Training with Grace

We’ve been doing classes here for quite some time now. The facility is clean, the trainers (whether it’s Ana or one of several other businesses training there) are highly skilled, polite and good teachers. Not sure what else you could want from a dog training facility.

We took a basic agility class from Ana Melera. I can only say it was a disappointing experience. Ana may be a good dog trainer but her interpersonal skills need some work!

I met Ana six years ago when we adopted a female Basenji who was absolutely wonderful. We merely needed to Ana’s help to understand how to train and work with our new pet. We took agility classes and recall classes. Then, several months later, we adopted a male Basenji who was very reactive to people and other dogs. Ana literally help us save our male Basenji’s life. He was set to be euthanized because he had bitten several people. I decided to see if we could help him. With Ana’s help, we are one big happy family. Over the years, we had Ana at our home, met her at parks, and busy outdoor shopping area, taken several group classes. Every experience has been terrific. Ana is intuitive, caring, thoughtful and dynamic. I would recommend her to anyone who has questions about dog training.

I visited the shop where the owner works, stopped in on a whim, and gave her a very brief history of what’s going on with my dog/​an issue I’d like her help with. She was very nice, said she’d set me up for a free 15 minute phone consultation. She called at the appointed time, and boy was I shocked! She went from being very nice (in her shop when I was there) to unbelievably nasty and judgmental! She began berating me over various issues, but never let me get a word in edgewise to EXPLAIN some very pertinent facts about the case regarding my dog.
I would stay the heck away from this very narcissistic, unprofessional and unpleasant person!

Ana Melara, the owner and trainer, of Training with Grace is a poor business woman. She offers a dog trainer academy a few times a year. I enrolled in her 2^nd «academy». I had to pay all of the money upfront. Lesson learned there. I was very disappointed to say the least. I was stood up twice by her and when I would call to see what happened she would not personally return my calls. She would have someone else call me back. I was told they were supposed to tell me the class was canceled and they forgot. After a full month of the Academy, which only one other person was enrolled in, I opted out. I wasn’t learning anything new and the description of the academy was far from living up to what she had told me it would be. There was nothing cutting edge. She made it sound intensive and I was fully ready to put all my energy into this academy. I scheduled my life around the schedule, which would change constantly. Dogs are my passion and I wanted to learn. I contacted her several times to get a partial refund for the remaining classes that I wasn’t going to attend (5months worth) and she never responded except to say, «I DON’T GIVE REFUNDS». It is a year later and after going to court and mediation, Ana has legally signed a contract that states she would pay me back $ 2000. It has been almost 2 months and I haven’t seen one dollar from her. She is DISHONEST. Sure she can train dogs, but do you really want to learn from someone that takes peoples’ money, when they aren’t happy with her services? That’s called thievery. I am disgusted by such behavior and would never treat anyone this way. I believe the name of her company should be TRAINING WITH DISGRACE!
DON’T SIGN UP FOR HER DOG TRAINING ACADEMY UNLESS YOU ARE READY TO GET TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF. DEFINITELY DO NOT PAY FOR ALL OF IT AT ONCE.