Proper Paws

I am very saddened to see such harsh reviews of a company that I have very fond memories of. I worked closely with Proper Paws for over a year and I feel that the nasty reviews below are completely unfair and do not reflect the type of company that Proper Paws was and the integrity Wendy Whiting, the owner. Wendy and her team were extremely dedicated to helping owners and their dogs work through even the most difficult behavioral issues and the methods were extremely effective. They approached each situation collaboratively and were very innovative in finding solutions that fit both the owner and the dog's needs. Certainly a dog trainer can only tell owners what they should do to improve their dog's behavior and much of the work takes place within the home after the trainer leaves and sometimes there are dogs that are harder to ""fix"" than the owners would have liked. There are also owners who expect the trainer to come in and fix everything without having to do any work or keep up the work after the training ends. I can see how an owner with these unrealistic expectations would be disappointed with any type of training they received. Even for those owners that did not do the work and therefore did not get the results they wanted, Proper Paws still honored their refund policy and provided outstanding customer service despite the lack of success not being their fault. In any business, you can't make everyone happy and unfortunately Proper Paws did go out of business which created a difficult situation for long-term clients and those that were working with the company when it was forced to close its doors. From my own experience though, Wendy worked very hard to find an appropriate solution when the company went out of business and it is unfortunate that people are unable to recognize the difficult situation she was in and her sincere effort to try and satisfy as many obligations as possible. Proper Paws was a wonderful company that helped hundreds of dogs and owners throughout the Philadelphia area, please don't let a couple of angry and one-sided reviews taint the image of a hard working and wonderful person like Wendy. Pros: Strong work ethic, effective methods, honest, good service Cons: Went out of business more

My husband and I adopted Zoey (German Shepherd) back in August 2005. She was extremely aggressive and I had no idea how to handle her behavior. I came across the Proper Paws web site and took a chance without knowing too much about the company. But after meeting the owner Wendy and working with her, I am absolutely happy I chose her to help me train Zoey. I think her training also helped me become more confident in myself. Pros: friendly, easy going, patient Cons: none more

In 2004 we adopted a dog from the Philadelphia SPCA. At the time they told us that she had been returned once before, but we were not detered. Holly was a beautiful 2 year old dog and we liked her. When we got her home, we realized her behavior problems. She didn't like anyone but us. She barked constantly when we put her in the crate if someone came over. She chased the kid's friends and growled at everyone. She also would chew up and destroy anything that was left out in the house when we went to work. We tried to crate train her, which was ok, but we couldn't stop the agressive behavior. We contacted Proper Paws and Wendy came out to work with us. She was incredible. She was the only person who could get Holly to obey and settle down. We practiced and worked with the dog but in the long run, had to return her to the SPCA because we just couldn't handle her. We had 2 training sessions left on our contract, which Wendy honored when we adopted another dog, a puppy ,about 6 months later. You all who are griping about Proper Paws service: give them a break. The economy is in horrible shape. Businesses, especially small ones, are really feeling it. Everyone is having trouble making ends meet. They probably did the best they could to satisfy and refund all their customers. Good luck to you Wendy, whatever you do next! Pros: Trainer expertise Cons: Very expensive more

Tough decisions.... First of all, a note of apology to the person below who was owed a refund---she deserves her refund. I will be reaching out to her soon to get that sent out. I apologize to her for the delay. To all Lifetime clients--I am still honoring your Lifetime training agreement. You can contact me on my personal Proper Paws email address if you need me. Shutting down Proper Paws was one of the most difficult times of my life and I made a TON of mistakes. My deepest apologies to the anyone I may have upset in those final weeks. I was sad to leave Proper Paws behind, but I'm proud of my accomplishments--I had a team of 5 trainers, nearly 600 clients over a 7 year period, multiple TV appearances, and a feature in Philadelphia Magazine. Despite these successes, my concern for paying my trainers what they deserved and ensuring their happiness despite the businesses ability to sustain it brought Proper Paws to a financial collapse. At the end, when I realized the business was insolvent, I had to make some tough decisions. Closing the business was my only option at the time. I loved working with dogs and I loved my team. I've learned a lot since then and now enjoy a great career in my prior field of marketing. Perhaps I will return to training again one day...stay tuned. ;) Pros: Worked 24/7 to Ensure Clients Were Satisfied Cons: Poor Financial Planning more

I adopted a dog from rescue & was lied to about his separation anxiety. To make a long story short, it turns out that I was his fourth owner and he had been given up numerous times because his behavior problems were so bad. Pros: Professional; lifetime plan; comes to your location to train dog in it's environment Cons: Costly, but worth it more

We adopted a dog who was rescued from a puppy mill, where she was a breeder for 5 years. She was uncared for and mistreated, to say the least, and we hoped that a professional trainer would be able to help us get her past some of her fears and issues. We had one meeting with a trainer from Proper Paws; at the end of that meeting she suggested that we not schedule another session in order to give our dog time to acclimate to the changes were to implement. She assured us that she would be in constant communication via phone and email. She never returned a phone call, and her response to email was sluggish at best. Our dog was not only not responding to their methods, she was clearly regressing. I contacted her for another in person appointment, which she scheduled and then cancelled just a few hours before. For the next 2 weeks she did not return a single phone call or email. I left messages at the main number and finally received a return call from the owner. Apparently our trainer had quit and no one was handling her clients. After a fair amount of polite haggling, she agreed to refund our money within 30 days. It's now been 45 days; we have no refund and the owner has not returned one phone call. We'll be filing a complaint. more