Southend Dog Training Reviews 

I was nervous about my 1-2-1 visit from Aaron. I was worried I would be judged on how my dog behaves, I had left it too long, but this honestly couldn’t have been further from the truth. Aaron provided such good advice and ways of working with my dog, this was a such a positive experience. I wish I had asked for his help earlier.

Outstanding Dog Training Experience with Aaron!

I had the pleasure of working with Aaron today to help train my dog, and I honestly couldn’t be more impressed. From the moment he arrived, Aaron had a calm, confident presence that immediately put both me and my dog at ease. It was clear he genuinely understands dog behavior and has a passion for helping owners build better relationships with their pets.

Throughout the session, Aaron was incredibly patient and thorough. He took the time to explain not just what to do, but why certain techniques work, which really helped everything make sense. I appreciated how he tailored the training to suit my dog’s personality and needs, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.

What stood out the most was how empowered I felt by the end of the session. I felt confident and equipped with practical tools I could continue using at home. He even gave helpful tips for building consistency and reinforcing good behavior in a positive way.

The progress we made in just one session was remarkable. I could already see my dog responding more calmly and attentively, and that gave me so much hope and motivation moving forward.

I would highly recommend Aaron to anyone looking for a knowledgeable, approachable, and genuinely caring dog trainer. He truly goes above and beyond, and both my dog and I are grateful for his support.

Sophie was amazing with our little one she took the time to explain why she behaves in the way she does around other dogs. Very professional thank you.

We recently took our dog to Southend Dog Training in Essex in March 2024, and I can't express enough how incredible our experience. We had travelled from Bristol & allowed 3hrs & ended up arriving two hours late!

From the moment we arrived, the team was welcoming and so accommodating. They had moved our slot to a later one & never make us feel rushed or judged for our tardiness. Instead, they ensured our session went ahead without any issues & even brought us over coffee whiles we discussed the issues. They had demonstrating their commitment to helping both ourselves & our dog Roc. Roc is a reactive dog towards intact boy dogs & the way they handled it was great.

Our trainer, Aaron, was exceptional. He took the time to understand Roc's unique needs, tailored the session accordingly & even put up with his tantrums when it started raining (which he hates). Aarons calm and patient approach made both us and our dog feel at ease. By the end of the session, we noticed significant improvements in Roc's behavior and really couldn't express how relieved we felt instantly.

The facilities were top-notch, and the entire team displayed professionalism and genuine care for our dog's well-being. I wholeheartedly recommend Southend Dog Training. They truly made a difference!

We can not recommend Sophie enough! We have a pup who is nervous around humans and with just one session Sophie won him over. Her guidance and tools have been game changing. We left our first session super happy and confident to put the new plan in place. At our second session with Sophie it was incredible to see our fur baby had grown in confidence, bouncing at her and learning new strategies.
Thank you Sophie!!

Aaron was really helpful. Talking through what I have tried and what I could try was so helpful. Realising sometimes doing the training in a different order can help to which was brilliant.

Aaron was great with our 9 month Doberman, who has been nipping and jumping a lot!

He gave us lots of tips and help, every he said made sense, we started with the training straight away and we are feeling confident that it will work!

Any problems you are having with your dog, definitely call them they really can help

We met with Sophie yesterday for a 1-1 with our Frenchie who pulled like a train and even more so if he saw another dog. Sophie listened to everything we had to say, she advised us on what tools she would use and showed us how to use them and already on our first solo walk today, he was a different dog.We would definitely travel the 7 hour round trip again if ever we needed any help.

I had a session with Aaron, my dog Gryff is Springer/Lab X. He's 3 yrs old and pulls like a train and is also reactive when other dogs run up to him.
Well......what can I say, after two hours with Aaron it's as if a miracle has happened, he no longer pulls on the lead, at all, and is so much better behaved. I think I also needed a bit of training! which Aaron did. I had to drive over two hours to get to these guys and it was so worth it. My walks are now a dream and my dogs confidence is amazing. I really would highly recommend these guys they are just amazing!!!!

Adam is brilliant. Direct and to the point with the dogs wellbeing at the forefront of his advice. Adam has an excellent understanding of dog behaviour, big and small dogs and really took the time to work us and address our concerns.

Useful advice provided on an easy to navigate website.

Lovely setting great instructor leaned a lot in 2 hours I recommend Southend dog training to anyone with a dog

I booked a session with Gemma and drove for 2.5hrs to see Aaron at SDT today to help calm our 1 year old cockapoo when out and about. The 2 hour session exceeded our expectations and I can’t recommend or thank Aaron and his dog, Hank enough. We are armed and ready to make the changes needed.

Probably the most important part of dog ownership is taking the time to get to know your animal properly. SDT have produced some of the most useful, educational and creative advisory videos available.

I have been following them on various social media platforms for a few years, and they never cease to amaze me with their common sense approach, and easy to follow training advice.

I have always been an advocate for teaching dogs to understand their place within their “family”, and as a retired breeder and trainer of GSDs for both the police and prison services, I cannot recommend these guys highly enough. A dog who understands his position, and has trust in his handler, will be a friend and protector for life.

Whatever your “problem” (I promise you, it’s not the dog, it’s you!), or if you’re wanting to socialise your puppy and teach it to be a good member of the four-legged community, these guys know EXACTLY what you need.

Never bad dogs - only bad owners!

I have been subscribed to SDT since January.
I believed they were a no nonsense, no bad mouthing training company who shared the same values and morals as myself. The training guides are mostly good, being able to talk to Sam and Sophie through facebook and the app were the parts that made me choose them.
Adam posted a reaction on instagram from the kink community which invited some abhorrent comments from the general public followers. Those who quite obviously do not understand kink not care for the people in the community. After pointing this out on the Facebook group to see if it was only myself who felt that SDT should be monitoring their comments the post was deleted.

I sent an email to the help page and Gemma got back to be pretty quickly. While her customer service and manner was polite and professional, the excuse was that as Adam was "joking" and this is " the humour he has with friends ". The things that were written by the public was stuff I wouldn't want my best friend to read, let alone imagining if a child read it. It was the typical gas light answer given by those who are unable to take account for thiers, or in this case Thier bosses actions. It was distasteful, hateful and quite honestly not something that should have been put out on a public platform with out the consent of the people involved in it.
I decided to try and continue with SDT because in my opinion, everyone deserves a second chance.
Since this happened all of my FB posts had suddenly needed approvals from moderators. Something no one else in the private group has experienced. So I left it a couple of times as this may have been a one off but sadly it wasn't. Most posts have been approved around 1am when Sam has then replied. Grateful to Sam for this but I was also looking for opinions from other non trainers. Having the posts go through at 1am means that most of the time they get missed and buried under the sea of other questions. So initially I emailed Gemma to ask if this was something that was only happening to me.
Cue Evans replies to me which did start somewhat helpful, although blaming this pending post issue to "Facebook tools to filter out swearing" which in my case wasn't relevant. The mask of professionalism the fell of when asking me to find someone to volunteer to moderate the Instagram, being told "you can't please everyone" to them being told he has "lost respect for me". According to Evan, being asked to conduct himself in a professional way is an unreasonable demand. I asked for a refund as I felt that the lack of customer service, plus the values and morals of SDT were not what was advertised to me and if I'd have known this I would never have gone with them to train my puppy.
Evan has decided that as I initially paid through Google play (and apparently that's different money they don't receive ?! ) he refused to refund my full subscription. Instead deciding that refunding me 99p for a one month Facebook promotion (due to issues with the app and subscription) was more than adequate. Or in his words "we are all square already". Apparently I now have to go through Google play to get my full refund as he has all but washed his hands of it.

As a director he is drastically letting his team down, all the hard work they have put in to put money in your back pocket and this is the reputation you want to build for them. He is ruining all the hard work they are putting into the business by lacking the simple customer service skills needed to deal effectively with complaints and concerns.
The way he conducted himself today I wouldn't expect from any business no matter how big or small. There are no excuses for your behaviour. Instead of being professional he became defensive and responded in a very childish way.

However it doesn't surprise me, I'm sure this isn't the first time he has been told this, and likely wont be the last.

A small piece of advise. If this information is not new to you, change the behaviour and become a better person. Your company and staff will be a lot better off for it.

Oh my gosh from the moment I arrived (I was so nervous) Sophie made me feel welcome and relaxed me … we sat and talked about Bobbie’s issues and she was completely comforting and empathetic about the issues and a great understanding what I needed for him… we worked on the issues I was shown what to do have started to receive training to help Bobbie … I went home smiling looking forward to our life together, thank you Sophie you are amazing … now can’t wait to put it into practice (and I’m still crying happy tears)

Great session with Aaron today.
Good, sound, sensible advice to help our 2 year old goldendoodle.
He taught me how to handle tricky situations. I left feeling confident and indeed put into practice his advice on the way home and it works.
We have had some training for our other dogs in the past from Southend Dog Training and know the advice works.
We feel very lucky to have been able to get their help.

My trainer was Aaron, I went for training today with my Cane Corso for reactivity, lead walking and better overall control.
It was like a total make over by the end of the session I could walk her past another dog with control. This was purely from taking everything in Aaron told me to do. We made a plan and a goal to make sure this gets trained into her over the coming days/weeks so this behaviour sticks but I couldn’t be more grateful for the understanding and education from Aaron he is a very knowledgable teacher !! I’ve wasted so much money on trainers but this training was priceless !!!

We were made to feel comfortable straight away,my boy is a rescue and no history known, Sophie done everything at his speed, didn't overwhelm him with anything

Sophie is amazing!! Had our second 1:1 session today. And the outcome is just insane from the day we rescued missy to now and that’s all thanks to the knowledge and support Sophie has given us!
Thankyou so, so much!!