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  • Report:  #1460518

Complaint Review: Scheurmans K9 Academy - Jacksonville Fl

Reported By:
Chris - Jacksonville, Fl, United States
Submitted:
Updated:

Scheurmans K9 Academy
6024 103rd St Jacksonville, 32206 Fl, United States
Web:
K9-trainer.com
Categories:
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?

7000 dollar mistake with Wally and this terrible experience. I spoke to Wally several times on the phone before I finally made the decision to bring my 4mos old female German Shepard to him. After talking to several trainers I chose him based on the rapport I thought we had developed and his understanding of exactly what I want to accomplish with my dog. Although he was substantially more expensive than the other trainers I figured it’s my dog and it won’t be cheap no matter what. He was willing to allow me to make payments on it as well so I was very excited.

When I dropped my dog off I gave him 500 cash and I was told I would start to receive videos within 3-4 weeks. A week or two later I brought him another 500 in cash. I work out of town a lot so I was really excited for my videos to start. It was shortly after that the excuses started. I heard for weeks how my dog tried to bite his wife. If that’s true the wife clearly did something to my dog. She has never shown any sign of aggression to anyone ever! Then I heard for weeks that they cannot train her because of the rain. Really? You have my dog 24hrs a day! Then I kept hearing she’s stubborn and won’t stay. Another excuse. Your being paid 6635 to train her! It was about 4-5 weeks in that I started getting really worried. Not only do I not have any videos of my dogs progress yet, THEY ARE NOW NOT ANSWERING MY CALLS! The communication at that point went to almost nothing. I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE MY DOG IS or what’s going on because they meet in a parking lot on the side of a run down business.

After weeks of calling and texting both Wally and Edith I finally get a response when they will be around to accept more money from me. I gave them another 2000 in cash and I just asked to send me pictures of my dog. It took over a week of calls and texts to just get a receipt for the 2000 I gave them. I was also told in email I would have a picture that night or the next day. I NEVER RECEIVED A PICTURE OR VIDEO OF MY DOG!! My 4yo daughter cried many nights because she only wanted a picture of her dog. These people didn’t care about that. Weeks after asking for the first picture he finally tells me that the pictures were too blurry to send. In this day and age of technology all you can say is the pictures were blurry. When I am finally able to pick-up my dog I’m told I have a 180 dollar vet bill. Turns out my dog had a breakout from stress!! The date from the vet bill was the day after my original pick-up day! Seems funny. Not to mention you’ve had my dog for 12-13 weeks and she’s getting stressed from training now?? The dog was stressed from a cram training last minute session. Still having to give her treats for commands after 12WEEKS of training. I understand why he would only accept cash on pick-up.

He told me people have taken their dogs then stop the payment. He even tells me about all these other unhappy customers after they have picked up their dogs. Each story had the same thing in common. ITS THE OWNERS FAULT. I was told by Wally (once the dog was home) she should be in a crate or on a leash at all times, even in my home... I didn’t pay 7000 to keep my dog in a crate!! We went to one "private session”with him that was a joke. 10-15 minutes is all the time he had for me. What can 15 minutes teach me? My dog has been evaluated by several AKC regesterd trainers and a K9 officer that we are currently working with and they all said to stay away from Wally and his IF YOU WANT A REAL ADVANCED OBEDIENCE DOG WITH A FOUNDATION FOR OTHER WORK DOWN THE ROAD, STAY AWAY



1 Updates & Rebuttals

Wallace

Jacksonville,
Florida,
United States
The Facts

#2REBUTTAL Owner of company

Fri, September 06, 2019

I have posted the entire contract on my website. http://k9-trainer.com/hera/hera.html in the event I can’t post supporting documents here.

I wasn’t hired to make movies, nor take photos, I was hired to train your dog.

On 8/3/2018 you were satisfied with her training.

So you stated in your review that you never had a problem with Hera bitting. I show you page 8 of your contract.

Your hand writing nipping. So you know you had a problem with the dog putting teeth on skin. So why lie.

Everytime you called and I could answer I did. There are times that you called and left a message. It always had the same ending, I’ll be out to drop off some more money tomorrow. So no I didn’t return those calls, no reason to, I was going to see you later that day. So when you didn’t show up, when you said you were, I didn’t think about returning the call. I felt if it was important you would have showed up.

What is odd is that you left your puppy with someone outside a run down business. Chris you seem to forget that when you brought out your second payment on a Wednesday night, you sat and watched the class. You were told we are there every Wednesday night with the intermediate group class from 7PM to a minimum of 8PM, sometimes later when we have a basic obedience class, and every Saturday with intermediate group class from 9AM until 11AM sometimes later when we have a basic obedience class.

Yes Hera presented with Demodicosis from stress. As you were told we have a three step process. Placement, inducement, and finally compulsion. The closer the return date, we try to reduce inductive training, and move towards compulsion training. So yes she was under limited stress, that doesn’t effect a well-bred dog. Apparently Hera has breeding issues.

Page 5 of your contract states “I further understand that boarding a dog can cause stress related skin conditions. Such as Hot Spots, moist and dry demodex, as well as other skin abnormalities. __________________________” which YOU initialed. You knew this could happen. You can’t tell if a dog suffers from Demodicosis, until the dog breaks out.

As soon as Hera presented with Demodicosis, we attempted to reduce her stress, moving her back to treats only. We gave her oatmeal baths, while we were able to abate the hair loss, we took her to our vets, for a hard diagnosis.

We attempted to save you money on the vet visit, but since you failed to supply Hera’s monthly heartworm and flea product trifexis, Edith and I felt it was the safest way to proceed.

The above document about the GSD, I included not only my veterinarian’s advice for spaying Hera, but my personal observation that Hera had a potentially serious subluxation of both front feet. While I knew your intentions were to breed Hera with your daughter’s male GSD, I understand your hostility and anger.

Yes it is true we were given a bad check on a return, now all final bills are cash only. It is true that a few clients come back for their private lesson and were upset, really upset. However after they completed their private lesson (s) they left with smiles on their faces. Many come back and take our intermediate group class.

The primary rule is never give a command you can’t reinforce, each time you give her a command she doesn’t have to do, you make it more difficult. Such as how you taught her to run away from you. Had you followed the rules, you may have control of her not only on leash, but off leash by now. You decided not to follow through with your private lessons.

Two points you didn’t make in you review Hera was here not only for obedience training but for crate training as well. I’m not going to post all 4 pages of the crate training procedures we employ, but the first page that you were given reads.

Crate Training the Scheurman's K9 Academy Way

 Hera has been crate trained using the following method.

 What is needed:

  1. 1 Crate.

 

  1. 1 Gallon White Vinegar

 

  1. Paper towels

 

  1. Purina One puppy food.

 

  1. Constant supervision..

 

For the first couple of days you have the puppy, do not be too harsh on her, and do not expect too much in her training. She is getting settled in her new home. Put her in a crate or in a place which a mess will not be a problem. Use newspapers on the bottom, along with clean rags, carpet scraps, a blanket or other disposable bedding.

You can drape a blanket over the top and sides so that it becomes even more cozy, secure as den‑ like. This crate should only be a couple of inches longer than the puppy when he lies out and only a couple of inches wider than his outstretched legs. It should be high enough that the puppy can stand up comfortably. THE CRATE SHOULD NOT BE TOO LARGE. This is extremely important. If the crate is very large, the puppy can use one end as his "bedroom" and the other end as his "bathroom." The crate should be small enough that all of it is "bedroom," because the puppy will not, if at all possible, make a mess in his bed. If you buy a crate for the mature size of the dog, block off an area appropriate to her current size.

The crate is to be a place of security and comfort. The dog should consider it to be her home or den. Her viewpoint is not that she cannot get out but that humans cannot get in. When she is older, you can leave it open so that she can use it as a refuge. Do not let children bother the puppy when she is in the crate, or pull him out of it when she does not want to come out.

   For the first several weeks that you have the puppy, she should spend ALL of her time in the crate when she is not directly supervised. Put the puppy there when things are busy around the house (such as a party or guests). She should also spend her nights there. Take her outdoors to play, or let her out to run around the house, but ONLY when someone is with him. In this way, you start developing proper elimination habits from the beginning. You do not have to let the puppy get into bad habits and then figure out how to break or change them.

So yes I wanted you to keep her in her crate when she wasn’t under your direct control or on leash one reason is due to crate training, and the other was to allow you to make sure you were in a position to correct any disobedience of her training.

When you first called me talking about our board and trains programs, you stated you wanted an off leash trained dog, I told you we don’t do off leash in any of our board and train programs. The only program we offer off leash training in is our intermediate group class. The contract explicitly states ON LEASH.

The contract you read and signed clearly stated ON LEASH. It doesn’t state anywhere OFF LEASH.

Maybe you forgot or just wanted to be dramatic I don’t know. Jeanie was there teaching another one hour basic obedience class at the time of your private lesson. You arrived just as she started, she finished her class, and watched you work Hera. So if her class was an hour, and she came over to watch Hera work, seems odd to me that you were only there for 15 minutes. I guess the saying time fly’s when you’re having fun is true.

I like that you say “IF YOU WANT A REAL ADVANCED OBEDIENCE DOG WITH A FOUNDATION FOR OTHER WORK DOWN THE ROAD, STAY AWAY”. I guess these people in these pictures, sure are glade they didn’t stay away. By the way I have hundreds more like this. These were taken by a real camera, unlike my wife’s cell phone, which she tried to use with Hera.

So the competition doesn’t like me, WOW I’m hurt.

You are upset about photo and videos. While I can understand your point, taking videos and photos is was not part of my contractual duty, please reread your contract.

Poor communication. That Chris is a two way street. At least 4 times you called and said you were stopping by, and never showed, and never called to cancel. At least twice Edith and I remained after intermediate class ended waiting for you. You didn’t have the common curtesy, to call and let us know you wouldn’t be there. Even when you told me you would be making weekly payments in person, and did a no show several times, I never called you and hounded you for payments.

On page 5 of the contract you failed to state that Hera suffered from Demodicosis, under medical information, special conditions. Had you alerted us to her condition, we could have told you that she was not a candidate for protection training.

Each and every issue you have with me is clearly defined in a contract that you read and singed. That is why I posted it on the web site, so people who actually read google reviews can see for themselves.

You became abusive on the phone, as soon as I stated Hera is not off leash trained. I was willing to explain and help you, but you were having none of that.

Since you have found another trainer the point is moot. I wish you much success in your future dog training.

 

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