Cactus Canine Center

You want a dog you can trust off-​lead? Or a ‘problem’ dog you need help with?
Cactus has amazing teachers and a proven training program. I have taken MANY dogs here over the years, and highly reccomend them.

By far the best $ 100 ever spent. My dog Indy is a very High energy dog who is just over a year old. The training provided by the Novice course was top notch from the first day with dogs in class. you will instantly feel a stronger connection to your dog and the dog will really begin to understand what is is you want out of him. fast forward to 10 week later and it is a much easier task to take the dog out in public and the dog now has a whole new respect for others as well as myself. if you have ever wanted your dog to come when told, or stay in place for an extended period of time, or perhaps you want to take the dog on a walk as opposed to the dog taking you! this class is for you, just commit the time and effort to training the dog you want, and cactus canine centers will ensure it will happen. Thank you so much for all you have taught us. we look forward to taking advantage of the other courses you offer.

Let me start this review off by saying that we are ridiculously in love with our dog. We got her at 8 weeks and she was very easily house broken and leash trained. Once she hit about 6 months, though, she became defiant and started behaving terribly in public. Time for obedience school!
After doing some searching and talking with friends, we decided to take her to Cactus Canine Center. Great decision!
Cactus Canine uses the Koehler method of training. This method has fallen out of favor recently because some consider it cruel. It uses a series of «corrections» with the choke collar in addition to traditional positive reinforcement of good behavior. Practitioners of this method view dogs as dogs, rather than as pseudo-​humans.
I was skeptical at first because, as I said, we LOVE our dog and I felt like I was harming her. But after achieving big changes with just one day of training, and no negative reactions from Daisy, I quickly came around. The instructors expect a lot from you, it is a big time commitment, but they guarantee off-​leash control at the end of 10 weeks and if you stick to the training regimen that is definitely achievable.
For affordable, local (they are a non-​profit started in the 80’s) dog training I highly recommend Cactus Canine. Just make sure you are able to make the time commitment (minimum 1 hour training every day, plus 1.5 hour classes once per week) and feel comfortable with the idea of using their corrections.