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June 2023 by ella l.
*WARNING* Look what happened to my baby!! This review is for their boarding. After only a week and a half there, she is now basically skin and bones. She's always been skinny but she looks practically emaciated! My sister also boarded her dog, which struggles to eat when boarding. Because of that, she repeatedly called while on her trip and they assured her that he was eating perfectly and had no issues at all. Come to find out that he lost 5 pounds in one week!! Be VERY careful when deciding to board here as it seems they give no real care or communication about the dog's wellbeing. I'm sick looking at how my baby was neglected. I wish I could give them negative stars.
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June 2023 by Heather G.
REVIEW FOR STUDENTS: This place has some major issues. The worst of all are the communication issues. I didn't even know I had gotten accepted until a month before class started. Some students in my class only got a week's notice.All throughout school we had problems getting information from administration. We had the misfortune of being at school during the freeze snaps, and rarely had power while ice was on the ground. We were told we would have power in the training center, but that was not true. They then tell us to get hotel rooms and the school would reimburse. I didn't get my reimbursement until 5 weeks later, on the last day of class.Before graduation we were told there would be an internship offered to us. Me and 2 other students applied, and were told to wait for interviews. Nobody ever got interviewed, and we never heard another word about it. Not even the curtesy of telling us the position was no longer available.We were also told we would receive some resources 2 weeks after graduation. I didn't get mine until 2 MONTHS after, and some of my classmates STILL haven't gotten theirs back.On top of all of this, one of our instructors was either fired or quit (we didn't get all the details), leaving one instructor for 9 students. Abby was incredible, and more than capable, however it opened all of our eyes to the numerous issues at this place.I will not recommend that anybody attend this school, OR send their dog to board. While the curriculum was wonderful, it is entirely possible to find all of the information elsewhere. The ONLY benefit to having gone here instead of another school is the reputation. People know the name Starmark, and that is the only thing saving this place right now.
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June 2023 by Rylan W.
If I could give the Starmark School for Dog Trainers 0 stars I absolutely would. SAVE YOUR MONEY. Don't go here. The "school" is an absolute joke. If you don't believe me go ahead and look at the yelp reviews from the last 8 years. Constantly going through trainers, can't keep class instructors. Where do I even start with my review. I expected to learn their entire "course" is a slideshow put together by multiple people, who no longer work for the company. My instructors either gave there opinions, or one was talking down the other in front of us because of his own personal reasons with her. The first month we learned a lot. Going through the 8 week program we didn't end up learning a whole lot more than the past month, i.e. we learned one way to train dogs. After that we did HOURS of "temperment testing" where the students sat on the bleachers and we brought a dog in to evaluate it even though the instructors had already evaluated the rescue dogs we had been working with and knew their would be no surprises. Giving us untrained dogs but not very real hands on experience. Then right before the last month on of our instructors was "let go" or "quit" so we were left with an instructor who is an excellent dog trainer but not a great instructor. I could have read off of a slideshow in my house for the last 2 months of this school. They do not even offer exposure to a lot of what they have listed on the course page on their website. The student housing was disgusting. completely covered in dirt and dead bugs upon arrival. along with trash from the prior class, the whole house had to be deep cleaned. The deck in my particular housing was falling apart and around the housing/fencing holes were hardly blocked up with old chairs or old pieces of wood. Staying in this housing you can barely breathe because of the mold visibly growing, and be prepared to spend money on lightbulbs with the places being not well maintained. They have one maintenance man for the entire facility. I would highly recommend you go tour this place before you think about going here.The place is primarily about Starmark Solutions, the toy making warehouse on the property. I do not do their books but I know their owner lives in a fancy mansion on the hill while the rescue dogs they take in for the program are at the bottom of a hill in a building without proper Heating or AC. Half the fans don't work. The drains in the kennel buildings are always clogged and smelling atrocious because the kennel staff do not care and they only have one maintenance man. I witnessed a dog being left that Kennel building for 3 months. She was taken out twice by the instructor who was in charge of her. For 3 months that dog got fed morning and evening. But she received no attention, watching all of the other dogs get taken out, then sitting in a silent kennel. In the smallest run about 3'X3' inside and maybe 6'X3' on the outside. Again in the building without proper heating and AC. Until one of the students was cleared to adopt her about the last week or so and then she was able to get out more. There was a dog not being fed, an already underweight dog not being fed. Every time the instructors were told, it was blown off. So the rest of the class was making sure that particular dog was being taken care of. The school is long and absolutely draining. For them to have a school they have to meet certain requirements. I would say they barely meet those requirements. The school does not prepare you to leave the school and go start your own business. They provided no resources to other training opportunities. I still don't even know my grade and I graduated back in April. Definitely look beyond the website and the fancy gate when you drive in.
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June 2023 by Thomas V.
I can not speak for the training personally, but when it comes to boarding I do not recommend it. I sent my two dogs there for one week. One of my dog has some anxiety issues so I had to go back to the kennel to remove his leash. That place looks like a prison, dogs sleep on practically hard floor in small spaces and I know they mean well, but they remove collars from the dogs which made my poor dogs feel abandoned. When I picked them up one dog was fine mentally(a little younger than a year old) but he had stains on his elbows which means he was not sleeping on a soft surface. During the week we were told the food ran out, but when we picked the dogs up the food was not empty at all. They lost the collar of one of my dogs and that dog has not been the same since. Poor thing won't eat his kibble and despite being friendly towards my family he is clearly afraid we will give him up after that nightmare experience. I will not be coming back here for boarding again. If you board I recommend you request to see the kennel area. There is a reason they try and hide it from customers.(Update)I took my dog to the vet who wasn't eating and it turns out he got a liver infection. He is going into hospitalization now. Thank God he should be ok but PLEASE don't go here. We are having to pay over $600 dollars from what this kennel did to him. This place almost killed him. Please read this and don't take your dog here. This place should not be allowed to operate. Idk why so many people are giving it 5 stars. A place that almost kills animals is not acceptable.
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May 2023 by Megan H.
Whoever answered the phone 5/13 at 12:44pm, you are the SOLE reason we will not be using this facility. You were rude and unable to even work with me at all. I was nothing but polite. We planned on having our 8 month old corgi named Rue stay and get trained. I refuse to send my dog to this place now. Due to an emergency, we were going to have our dog dropped off at 1:02pm, which I expressed I knew this was outside the drop off time by 2 minutes and you were nothing but combative and rude. The least you could've done was work with me. Beyond disappointed.
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May 2023 by Edward B.
My dogs have been boarded here for years - Great experience.In addition, the dog training has been beneficial; it's made a significant difference in my role as the pack leader.
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August 2022 by Bree B.
THE TRAINER BROUGHT ME THE WRONG DOG I first brought my 5 month lab for a 2 week stay and train. My trainer was Kyle. While I wished he had communicated more while Toocan was there my dog learned a lot! That's the end of the good news. This was Oct 2021. Since then... I took Toocan for private lessons and an additional 3 days with no progress on greeting other dogs while on a leash. So I booked a full week to work on greeting dogs and recall. I tried to meet with the trainer when I dropped him off but Erica was not available. (Kyle no longer trains). When I went to pick up my dog ERICA BROUGHT ME THE WRONG DOG. How does the trainer who supposedly spends a week training your dog bring you the wrong dog at pick up. I want to be clear that she went to get my dog, its not like someone brought her the wrong dog. Did she even train my dog?? Erica had put him on a prong collar without discussing it with me and had him walking on the wrong side which wasn't helpful. I emailed her midweek to check on Toocans progress and did not receive a reply. When I told her I was disappointed and expected more progress she just stared at me and said nothing. To say the least I think I wasted $687 for that week. I emailed Starmark two days after Toocans stay and 4 days later no one has responded. So how much do they really care. I think at this point its more about volume of dogs rather than quality training. There are better options.
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July 2022 by Kumiko W.
I picked up my dogs a few days ago after boarding them with Starmark for 9 days and they both have kennel cough. I've used them twice now and the first time I dropped my boys off I spaced on bringing their vaccine paperwork (that is 100% my bad and I should have been more on top of it) but both dogs are fully vaccinated. I didn't realize they didn't have my dogs vaccine records untill the second time I dropped them off and they asked for them which at that time I provided them. At first I didn't think to much into it as I didn't have to many problems with the first boarding I did with them but now that both my dogs are sick I'm worry if they are actually verifying vaccine records. Will never board with them again
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June 2022 by Christine S.
I took in a year old Dobbie mix that I was told was well trained. LOL, No she was NOT. She did not want to listen to me for nothing. After several weeks of getting no where with her and her taking off and even getting hit by a car after she took off; luckily she was not injured. I took her to Starmark to be trained. I did the stay and train. I purposely waiting 6 months after her training was complete to provide this review. She was in training in November and December of 2021.During her training my dog was put in the TLC ward because she is timid. I would go visit her weekly. Every week the Kennel manager would check with me to see how I thought Luna was doing. Luna did start to lose weight and Kennel Manager checked with me to make sure I was OK with them adding some Bill-Jack to her food. Luna's weight returned to normal.After Luna came home, Yes I still have to work with her; She loves practicing her new skills. I love that I can now get into my house without my dog being at the door. Luna has always loved chasing bunnies and I can now let her out the front door and she will chase the bunnies but when I call her she comes right back. In 6 months she has not run off. Her "Sit" and "place" time is to the point where if I put her in command and forget, she stays put. It became very easy to train Luna on other issues like digging, getting into the trash and eating food out of toddlers hands.I recently got a new puppy and I am planning on getting her trained as well.
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June 2022 by Parnika S.
We were going on vacation and we needed a place to take care of my dog Jasmine while we were gone. We decided to book her at Starmark because she went there for her puppy preschool. We were gone for about a week. After we came back, we saw that she was shivering, not eating well, and having continuous nightmares. I then thought to myself, "How did they really treat my dog?". After a while, she started eating well, and her nightmares were not as frequent. Even though the boarding service was terrible, their puppy preschools and their behavior classes are really good! She got a lot of training and now knows several commands!. So by reading this review, you probably established that I have mixed feelings about Starmark. Overall, I would give Starmark a 3/5.
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May 2022 by Sharon Grooms (Groomsy)
Boarding of my pets was great. They also trained my dog and let my second dog come to private lesson to give it a try. Love the setting. They also have a great dog park nearby.
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May 2022 by Sharon “Groomsy” Grooms
Boarding of my pets was great. They also trained my dog and let my second dog come to private lesson to give it a try. Love the setting. They also have a great dog park nearby.
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May 2022 by Mike McAfee
Was there to assist a friend with her new puppy. Was impressed with the facility as a whole. They have plenty of space to accommodate both pet and owner. And my brief interaction with the staff was pleasant. Will be returning in three weeks with my friend so we both know what the commands are, and will revisit my post.
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April 2022 by Sarai Braziel
Great training for our puppy. Love how much they care for him and how much he has improved. Thank you.
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March 2022 by Delaney H.
I called Starmark 4 times, left all of my information, and no one has ever called me. The first time I called was on a Saturday, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt thinking Saturdays are probably busy. I then called other days of the week at different times. The same thing happened. I left a detailed message each time. No one has ever called me back. Another thing that bothered me was what is Starmark all about? It's called an Animal Behavior Center. It's also called a Dog Trainer School. Also, Starmark Academy and Starmark Pet Products. Yelp says it's Pet Training, Pet Boarding. Pet Grooming. It's own website says Starmark Training and Behavior Solutions and lists dog training, dog boarding, but nothing about dog day care, which is what I wanted information about. After calling and searching online and then after reading through the reviews, I am not going near the place. A business should not always connect you straight to voicemail and then never call you back. A dog business must hire trained people who listen to you, understand what you are saying, and do want you want. Not feeding a dog at all is very significant. It makes me wonder what type of care a dog is getting. Is she thrown into a kennel most of the day? Is anyone competent watching him when they play? The questions are endless when you want to ensure your dog's safety and enjoyment. Based on all of the above, I would never use this place. My 2 dogs mean too much to me.
