Lisa C Xmj

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Verified Reviewer

This is not a trainer of dogs

I have reviewed a recent story . This person DO NOT ENTRUST Your dog to them .

Dogs are kept in a filthy area . All are running loose . Anything could

Happen and Did . Word of advice NEVER EVER leave your dog to be trained .

Training starts and ends with you . Don’t become one of this delusional mans statistics.

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Reason of review:
Bad quality
1 comment
Guest

This man is the devil . He preys on the love people have for their pets .

Then takes their money and tortures the animals . The legal system is unable to do anything .This has to go public .

Anonymous

Response to review

Oh what a disturbing story. I am not surprised though - living in England, we are often surprised and shocked as to how many 'trainers' in the States are still using coercive methods, e-collars and all kinds of abusive gadgets to 'train' dogs.

While of course, producing impressive websites. I am glad you finally found a properly qualified trainer - there are so many good ones where you are so why do people still fall for these slick websites from all any sundry 'trainers'? Do you want to train your dog to be fearful of you, shut down because you have been abusive to get 'results', not be your friend and companion? Or do you want to train him to trust you and regard you as someone he can turn to for guidance?

We all have a choice. Hope your upsetting experience has at least helped some people to make the correct choice. I congratulate you of not being intimidated by this man.

Wishing you all the best with your dog, with your new, properly qualified trainer. Dino

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1 comment
Guest

Since none of the people you have spoken to have actually trained with me, this review is bogus.

Jane D Fce
map-marker East Syracuse, New York

Kevin Salem "Dog Prodigy" will hurt your dog!

Three years ago I got a beautiful young labrador retriever puppy. I really knew nothing about training and so she grew up to be a pretty unruly teenager. I'm small and she was getting hard to control. So I went looking on the internet and I found Kevin Salem's "Real Life Dog Training." It seemed too good to be true! I could bring her to him and he would train her to behave! What more could a busy woman ask for?

Well, I called him up and he agreed to take her sight unseen. He seemed a little bit condescending and when I told him I had been to a couple places who used treats in training, he went on a tirade against "those sorts of trainers." He seemed a little rough around the edges, but the testimonials on his site were so good!

I dropped my girl off and four days later received a frantic call from Kevin. He told me he couldn't train an aggressive dog like her. Aggressive? My girl has always been sweet-tempered. She was a little overly exuberant, jumped on people when they came in the house, knocked over kids in excitement, and pulled horribly on the leash. After she knocked my 3-year-old niece over in greeting I knew it was time to call in a trainer. But aggressive? She had NEVER been aggressive.

I drove over to meet him at a local gas station (he won't even have you drop the dog off or pick it up at his house! I guess that should have been my first clue!). The dog that came out of his car was dirty with several cuts on her nose. She immediately lunged for Kevin and he smacked her hard across the face. She ended up on the ground with him on top of her. His only response. "Get this *** aggressive dog out of my face."

He shoved her at me and hopped in his car and drove off.

I called him several times to find out if I could get a refund since he didn't actually train my dog and she came back to me with aggression issues that she never had. He didn't return my calls. I discovered several cuts around her neck and took her to the vet who said that it was the result of using a prong collar on her. He told me he didn't use prong collars, yet he put one on her and yanked it hard enough to have cut her skin in several places! I called him to find out if I could get reimbursed for vet bills. He didn't return my call.

He finally called back two weeks later and said "Listen, you *** *** You're not getting anything!" And then warned me that if I dared try to write a negative review, he would sue me. That's why I'm using a fake name on here. I'm scared this crazy guy will come after me! He's gone after other people!

My dog has had major issues ever since I got her back. FOUR DAYS and my poor girl was lunging at other dogs, running away from humans and occasionally trying to attack men of a certain stature. It's been over a year since I took her to Kevin Salem and I've been working with a certified behaviorist who is helping me correct her issues. But she'll never be the same sweet girl she was before I brought her to that horrible little man.

Please check out the people you want to train with! If I had done so, I would have found the reviews that would have scared me away from him! As is I've lost a lot of money, both to him and now to the trainers that have to fix the damage he caused. I will never EVER trust another "board and train" place because I can't see what they're doing with my dog. I've learned my lesson, but now my poor dog has to deal with the emotional fallout of what he did.

Kevin's business goes by many names as he changes the name constantly to avoid such reviews. You may find him listed as Real Life Dog Training, All Breeds Dog Training, Amazingly Trained Boarding and Training Academy, or A Real Life Dog Training and Behavioral Solving Academy.

His name may appear as Kevin Salem, Kevin Salim, Kawian Salim, or other variations thereof.

His website is http://www.dogsecrets.com

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Loss:
$2500
27 comments
Guest

You know what's funny, Crina is Kevin's wife. lolExact spelling and all.

If you don't believe it, just call him (916) 247-****.

By the way, the same number at his dog secrets .com website. Another way you can tell this is a fake review.

Guest

Kevin Salem from dogsecrets.com killed our dog and will not give back our money for training or the cost of our dog.His website says he doesnt use any choke chains but the vet said that the bruise on our poor dog's neck is clearly from being hung.

He kept saying to look at all the dogs' faces on his website and look at his own dogs and that's why we went with him and we are now so sorry. Our poor dog just needed obedience. Not a pit bull but just labradoodle.

My kids are crying day and night and all because of our poor decision. Please, please watch out for this monster.

:(

Guest

This is such a big lie post. I am glad I used for Kevin for my dog.

He came highly recommended by our vet. That's right. You can call him. His name is Dr.

Pawloski and he is the head vet at Folsom CA.

Kevin was kind, efficient and very on top of his game. We constantly get praise from our neighbors now and we all owe it to this great trainer. Please don't believe this.

Try him. You'll be glad that you did.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-645886

Your a liar !

Guest

I completely concur with reports of this sort of behavior from Kevin Salem. My sister dated his brother and when they broke up Kevin Salem got involved and was obscenely abusive towards her and threatened to hurt her and she also has threatening messages from him on FB. One thing to be sure of he is definitely sexist towards women and physically violent as a man.

Guest

This is letter is just not true. I have used Kevin for all of my dogs and he was amazing.

How do I know it is not true..... If you know Kevin you know he is not a little man at all, but quite tall and gentle.

Just my thoughts. Sorry Kevin that there are people out there who are such liars.

Guest

One thing in life I have learned is that with this many negative reviews, and all the positive ones being from Sacramento is fishy to me and I don't do fishy. No disrespect to Kevin or KAWAIN but I am not ***.

Guest

:) well, be careful w/ that guy, he is a gangster who only wants to make an easy money out of other people's pocket. He's looking for innocent dog owners who know nothing about him. Be careful!

Guest

These reviews are mostly posted here as a smear campaign.

If you truly knew Kevin and his approach, you'd clearly see that he is very kind to dogs. That being said, he is firm if and when needed, but never harsh or abusive. I would not give him a brown penny if he was.

Although my dog was very mean towards our guests, he still didn't need his *** kicked.

And in regards to tools, he LETS YOU choose what works best for your dog.

Use Kevin; if you can afford it. It will cost you more but worth it.

Guest

I never saw what Kevin used with my dog as he took her away and returned her without my seeing one bit of training, but from talking to others he uses positive punishment at the very least, generally choke or prong collars. And he definitely used his hands and that alpha roll thing with my dog right in front of me.

Since this incident, I've spoken to other dog trainers and went to observe their training (Kevin would not allow me to...they're "secrets" after all). The ones who speak like Kevin use punishment based methods.

Instead of more of the same, I've been working with a trainer who is rooted in positive reinforcement (and yes, even "cookies"!) and my girl is improving by leaps and bounds. She has a ways to go yet, but she's starting to act like her old self.

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