Zero star
I wish I could give this an experience a zero rating. I am writing a review solely based on my experience. My family and I spent a long time looking for a reputable dog trainer to train our German Shepherd but this business of people saying that are “so called trainers “ we realized is nothing but a scammers way to get you to hand over thousands of dollars to them without it looking like they are scamming. We attempted to get our 1st German Shepherd training as a puppy and this guy collected the entire fee he requested from us and never showed up to train our pup, so that made us really hesitant and scared, we did spent years managing the best we can with our pup but I’ll be the 1st to say we are not dog trainers and with that our pup did develop certain behaviors that we did not know how to correct but was managing. When we decided to get another pup, we made up our minds that we would get them the training they needed and deserved. My husband found Hightailk9 on instagram, we saw this person showing off what her dog can do and how she trained her dogs and we contacted her to get more information. I explained everything I stated before to this person and how we really tried our best to get our 1st dog the proper training but was scammed, she expressed how sorry she was to hear that and promised me that she was the very opposite and I trusted her because of all the great reviews I read. We decided to have an initial meeting to see her work in person and also allow her to see the struggles we were dealing with and again she brought out her “show dog” that knows tricks and convinced us with that to book with her. We were initially going to do a board and train for our oldest pup but at the meeting she convinced us to book the same for the lil one because they are in the same household and should receive training together, it made sense to us and that’s what we did. I filled out a detailed intake form from Kay, which asks me to lists all the issues I was experiencing with both dogs and that’s exactly what I did. Issues like: Dog, people, food aggression, pulling on walks, obedience, commands, etc.. and Kay promised that she would address all these things on a flyer she sent me with different prices, and we chose a package that included many things like advanced obedience and guard dog training. I am extremely upset and highly disappointed because my dogs spent a month with these people and came back with the same issues, concerns and problems. I realized what she did was only show videos of taking the dogs for walks, and showing how they are obedient to her by not walking out her door, group sessions videos of other people walking the dogs, she also showed 2-3 minutes videos of her training them as guard dogs but I realized that the few minutes on the videos were the only training sessions my dogs received. I asked her if we can come over to see the progress of our pups, at which she replied I would need to pay for an individual session fee in order to do that and I declined because we paid over $5K for training. The videos she did post made me feel hopefully and I was extremely happy with the lil bit she shared because we really wanted it to work with her. She did not listen to how I feed my dogs and did her own thing. Mid way I asked Kay about the progress of our pups and she began to explain that our oldest was still behaving the same way because we let him get away with too much for so long, I thought to myself please tell me something I don’t know, hence why we are paying you to train him, you promised on your flyer to address all this issues, so what’s the problem? During that conversation via texts messages she did not convince me that the board and train was going well, I asked her can she be honest to tell me if things is not working out well because her responses regarding the progress left me with a pit feeling in my stomach. She stopped texting with me and said she will call instead, which now I realized she did not want to implicate herself via texts so, she hopped on a call with me instead and danced around answering the questions and concerns I had about her not so good response. Since that phone call I felt like I did with the 1st trainer we hired. There were things she promised that I had to ask her over and over again if she addressed and a day or two before I picked our pups she posted a video at HomeDepot and it confirmed to me that the training did not go well, because she had to correct the dogs so many times and I did not see advanced obedience on that video. I saw fear in my dogs eyes, and realized that they would listen to her out of fear, not obedience. My lil pup came back looking malnourished. Same issues with both dogs, during pickup she had to correct the dogs so much that I knew we wasted our money. No accountability from Kay. If they are not listening to you as a trainer, imagine us. Be honest about what you can and can’t do. Zero ⭐️.
By Mommy S.
Response from Hightail K9s· May 24, 2026
[VERY IMPORTANT REVIEW FOR ANY ONE BOOKING BOARD AND TRAIN: Anyone and everyone knows this service isnt to create the perfect dog. Its to help START that. You as the owner must work with your dog and trainer to UPKEEP the results. This is the first client in 5+ years of business to ever say these things so we have changed our policy and increased pricing because of this client to include mandatory 3 follow up sessions. We take every review and criticism serious. This will be first and last time with this issue. ] Hey ruth, although this is the first time i have ever experienced this. You sent a message 2.5 days after board and train saying the dogs were not listening when i told you to send videos or have a follow up session as you and your partner and daughter handled the dogs at handover. Your dogs walked offleash and onleash WITH YOU. All videos are posted on the internet. Board and train REQUIRES that you follow thru. How can i spent 4 weeks building a relationship and doing all from obedience, off leash and protection. But in 2.5. You are saying your followed all instructions. I asked you to show me videos of this or come back for follow up and you declined because you are truly the problem and this review simply will show that. Is this a plot or a lie… i dont know but when you said you were scammed by another trainer, maybe there is more to the story. You brought a your oldest dog who you admitted would starve himself because you allowed him to be picky which i expressed many times why your behaviour was ruining your dogs. All your dogs were fed what you gave them and they were so picky that, they were refusing the food you brought, i spent my own money to buy them a pack of wet food, which they happily and easily ate. Your dogs worked with strangers, staff and more. All able to control and handle your dogs. From group sessions, private lessons offleash hikes and more. Your dogs had fun playing with my dogs and more. You expected a puppy to be a robot which i explained. He is a puppy, I WILL NOT OVER CORRECT AND BE HARSH WITH A PUPPY! In all the videos and check ups you expressed SO MUCH gratitude. Even on pick up. So many things were covered with both dogs I KEPT 2 dogs and gave you 2k discount with the puppy. Because i wanted to help your family and both dogs. If you feel like ruining a black womans business as another black family because this help you feel better. Thats fine. I do not do this for money, im not a money hungry person. I really do this for dogs and families. But owners like you, will ruin dogs and refuse to accept accountability. When i offered FREE follow up and videos to show what behaviours developed after 2.5 days of them being in your care. You couldnt even show me a video. 2.5 DAYS! Videos of KING AND PRINCE, their whole journey is available to see. During boarding, i called you to express how much you needed to change maybe do lessons as it seems like the owners were the issues. You asked me should i pay for longer board and train. I responded, MY JOB ISNT TO SCAM YOU BUT TO HELP YOU. You should NOT PAY for another board and train because the dogs are great now. You should do lessons or group sessions to help build your knowledge. I will start recording calls now too. In handover we moved to another location. In merely 3 min of us moving you were allowing the dogs to pull and i had to shout DONT LET HIM PULL ON THE SLIP LEAD. i also repeated multiple times, you must follow the rules for your dog to follow too. If you can forget the rules in 3 min, i understand why you would go home and forget. I expressed an understanding of the learning process. Dogs learn quicker and better than humans. Its clear you are the reason for your dogs behaviours because of how you are as an owner. THERE IS NO WAY you listened and worked hard in 2.5 DAYS. Thank you for your honest review. I will definitely share this to show how important follow-ups and owner education is essential. Take care.