Le Paws

SCAM!!! I paid about $ 2,000 for «set training» and although the training was good and people are impressed with my dog’s tricks, that is an obsurd amount of money to spend on dog training. They make you feel like your dog is extra special and everyone who has a dog in commercials etc pays these outrageous fees. It’s all BS. I’ll attribute my ignorance to my young age at the time. It’s been 7 years and my dog has still not had an audition let alone a job.

Total waste of time and $$$$ stay Far Away !!! They used to be up in culver ciyy area nice building etc Michele and an Older guy were partners, at end of day I spent lots that went into the yrash !!!

What a ridiculous waste of time and money for dog owners regardless of how well-​trained your dog is. I took one dog in for an evaluation after being told all he needed to know was «sit and stay on-​leash from 6 feet away». The dog knows FAR more than that, but was by no means prepared for the behaviors they allegedly wanted once you get there and after you pay the evaluation fee (along with 3 – 4 other dog/​handler teams per appt). After seeing what they «needed», I stayed after to speak with the evaluator because I had another dog at home that was fully capable of all the behaviors (I initially signed up the first dog because I thought looks were ore important than training based on the requirements I was give). The evaluator expressed interest and told me to schedule an appointment for her to evaluate the 2^nd dog ASAP without the normal pre-​application process, so I did. My husband and I both took off work, rearranged various schedules and appointments and drove the 45 mins to the scheduled appointment only to find no one there – at all. The place was closed and locked with no one there in the middle of the day/​week, no answer to our phone calls, no return call after multiple messages left. Finally, days later, we get a voicemail from the woman I scheduled the appt with (a front desk employee, not the evaluator) telling us she messed up scheduling because her personal dog had been ill. Seriously!!! I love my dogs and worry like anyone else when they’re sick, but give me a break. Then she goes on to say that she has «a lot going on right now with her life»…Uh, what? What do the receptionist’s personal problems have to do with the trainer doing evaluations? My husband and I own a small dog-​related business and there’s no way one receptionist’s sick dog is shutting down our entire operation for an extended period of time! That’s just crazy. The voicemail went on to say that we’d get a call soon to book a new appointment time. Yeah right… like I’d waste another work day on this unprofessional joke of a business. By the way, that was a good 6 months ago and no word on our new appointment time yet. I don’t even understand how this place stays in business…

I was invited to come in for an evaluation for my dog for movies and commercial work. Yay! I was so excited. I was given a time and a place. But when I walked in I didn’t even have a one on one session with my dog. The room was filled with 3 other dogs and their owners. And there was a $ 25 evaluation fee. That means they’re making $ 100 per «evaluation session.» It seemed a little questionable. Then a few days later I received a call saying my dog would need expensive training classes. It seems they’re trying to take advantage of people, luring them in saying their dog could be a star, and instead saying they need pricey classes to be represented. I’m all for dog training and understand that dogs need to be trained. BUT, having the agency and the trainers with the same company does not seem right. They should encourage you to go to independent trainers.

Finally received a call providing feedback. They suggested I enroll *_​_​_​_​_​* in classes (which is what I expected) and/​or my pup and I should go to Central Casting to sign up for work there and work on commands at home. Industry work can never be guaranteed w/​classes or not, much less an Agent Contract so those dog owners who wish to train their dogs may want to consider the classes for the training aspect alone. Having worked behind the camera w/​one of my dogs before, it’s grueling for animals and owners should be aware that there are long days and even more training involved for specific roles over and above the normal training to get a contract.

This «agency» is a scam — they deserve less than zero stars. I attended their evaluation and since realized that what they are doing is pushing classes. I have been following this «business» for months and what they are running is a total scam the women who run this should be jailed. don’t give them any of your hard earned money! trust me on this one. i got there early and observed two other people go before me, and all of their dogs performed differently, and their response was always the same — «your dog has a lot of potential, we recommend you sign him up for our obeince class,» and boom they hit you up with a pamphlet that talks about the very high prices for their class.
don’t waste your time or your dogs time

Went there for an eval with our pet. our pet did well and they wanted us to sign her up for training classes. the classes costed several thousand dollars. we were reluctant to make that kind of monetary commitment, but the le paws associate said we could try the training course risk free. if after the first class, we changed our mind we could get a full refund.
so we go to the class, and the trainer is about 30 mins late. after the trainer finally gets there, pretty much all she taught the dogs was to sit– something my dog already knows how to do.
after that class, i figure it’s not worth it and try to get a refund. we contact le paws for the refund and they say it is not their policy and we do not get any refund. we argued with them for weeks and finally they agreed to give us a refund but only because the trainer was late, not because of what their associate told us. do not trust this company. we were lucky the trainer was late otherwise we’d be out several thousand dollars and all my dog learned was to sit…

Here is the deal. I took Zoey in for an evaluation. She did well, she got a call back. We sat down with Michelle and talked to her about what class she could go in. We were told about the prices and of course we were put off because we don’t have money like that to spend on dog training courses. They said they’d give us a deal and put us in the level 2 class, turns out we find out AFTER we’re done with the lessons that we were in fact in the level 1B class.
This means we have to do level 2 courses still and all the things that she said we’d be doing after the course we just finished was not going to happen. No Good Canine Citizenship, no dog head shots, no signing up for parts. Well of course we were disappointed and annoyed at being misled.
Now I suppose its our fault we didn’t clarify and ask if we were uncertain. We could just chalk it up to make sure you read everything that’s being written, especially when it’s something different than what you agreed on. But the part that really sucks, is we still paid, and maybe 3 out of the 5 classes, the teachers were bad, they barely went over anything new, barely paid any attention during the class, we had 3 different teachers during the course. At one point, one of the trainers went in the back room to check email while we were practicing moves with our dog, she wasn’t even checking on us and seeing how well we were doing.
There was one good dog trainer and I wish I remembered her name, I think it started like Dina or Diana? But if you still do sign up with them make sure you request her, she’s the only good trainer we worked with.
I would avoid working with them, or make sure you pay really REALLY good attention to what you’re paying for, and make sure they don’t tell you one thing and mean another.