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April 2024 by Yvonne G.
I can't say enough! Scott and Suzy were professional and great through my entire experience with them as they took me through training with my black lab.
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March 2024 by Nnaemeka Ekeanyanwu
I was hesistant about leaving a review but I felt compelled to let anyone looking to use this company be aware that the cost is not worth what you get. My girlfriend bought the 2 week board and train for our then 3 month old puppy. We were told the cost of this would be $3000 but they gave us a discount to total around $2500. Looking back it wasnt probably the wisest decision for us but us being overwhelmed with being first time dog owners we implusively went ahead thinking for the price we had to be making a great investment with getting a well trained puppy. When our puppy was returned to us, the same night he had terrible diarhea, we didnt sleep for days and had to take him to the vet when he started having bloody diarhea alongside alreay being terribly ill. The vet informed us he had giardia. when i told the people at the dog wizard their initial reaction was to deflect the blame from themselves and make it seem like our puppy already had it before the board and train. While I understood that was a possibility our puppy was healthy prior to the board and train and had not gotten sick once since we had initially brought him home. My main issue with the result of this is that any training he recieved was out of the window after that it was almost worse than before he even went to the board and train. I'll give credit to the company forhearing our complaints and offering a video session with their lead trainer but the company didnt even offer any discount for our puppy getting sick during training, on top of paying around $2500, having multiple visits to the vet to pay for and medications to pay for it wouldve been nice to have some sort of compensation especially since our puppy essentially came back untrained. My advice is that for the quality of training you get here it is not worth $2500, we couldve gone to petco and paid $300 for the quality of training we got for the board and train. please dont waste your money it is not worth it.
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December 2023 by Mollie G.
I can not recommend Scott and Suzy at Dogs by Dancer highly enough. They are thoughtful and professional and my dog loves Scott and is always so excited to see him. I had such a great experience, I am going to send our other dog to Scott. Scott clearly cares about the dogs, is proactive with outreach and has also followed up regularly to see how my dog, Taco, is doing post-training. Taco had several behavioral issues and is so much better, calmer and more confident after his board and train. The follow up group classes are such huge bonus. If you are looking for effective and professional training by someone who clearly loves dogs, Scott Dancer is your guy.
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December 2023 by Heather Draddy
I do not recommend Dc dog wizard, "Dogs by dancer" or any dog training program by Scott Dancer.Scott made unsafe choices for the dogs in his care. My dog was returned to me covered in feces/urine. The progress I made with my dog's challenges is gone due to whatever occurred with Scott.Communication was unclear & poor, Scott was incredibly unprofessional & disorganized. Save your money & go elsewhere.
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December 2023 by Heather D.
I do not recommend Dc dog wizard, "Dogs by dancer" or any dog training program by Scott Dancer. Scott made unsafe choices for the dogs in his care. My dog was returned to me covered in feces/urine. The progress I made with my dog's challenges is gone due to whatever occurred with Scott. Communication was unclear & poor, Scott was incredibly unprofessional & disorganized. Save your money & go elsewhere.
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May 2023 by Zeljka M.
It took me years to write this review because I wanted to put the whole thing behind me. It was a truly traumatic experience that has had lasting effects on my puppos quality of life. I left my perfectly healthy pug pup with Scott to be trained for two weeks while I visited family. A week in, I received a call that Scott was taking him in to the emergency vet because he was injured. The vet told me that he had massive trauma to his eye, a corneal rupture, and that he would need surgery or lose his eye. I, of course, got him into surgery and then raced back to DC to take care of him. All I wanted to know was what had happened and I was prepared to pay whatever bill necessary to have my guy back to a healthy state but Scott told me that I left him there with him in that condition...it was horrifying. Scott was defensive, rude, wouldn't disclose what happened, told me it was my fault that my dog was injured when I would NEVER leave him with anyone if he was showing any signs of being anything but 100%. Luckily, I had taken a pic of my puppo in his carrier (because he was being all cute) the day I left him with Scott. That was my only proof that both of his eyeballs were intact when I left him...On top of that, once my pup recovered, he became increasingly reactive to other dogs which wasn't even a thing before. It's been an issue we have been working on since. He will also spend the rest of his life on eye meds and has a patch over part of his eye.Please don't trust this trainer with your dog. If anything goes wrong, it won't just be a scarring experience for your fur baby but you'll be accused of not caring about your fur baby...
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November 2022 by Mark Gisler
Scott is an amazing dog trainer. Our dog is a large Australian Shepherd mix. He had started to bark and lunge at other dogs and some people, especially delivery people and trucks. He would try to chase squirrels up trees. One time, his leash twisted and broke my wife's finger while lunging. After spending time with Scott at his farm, our dog is significantly calmer and no longer lunges. He now walks quietly next to us. He lets everyone pet him. He calmly greets other dogs and plays nice with them. He understands what we want him to do and is no longer anxious, aggressive or confused. He still needs more practice inside the house going to "place" when strangers enter, but he is getting there. He seems like a happier dog. And we are much happier dog owners. Also, Scott stays involved after the intensive training with refresher training if we need it, as well as group sessions near Glover Park. Dog training is a long-term process and it is not easy or instantaneous. But if your dog is anything like ours was before, you won't regret getting Scott involved.
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September 2022 by Madeliene Tweito
Austin is an amazing trainer! She helped us work on Larry's developing reactivity, because he is a majorly anxious dog in a new city. We gradually saw him gain more confidence and make good decisions every session, while Austin taught us how to pick up on his queues and how to support him. She's very punctual and helped us tremendously even outside our private sessions. Would give her more than 5 stars if I could! Your dog will fall in love with her, we know Larry did for sure. Thanks for everything, Austin!
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September 2022 by Karen H.
My pooch started with DC Dog Wizard, and his personal trainer Austin, as a young puppy. I'm a life-long dog owner who never had a trained dog! At the age of two, we still enjoy the benefits of group training on a weekly basis. Austin has guided my training in a way that makes it fun for MO, and establishes boundaries that actually make him feel more secure. He's a delightful dog to be around, and while I may forget my training at times, Austin has been with us all the way to ensure our success. She is remarkable, intuitive, and she beloved by my MO.
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September 2022 by Lisa D.
Austin taught my fiancé and I so much about how to better handle our 2.5 year old mixed breed rescue dog, Lily. We moved to the DMV area and I knew before we even moved that we needed to get her trained because she was extremely leash reactive and we felt like we tried everything and nothing was working. Austin gave us so many tips and helped us understand Lily's perspective so that we could help her overcome her fears while building her confidence. We went through a couple different trainers before moving down and meeting Austin and she was hands down the easiest and best one whose teachings stuck and worked. Lily is a completely different dog and that's all thanks to Austin!!
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September 2022 by Shannon K.
We hired DC Dog Wizard for our one-year-old labradoodle to help with manners (on leash and in the house,) general impulse control, and with a noise phobia he'd developed that was making it hard to walk him. We had done a basic obedience class before somewhere else, but felt we needed a lot more support, so we signed up for the eight lesson package. Austin was super professional and patient with Bodie. We were so impressed with her gentle and positive approach. I learned so much just by observing how she worked with him. After three or four lessons we were able to cross busy streets and do longer walks, which of course helps so much with taming his puppy energy. He's SO much better behaved with guests in the house (not jumping,) and walks patiently on leash. As proof that it's not just my opinion: We take him with us when we walk our daughter to school, and a parent friend commented last week on how much calmer and more in control he is compared with last spring. She was really impressed! The best thing about the Dog Wizard-- they say training is as much for the humans as the dog. :) I totally agree, especially after our experience. The in-person sessions were super valuable. We learned so much and we're all happier and more bonded. We highly recommend the Dog Wizard; it was well worth the investment!
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September 2022 by Savannah G
We sent our 9 month old puppy, Theo, to The Dog Wizard for two weeks of board and train. Scott was incredibly accommodating when there was an issue having him trained locally, and drove from Asheville, NC to Washington, DC to pick him up. Scott took great care of Theo at his own home and kept us updated the whole time with pictures and photos — we were anxious to be apart, so having frequent updates made all the difference to us! We could tell Theo was having fun and making progress.While Theo wasn’t having any significant issues prior to training, his obedience and recall was on another level when he got home. We now feel very comfortable doing things with Theo off-leash due to his much improved recall, and we can tell he is more focused and attentive during everyday activities. Scott also trained us on the proper use of an e-collar for Theo, and he responds incredibly well to it as a training tool.Scott continues to check in on Theo’s progress and is responsive to any questions we have, despite Theo’s board and train being complete. We truly appreciate The Dog Wizard’s help in training Theo, and would recommend them to anyone looking to train their dog.
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September 2022 by Gabriela R.
Austin helped me with my puppy both when she was a baby (with the basics) and a young adult (with some behavioral issues). My relationship with my dog completely transformed thanks to Austin - we've become so much closer and in tune with each other's needs and cues. Austin has been helpful with one off questions and issues through texts and support classes even after our private sessions ended. Both my dog and I love Austin and would 100% recommend her training classes to anyone struggling with bringing out the best in their dog!
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August 2022 by Tom Havener
Austin is a miracle worker. I’ve trained many dogs, and had many trainers, but I’ve never met a trainer like Austin, who has an almost magical ability to calm our puppy down—but more importantly — to teach me to calm down while I’m working with her. Austin’s help was worth 10 times what I paid for it. And instead of 2 months of training, our puppy (not quite 6 months) “graduated” in 5 weeks. God bless her, I learned so much from Austin! And she was extraordinarily gentle in correcting my (rather know-it-all) mistakes. I could not even imagine a better trainer. N.B. We had private training once a week.
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August 2022 by Lauren Sincavage
We are SO grateful that we picked The Dog Wizard DC for training our rescue pup, Leroy. After a year of trying different training techniques with various trainers to manage Leroy's reactivity and leash pulling, we sent Leroy to a board and train with Jen at the Dog Wizard DC. We are incredibly grateful for the work that Jen put into helping Leroy become more confident and calm. She taught us how to use new tools and built our confidence in our follow up sessions. She challenged us to take Leroy to a family event with 3 other dogs. Previously, this would have been a non-starter, as I would worry that Leroy would be disruptive and cause problems with the other dogs. However, Leroy was BY FAR the most calm and well behaved dog at the event, receiving comments like "I have never seen a more well behaved dog in my life!" We are now able to manage Leroy's reactivity with confidence and appropriately socialize him with other dogs. We look forward to keeping up his training with the weekly optional group training sessions! Thank you Jen for all your help and continued support!!
