absoluteDOGS Avis 497

Beware of auto-renewals (£650)!!

Today we realised that a one year training course has auto-renewed at a staggering £650.

We never agreed to this and feel totally scammed.

Have already contacted our credit card company and they have assured us if Absolute Dogs does not refund us they will get our money back via a chargeback.

We're in shock that any company can take £650 as an auto-renewal!!!!!!!!!!

[updated after Absolute Dogs response]

Just to clarify, Absolute Dogs implies we opted in for an automatic renewal of £650 per year. We definitely didn't make a conscious decision to do this and feel it wasn't made clear enough at the time of signing up.

ALSO, and more importantly, we DID NOT receive any advance warning of the auto-renewal. Most ethical companies advise 4 weeks in advance so the consumer has the right to cancel. I imagine legislation will make this happen in the future so that companies like the Absolute Dogs can't help themselves to huge amounts of money on a techincality.

I followed Absolute Dogs methods with my girl from pup to 6 years and she a superstar. Highly highly recommend. We love our continual learning with AD.

I spent £1000's with this company including a "lifetime membership" back at the very start. I'm now unable to log in at all on a "new website" and each time they update I seem to unexpectedly lose access to paid for products which takes weeks to sort out! 🤯

Edit: I now have the access to one of the packages which I had to activate myself but I'm still waiting for broken links and additional products back - again! The same issues seem to happen each time the company "upgrade".

I never thought that at 60 i would have another puppy and was really sceptical about investing in this company, however i did and its simply been the best money i have spent. I joined the Games Club and there is so much information, games and lessons in there and i purchased The Perfect Pup Collection which was a digital online course, a puppy long line, some poo bags and the most fantastic book that is so easy to read and understand. I have had 2 issues and the staff have answered and delt with them so quickly even late one evening. My puppy and myself are just so glad we found Absolute dogs as we are having so much fun. Thank you all.

If you are a first time second time last time dog owner this training IS for YOU and your DOG!
My life with my border Collie and Rottweiler would have been a disaster I was forcing and using fear in all the wrong training. Absolute Dogs provided me with solid easy fun and immediate results and with their tracking plan I was able to build on each game and now have REAL LIFE RESULTS myself. I have the best family pets and the best working dogs. But the best ever experience for me is now sharing this knowledge with my clients and their dogs and seeing how instant in the first session the owners are blown away with the games and understanding CALMNESS how powerful this ONE major part of dog training will provide them with the foundation to train their Puppy/Dog and after 3 weeks playing some calm games IE MOUSE GAME. BOUNDARY GAME at home they start to have massive WINS. I’ve loved how letting the dog offer the behaviour and then adding the word to it provides us with a SOLID behaviour from our dogs.
It’s not magic it’s common sense and all through games. Easy fun and Absolute Dogs 💚💚💚💚💚💚🐾🐾🐾🐾💚💚💚💚💚

It’s a nice community, and the games are so much fun and usefull. I’m a professional dogtrainer now, thanks to Absolute Dogs!

I have been undertaking courses with Absolute Dogs for a number of years and have always valued their expertise, their great customer support and the friendly and supportive dog owners community they have developed. I did their Pro Dog Trainer program and this equipped me to start my own dog training business.

I am a professional dog trainer and I highly recommend Absolute Dogs. The wealth of knowledge is amazing. Even if you’re not a professional dog trainer your own dogs will thank you.

My dog had so many behaviour problems due to her breed and experiences before I had her, that I was so worried she would not be safe arounds dogs and people. I knew I needed to work hard and training classes just didn't help her. It took time and patience but Absolute Dogs changed her into a happy friendly dog just by playing games to reshape her brain. It has helped me understand why she behaved the way she did and gave us a bond we didn't have before.

I have done several programs and my relationships with my dogs has improved so greatly. They are able to do more things than I had realized that they could or would actually do. My dogs are in more of a clear and focused mind to be able to focus on more complex behaviors due to Absolute Dogs.

What a brilliant and enlightening podcast. My dog has recently developed separation struggles & this has left me feeling frustrated and worried. It is not something that I have ever needed to cope with before. This podcast offers reassurance on this common dog owners struggle. It is also packed full of practical advice on how to reduce this stress for your dog and you. Listening to this made me feel hopeful for the future.

The website is not user-friendly. Both my husband and I - adept technology users - have a lot of difficulty navigating it and end up going around in circles. In frustration we finally resort to random clicking until we sort of get what we are looking for. [I must say that the owners are extremely quick to respond to emails and are very helpful and give clear advice on how to get to where we want to go.]

It's unfortunate because there is a rich variety of courses and videos for members. We've also purchased a non-member course and it was very helpful. It gave us so many innovative ways/games to help us train our lovely, squirrel crazy, prey-driven dog. We were also able to go at our own pace. I think the videos are ours and we took 6 months to go slowly through the 30-day program.

Getting back to the original critique, I think a site map would solve a lot of these problems. It would help in finding things like our account, sign-in, billing, specific games/courses, videos, etc... We also noticed that the games are sorted by names instead of what the games actually address. There are very very clearly titled playlists/courses, but looking for one-off items is difficult.

Addressing what some reviewers have said about the quality of the videos. We did feel that we were being talked down to. Like we were watching a kid's show. The energy, while impressive, was overwhelming and there is a lot of repetition. Where these two trainers really shine is when they are interacting with the dogs. They seems to be their more genuine selves and I can feeling myself relax a bit. They also are just lovely in the after videos and really show who they are talking to the real trainees and their dogs. These after videos are invaluable because we got to see where the problems were with the different styles of dogs and people and how to trainers modified games to fix the issue. We learnt a lot from these.

I would give them a strong five stars if they were more themselves in the videos and if the website was a lot more navigable.

I can’t believe how much the games have transformed our dog training struggles. We’re making daily improvements from loose lead walking especially in busy situations, disengaging from distractions especially the working farm dog and tractor and quad when passing the garden, and I can now take the rubbish out to bin with out the high arrousal as he takes himself to his bed and waits quietly for me to return. We are still work in progress but even my husband has commented on how things have improved.
Thank you Absolute dogs for giving me the tools to change bob’s behaviour.

I signed up for the anti barking package, and I found it very useful. As an educator myself I found the mix of online tutorials, practical games, and written information very useful and easy to understand. It was quite a different approach to other trainers, and the fresh ideas were great. It’s worked very well

This weekend proved that concept training through Absolute Dogs really does work. I have just come back from competing at a big agility event with over 2000 entries over all classes in an indoor arena which my girl has never faced before. I walked into the arena with Lauren sitting on my shoulders, saying 'you have got this!'. My dog totally focused playing magic hand from the vehicle to the ring then paint the town red and tricks while in the holding area waiting her turn. She totally rocked the whole weekend, unphased by the droning noise of racing cars next door, running on a difference surface, side by side ring set ups, early and late finishes, etc. All this has been down to ditching the bowl, routine and building optimism and confidence through games. Thank you Absolute Dogs for making me the trainer I am today.

Absolute Dogs have shown me a new way of thinking, a modern way to train our dogs that makes it so much fun for both dog and owner. The old method relied on the owner constantly instructing the dog what to do, which they would obey after training. However, this new concept training allows you to train your dog to think for themselves, and have a whole lot of fun on the journey.

There are also so many resources available, which a beginner could easy get lost on what to do next, but their bundles and instructions are clear and help direct you to make the right choices for your dog.

The trainers are obviously passionate about their life's work and you can't help but want to hear more and practice what they show to give your own the dog the opportunity to become the most chilled, well behaved, and happy companion one can have. Yes, their games show you how to have a companion, rather than having a dog that simply obeys.

aDs has been an unbelievable lifeline for us: mothers to two sprocker siblings (yup that's how much we knew when we bought our dogs).
Life now is amazing, but it wasn't always, for the first 12-15mths. Walking on lead was difficult, we thought it cute to see the girls at the other end of the field (with NO recall I may add).
We found aDs and our lives have changed for the better:
- walking on lead is sooo much better
- almost being tripped up because their proximity is so good (we know a game or two, to not to trip up)
- there is calmness (on the whole) in the home, the car etc...visitors are still a work in progress but we can see the progress
It hasn't always been an obvious progression in the improvement BUT when we look back it has been phenomenal and continues to excite us...
Having focused on the Confidence circuits has opened up more fun fun games that have increased their fitness, improved our mechanics and enhanced our relationship - it is just so special and privileged to be the mum of two amazing dogs

Thanks to all at aDs who have made life, with our two sprockers, the best 💚💚

I purchased a course as I heard good reviews and wanted to stop my dogs reactivity barking. Unfortunately, I didn’t do anything with it as I found watching the video too annoying as the presenters are just too over the top. Don’t mean to be rude, just my opinion.

I'm sure that they can train their dogs well, but on a personal level, I could hardly follow their super hyper pattern. Their videos are a bit tiring with TOO MUCH positive energy and repetition and their emails are inundating my mailbox... I couldn't follow their over the top way of interacting with the students, ie whoever watches their videos. My dog can get overstimulated quite easily, and their technique on the SEXIER THAN A SQUIREL course just doesn't work on her. Pricewise, the course was on an offer, so, I didn't mind that much losing my money in the end.. It was worth trying..

Excellent training instruction! I have been a part of the absoluteDogs community for almost 8 years. That alone shows how much I value their teaching.