# royvon dog training school!!



## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

hi i was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this school. My dog is there at present and we are not happy with the way things have been going so i was just wondering if anyone else had tried this school.

thanks


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## Sam007 (Apr 17, 2008)

Hi

I would be interested to know why you are not happy as my dog is due to go there next month.

Please can you also let me know how you get on once you collect?

Sam


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

hiya i may have spoke in haste! The biggest problem was there hasnt been lot of communication, they have an update chart which you can log onto to see how your dog is doing but ours has only just been updated properly and this is olivers 3rd week! never the less our trainer has been been very good and honest about how the training is going, so much so oliver is staying an extra week, the trainer thinks this will really help. oliver will now be coming next friday instead of this saturday. We have made a point of saying how disappointed we are at not being kept up to date as this was one of the reasons we chose this training school. It probabaly hasnt been easy for the trainers as our dog is 8!! 

will keep you informed

sorry for the ramble!!


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## carol (Nov 2, 2007)

youve sent your dog off to be trained?


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

yes, i have, we have tried training him in the house but just hasnt worked. i now have an 18 month old son and the dog didnt know boundries. I thought this was a better solution than to get rid of him.


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## Guest (Apr 18, 2008)

Ive always been a bit dubious about sending dogs/horses away to be trained they will follow the commands of whoever has taught them,and may not listen to you when they get back!also how will you know how they have been taught,the methods,in order to follow them through at home? i suppose if they offer you both joint training towards the end,so you know how to get the results they are,is that what happens?


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

hiya, yes this is what happens. when my husband goes to pick oliver up, he will spend a good couple of hours being taught the commands and how exactly to use them. I checked his update chart this morning and we are pleased to see that he seems to be doing a lot better than we hoped he would.


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## trekky (Apr 16, 2008)

I'd be interested to find out if he returns to his old habits when returnig home. I'm beginning study into canine behaviour and dog training. One of the things i'm interested in is finding out if its better to send your dog away or whether its best to deal with the issues in the enviroment that causes them. If he doesn't know his boundaries its possible they have been put accross in a language he doesn't understand (dog language) I have 2 dogs and 2 young children. The dogs are not allowed upstairs or on funrniture. The children are not allowed to feed tit bits to the dogs at meal times and if the dogs beg they are removed from the room. The dogs are only allowed in with the children when myself or my husband are around to monitor the situation. The dogs do not jump at the children if they do because of their height the children have learnt to turn away from the dog and say no or in the case of my 1yr old make a loud sound. The dogs do not get petted until they have calmed down and all 4 feet are on the ground. This may seem like tough love for the dogs but we have harmony in our home and the dogs know as soon as the children are in bed its their time with the heads of our pack.


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

hiya, me and my husband have said we wont let him return to his old habits, (otherwise we have just wasted a small fortune). things like being allowed to sleep upstairs is going to stop. Its not really my 18 month old who is the problem, its slightly older kids. I have a 3 year old nephew who is quite lively and oliver thinks he is great fun but doesnt know when to stop. We then put him out of the room, but he will bark, most of the time he will calm down and just go and lie down but the times he doesnt is what we want to correct. Oliver is not a greedy dog, we wont allow to greed at meal times and if he tries to, he moves when told. Our main problems have been taking him for walks as he is easily distracted and i can not manage him and a buggy by myself so we have asked the trainers to work on this, and by all accounts is doing well. i think for us it was a case of last resort and i love the dog that much i would rather try anything and everything than get rid of him. I think one of the main things is he was a rescue dog and he is now 8,(we have had him 7 years) probably not the best combination!!


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

hiya, we thought long and hard about doing this as i agree that it is about bonding but also knowing the correct way to make a dog listen! oliver has selctive hearing , we thought he would get a little better with age but i swear he gets more active!! The vet couldnt believe he was 8. When he is collected my husband will be shown how to use the commands they use so we can carry on when he gets home. Like ive said before anything is worth a go... and we felt this was the best thing for us


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

tried every collar going, the head collar he managed to get out of, the other things we have tried we have now found out that they can cause alot of pressure on the dogs body ie the harness that lifts the front legs if the dog pulls. The one thing we have tried and has sucessfully worked was the barking deterrent collar, it lets off a high pitched noise, that worked so well i only had to show him the collar and he would calm down.. Like i said walking him is the main problem, he hasnt socialised properly with other dogs outside of the house, he has live with a few other dogs fine but he just gets far too excited when he sees another dog and he looks like he wants to eat them but when in actual fact he just want to play.. this is all being corrected whilst he is away


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## Jenny Olley (Nov 2, 2007)

Your dog will continue to obey the commands when he gets home, as long as he has learnt them properly, and you use them properly.

Guide dogs, hearing dogs, support dogs, canine partners for independence, all these charities have trainers that train the dogs prior to them going to the recipients and as long as the dogs are given the opportunity to practice the commands they have learned, they retain the ability to do so.

I have no personnel experience of Royvon, but it has been around for a good number of years, so hopefully they will be ok.


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

thanks for that. never thought of it like that, about the guide dogs etc... thats why we chose royvon because they have a good reputation.


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## Jenny Olley (Nov 2, 2007)

A well trained dog will actually obey any ones command, but will always work better with the one they know best, because as well as the verbal, they look a lot at body language which can confuse a dog, as people use different body languages.


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## Tory01 (Mar 21, 2008)

Jenny Olley said:


> Your dog will continue to obey the commands when he gets home, as long as he has learnt them properly, and you use them properly.
> 
> Guide dogs, hearing dogs, support dogs, canine partners for independence, all these charities have trainers that train the dogs prior to them going to the recipients and as long as the dogs are given the opportunity to practice the commands they have learned, they retain the ability to do so.
> 
> I have no personnel experience of Royvon, but it has been around for a good number of years, so hopefully they will be ok.


I agree with what you say,however these dogs are trained over a long period of time not just 1..2..3...weeks you will have to work very hard with your dog when he comes home..Guide dogs are trained from 6 weeks ......


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## Jenny Olley (Nov 2, 2007)

Tory01 said:


> I agree with what you say,however these dogs are trained over a long period of time not just 1..2..3...weeks you will have to work very hard with your dog when he comes home..Guide dogs are trained from 6 weeks ......


Although dogs that are going to people with disabilities are trained over a longer period, the commands and behaviours they need to learn are much more complex than is required from a pet dog. Canine partners and support dogs often understand over 100 commands, considerably more than most pet owners require.


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## trekky (Apr 16, 2008)

I have to walk with pushchair, 3yr old, CollieX and Bassett hound in tow and i admit its not an easy task when on my own when i can consentrate on the dogs behaviour and have hands empty to have treats i'll go without a halti but i have to say with all in tow both dogs are trained to walk with a halti just because i have more control even with my hands full. I also found attaching a spare lead to the collar and giving to my 3 year old a great way to make him think he's helping me walk one of them and knowing that he is close by to me and safe at the same time.


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## carol (Nov 2, 2007)

hi hope it works for you
one of the dogs i used to look after was sent away to be trained, well the dog learnt more from me than what the dog did in the training school he was sent to.


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## Gemma83 (Mar 5, 2008)

We went to puppy school there, 
1st - puppy shaping 
2nd - puppy foundations 

was really good, espiaclly for us the owners as we weren't really sure how to train proberly. Then a month or two ago things went down hill so we had a trainner (who worked with us in groups) come over our house for a couple of hours really helped. 

I don't think I would want to send mine away though as I think you need to find the ways it works for both you and dog.


PS - you using surrey one????


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## je69 (Apr 21, 2008)

I hope this works out well for you as it is sooo expensive. I think that a trainer or behaviourist who could have worked with you and your family and of course the dog in his own surroundings may have been better for you but would have required a lot of hard work from you and your family which i think is why these training schools seem so appealing.I really cant see how you can solve your dogs problems when you all as a family are not also involved with the training....i hope that i am wrong and it all goes well as you obviously love your dog very much.


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

well... for all you doubters out there.... we have oliver back... we have been continuing his training at home, all is going really well..

he has come back a different dog entirely, with the same character. he walks to heal, even with other dogs around, which he would not do before. the recall is bang on also.

all in all, it was money well spent in the end.. we have got the dog that we always wanted. it just goes to show that it can and does work!!!


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## Gemma83 (Mar 5, 2008)

I'm really pleased for you  which royvon was it you used?


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## Jenny Olley (Nov 2, 2007)

I'm really pleased for you too, now you can enjoy owning Oliver.


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## Ladywiccana (Feb 24, 2008)

I'm having trouble with my boy at the moment with training issues, but no way would i send him somewhere especially if i couldnt be there! They could be doing all sorts to him! Poor thing fetch him home! The only place I would feel secure in sending my boy is cesar milan lol. It is hard to know what to do sometimes isnt it! Good luck with it though!


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## Jo P (Dec 10, 2007)

He's already home Ladywiccana and they are really pleased with the results


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

ladywiccana said:


> I'm having trouble with my boy at the moment with training issues, but no way would i send him somewhere especially if i couldnt be there! They could be doing all sorts to him! Poor thing fetch him home! The only place I would feel secure in sending my boy is cesar milan lol. It is hard to know what to do sometimes isnt it! Good luck with it though!


he is home... what do you mean "they could be doing allsorts to him"?? it's not a back street training school... they are a very good, well established company!


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

Gemma83 said:


> I'm really pleased for you  which royvon was it you used?


we used the one in merthyr tydfill, south wales... great bunch of people down there...


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## Gemma83 (Mar 5, 2008)

tjfedrick said:


> we used the one in merthyr tydfill, south wales... great bunch of people down there...


I thought the surrey center was great, really proffersional staff, and a proper center with trainning rooms. Its good to know the other one sounds up to the same standard


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

Gemma83 said:


> I thought the surrey center was great, really proffersional staff, and a proper center with trainning rooms. Its good to know the other one sounds up to the same standard


sounds pretty much the same.. both indoor and outdoor arenas.. dogs have big indoor and outdoor kennels too... all heated, with music plumbed through to keep them calm...


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## Nina (Nov 2, 2007)

I am amazed with this post. Dog training is all about the dog and owner working together!

This is a new one on me!


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

Nina Cole said:


> I am amazed with this post. Dog training is all about the dog and owner working together!
> 
> This is a new one on me!


i too am amazed with some of the responses! i dont get the narrow mindedness off some people who don't get the fact that others can and do train your dog for you! why is it so difficult to get around... my dog and i do work together! it has bot affected the dog in any negative way whatsoever.

ok, i admit. not everyone wants to send their dog away for a few weeks to be trained. but when you're at your wits end because your pet is being so bad all the time and you dont know what to do.... tied in with the fact that you have a small baby in the house, what other options are there! i think its the perfect answer, they train your dog then they train the owner, everyone is happy..

all you posters that dont understand why we did it, have never been in the situation that we found ourselves and must have perfect little lives!

sorry for rambling, just sick of do-gooders little comments!!


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## Birdie (May 19, 2008)

Royvon has two schools, one in Surrey and another in Wales and i have been to both of them. I am unsure which one you are talking about?

As i understand the trainers have up to 10 dogs each month which each dog must get trained three times a day and they have a diffiuclt time getting a chance to speak with all the owners on a regular basis.

I believe that having your dog trained while you are holiday is a good thing, however i think that the owner should have one to ones with a trainer to understand the reasons why their dog is misbehaving or why they have behavioural issues. Residential training does not suit every dog, but if the owner has covered all other options, one to one training, home consultation with a behaviourist, more than one trainers opinion, maybe nutrutional advice then as a last attempt send the dog away.

If you are unhappy with the service, make yourself heard and let the manager and trainer know that you are not happy with the service. Telephone and email, unless you say something they are not going to know that you are unhappy. Hope this helps.


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## Nina (Nov 2, 2007)

I think you are referring to me when you quote 'do gooders', so please afford me the courtesy of a reply.

I was not being derisory at all with my remark, just that training usually consists of the owner with their dog. I personally, have not heard of sending a dog away to be trained.

I should also stress, that my third GSD was extremely difficult to handle when young, so I do sympathise if you are having problems. The point of training is that the trainer can help both you and the dog with any problems and show you how to address them. 

I am sorry if you felt I was being a 'do gooder', since I was only trying to help.


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## Gemma83 (Mar 5, 2008)

Birdie said:


> Royvon has two schools, one in Surrey and another in Wales and i have been to both of them. I am unsure which one you are talking about?
> 
> As i understand the trainers have up to 10 dogs each month which each dog must get trained three times a day and they have a diffiuclt time getting a chance to speak with all the owners on a regular basis.
> 
> ...


he went to south wales, I think he was happy with the serivce he got, we were comparing the surrey to the wales and came to the conclusion they were both good. Altough I went to evening classes, no residental serivces so I can't comment on that.


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## Lynsey (Apr 13, 2008)

My Dad bought an 18 month black lab that was already trained as a gun dog which was what my Dad wanted. My Mum has leukemia so trying to train a young dog would have been difficult. My parents have had dogs before and trained them themselves. Shadow was trained sensitively and my Dad spent some time with the trainer learning how he did his commands.

Shadow has been fantastic, has had his moments but then all dogs do. You have made a big effort to improve things so you can keep your dog, good on you and good luck.


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

Nina Cole said:


> I think you are referring to me when you quote 'do gooders', so please afford me the courtesy of a reply.
> 
> I was not being derisory at all with my remark, just that training usually consists of the owner with their dog. I personally, have not heard of sending a dog away to be trained.
> 
> ...


sorry..... please dont think it was aimed at yourself, i do appreciate that you were just having an input... there have been a few comments through this discussion that i have felt were a little unfounded and frankly "ticked me off"... but certainly not yours..


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## Guest (May 19, 2008)

I wouldn't send mine away but each to there own and if it works that is all that counts.

I suppose some breeds can be more difficult than others.


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## Guest (May 19, 2008)

tjfedrick said:


> all you posters that dont understand why we did it, have never been in the situation that we found ourselves and must have perfect little lives!


I completely understand why you did it, we sent one of ours away a couple of years ago now after every effort to curb her aggression with other dogs had been exhausted. I didn't use Royvon, I used a lovely man called Les Price who also followed up with Home Visits after she came home


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## Nina (Nov 2, 2007)

Well, I am really surprised that there are training schools that accept dogs without owners, and that it works without owner input. Just goes to show that you learn something new every day


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## Guest (May 20, 2008)

I don't know much about Royvon, But I can say our experiences with Les Price were very good we were invited along after our dog had been with him for 48 hours to see what he had actually done with her and how she was responding to training, it worked very well for us and her. 
A different dog came home after she spent some time with Les Price, peace was restored to the household and now she can tolerate living with our other dogs and now responds extremely well to other dogs she don't know. He followed up with home visits after she came home to make sure we were happy and most of all that she and our other dogs were too. 
If it hadn't have been for Les Price she would have ended up being pts as a very last resort because it was getting to the stage she was an absolute danger to other dogs that lived with us and ones she didn't know, as I said we exhausted every effort to manage her behaviour we initially got a behaviourist in, must say it didn't work for us she needed something much more intense than that, we knew what her problems were and addressed them, we didn't need telling what they were have a report written up on our dogs (all of them) and then told how to deal with it we were doing most of what was written in the thing anyway. When dealing with dog to dog aggression I'm not convinced having a behaviorist out to help deal with the situation actually works it just made our siutuation worse and on her first visit two of our dogs 'kicked' off big style and she didn't know where to put herself yet this was someone whom was from the list of acredited behaviorists I believe she made our situation much worse than when it first started simply just by being there in our dogs home surroundings, I knew it wasn't going to be a quick fix and she had more than ample time to work with us to help us sort it out until we realised we were just throwing good money after bad and really no better off with her involvement, like I say we were worse off before we got her involved. 
We were put in touch with Les Price whilst sitting in the vets waiting to have her put to sleep after loosing another one of our dogs on his very table because of her an hour before this was still during the time we had that useless animal behaviourist visiting us, our vet pushed Les Prices number into our hands after seeing me and the family distraught and at our very wits end with her he knew we didn't really want to have her put to sleep but unless we could find something that was workable we really had no other choice, rehoming wasn't an option as she was too unpredictable with people she didn't know so as I said us sitting there was a very last resort but a situation we really didn't want to be in regarding a dog we had took on at six weeks old that at the time was very sick.
She poses no threat to other dogs now whatsoever, lives very happily with all of ours and is just happy to be I'm glad we got Les involved because she's still with us and is very happy, without his involvement she would no longer be with us I'm just grateful to him that he was able to completely turn her around and she's all the better for it. His training was intensive but in short bursts of time frequently at intervals throughout the days and time she was with him, we were invited along to see her progress throughout the time she was with him too he also followed up with home visits to us after she came home just to check that she our other dogs and that we were okay. The man was worth every penny and I for one minute do not regret it


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## Jenny Olley (Nov 2, 2007)

Excelllent post Nicci, there is a place for residential training, it works well for some owners and dogs, whilst other people prefer to go to classes with their dogs, do whatever works best for you.


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

Jenny Olley said:


> Excelllent post Nicci, there is a place for residential training, it works well for some owners and dogs, whilst other people prefer to go to classes with their dogs, do whatever works best for you.


seconded..............


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## tashi (Dec 5, 2007)

I do think that sometimes it is easier to 'iron' out some problems without the owners being present - as a groomer it is a nightmare to groom in peoples houses and the dogs behave so much better when in a grooming parlour without two legged parents around!!! It is basically the same thing only over a longer time period, I have had some real nightmare dogs in for grooming which have actually been to a dog behaviourist and after a few times I have managed to turn a few of them round and they will be groomed not just by me but by their owners as well something they had failed to do in the first place.

Well done to these schools without them there would be a lot more dogs pts!!!


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## jackson (May 22, 2008)

If it's working,a nd continues to work for you, then that's fine. Are you planning on keeping up regular training with your dog? 

The onyl time I have ever heard of anyone sending their dog away to a training school, it cost them an absolute fortune, teh dog came back fine, continued to be fine for a while, then got worse again and got rehomed. The owners had been taught the commands the dog had been taught, but the thing was, although the dog had changed, the owners really hadn't, so the previous behaviour resurfaced.


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

hi, yes we are continuing the training at home and so far so good. He is the same dog only calmer and does as he is told. Its so nice to have him in the house now instead of him being told dont do this dont do that.


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## Rinnie69 (May 8, 2008)

I am pleased this worked for you, I do understand that Full Residential courses are also on offer there, as i did once consider this myself. But it is very expensive , so i found alternative training.

good luck


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## tjfedrick (Apr 15, 2008)

hi things are going really well, he has tried going back to his old ways a couple of times but we are being very strict with the training. Like i have said before its nice to have a dog who now does as we ask and who we can take out without all the fuss. Because of his age (he is 8 and a half) we never thought we would have a dog who was actually good. Everybody is so much more relaxed because we are not having to get stressed at oliver.


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## Sam007 (Apr 17, 2008)

just wanted to advise you that I have now received my dog home. I am really pleased with the intial outcome. he's such a happier dog, its as if the coin has droped and he's realised that if he plays ball then he'll go all the nice places with us. we are so pleased that we took him to Royvon, the team at Royvon (Merthyr Tydfil) are superb.


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## Jimma (Jun 19, 2008)

Hi all. My dog is booked into Royvon, Mertyr this weekend. He's 18 months and has no recall. I've tried classes, one on ones and as a last resort looked into this. I can't believe some responses have been so short sighted.  Anyway from the positive posts here I'm hopeful we will get the results.


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## karenlee (Nov 14, 2008)

ladywiccana said:


> I'm having trouble with my boy at the moment with training issues, but no way would i send him somewhere especially if i couldnt be there! They could be doing all sorts to him! Poor thing fetch him home! The only place I would feel secure in sending my boy is cesar milan lol. It is hard to know what to do sometimes isnt it! Good luck with it though!


Can i just say Cesar would not allow you to stay with your dog while he is training your dog as you would have seen on the show the owners leave their dogs in his care and return approx 3 weeks later. A friend of mine has also had a dog trained a royvon and she could not speak highly enough of the training and care given to her pooch their. I looked into Royvons history on the internet before my friends dog went there and the have been an established company since 1959 so they must be doing something write dont you think


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## elizabethsinclair (Jan 2, 2009)

tjfedrick said:


> hi i was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this school. My dog is there at present and we are not happy with the way things have been going so i was just wondering if anyone else had tried this school.
> 
> thanks


 My dog went to Royvon for 3 week training and spent 15 days there, but obviously did not fare well in kennel environment. So removed him and learnt from the experience. He returned home with severe diarrhorea and still ongoing three weeks later.


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## DaveyG (May 6, 2009)

Royvon Dog Training School seems to be an extremely caring and happy place for the dogs that attend. We have been looking around and Royvon has impressed us with both the facilities and the staffing so our new puppy will definitely be going there for both boarding and training.

I know that websites will only give the positive testimonials from customers but there are numerous happy customers on the website who have confirmed my own thoughts about Royvon. No training school or kennels is perfect but I think they seem to get it right most of the time which is all we can ask. I will let you know my own experience soon!


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## alphadog (Jan 29, 2009)

There are a lot of newbies posting on this thread, call me cynical, but it this some sort of advertising by Royvon?!? If not I apologise profusely and welcome newbies  

Personally for me, dogs react to training given by their owners, and through training owners learn new behaviours too. It is a two way thing. How many times do we hear trainers say that they are training the humans, not the dog?!!
I feel uncomfortable about taking a dog from its familiar environment and family, then expect it to perform new tricks. I would be concerned about an unstable dog forming negative associations with certain commands because of the strange nature in which they have been taught. 
I would also worry about the very short one or two hour hand-over time where the owner is expected to grasp a whole new concept of maintaining training -because training is an ongoing committment, in just the same way that education is life-long. 

Hope I haven't upset anyone, this just isn't my bag


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## ihrvwap (Mar 8, 2010)

I sent my dog there and it was the worse thing I did. When he went in they were all smiles and had a quess at his weight 43kg.
I was away on holiday and did not get any calls to say he was doing fine or anythingelse. I finally managed to call them and they advised he should stay another week. When we picked him up he had lost so much weight 37kg. He was subdued and also had a very bad sore on his neck,he had also lost his voice. I think that is because they use choke chains. He ended up in the vets and when I called they were not interested at all. DO NOT SEND YOUR PETS TO THIS PLACE. IT TOOK 5 MONTHS FOR MY DOG TO RECOVER. He has still not got his voice back.


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## katiefranke (Oct 6, 2008)

This is a very old thread - but sorry to hear your experience...I hope your dog recovers his 'voice'!

personally though I would never send my dog off to be trained by someone else - I am suprised, as I didnt even know these kinds of places were still around!


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