Casey Ray’s STL Dog Trainers

My fear reactive 75 lb GSD, Tron, stayed at Casey Ray for a 3 week long stay and train, Casey Ray had him on the week day and he came home on the weekends.
The first week I was calling just to check up on my buddy, they said everything was fine. By the second week they were suggesting use of an e-​collar for a «big stubborn guy» like himself. I was skeptical as I never liked those but we went with it. I do have to admit with the e collar Tron walks much better and responds well to corrections 80% of the time. They also taught him how to walk on a treadmill to burn energy which is great, and his heel has never been better.
However, I brought him in to work on reactivity. During the initial consultation I specifically told them Tron was bad with dogs on leash. I don’t really think they worked with Tron around other dogs at all. I had to request them to bring out another dog and work with me during the 3^rd week (end of his session). Tron was as bad as ever barking and lunging, and they turned up the e collar so high that he was Unilocaling and barking the whole way.
On top of that he lost so much weight and it seems now he is scared of men, his leash walking with no triggers (dogs or men) is better than ever thanks to Casey Ray. However it seems he’s even more reactive now when his triggers present themselves.
The main thing I had an issue with is that during our 2^nd training (after the 3 week camp you get 3 training sessions). Tron had issues barking at a kid and other dogs and whining to go in the car, the trainer was not able to really handle him and calm him down and I left with an amped up dog, none the wiser on how to stop his reactivity. It wasn’t a cheap camp and I was hoping for better results.

I tried a few training places before Casey’s but this place was definitely our last stop.
My german shepherd was dealing with dog reactivity (barking/​lunging on leash) and Casey taught us a few fundamental training tools that helped us not only overcome her reactivity, but she’s grown into a stable dog that helps some other reactive dogs we know.
We recommend Casey’s to anyone with a dog. Group classes are so unique and so much fun — we do everything from outdoor work, agility work, confidence building, off leash work, etc. The lifetime group lesson package is fantastic and well worth the money. We moved recently and we miss going to Casey’s every week. I plan on getting another puppy next year and am dead serious in considering paying a visit to St. Louis so I can get him started off well :) Best training place hands down.