The Puppy Academy - Hermosa Beach, California

Chris Simmers

Wonderful spot to set your puppy up for a solid training foundation. The staff is very nice and knowledgeable and they clearly communicate the progression of your puppy. They also provide a ton of instructional videos if you wish to do some independent studying, which I highly recommend. My puppy comes home very tired from a day at school!

Meghan OKeefe

Where do I start....I ended up with COVID 12/2023 and had several new onsets of health conditions that have been completely debilitating. I am a registered nurse who has been off work for over 10 months now. 3 months into my leave, my counselor and primary MD decided I needed an emotional support animal, (ESA). I knew I didn't have the stamina to train or even take a dog on walks. I needed time to heal and rest so I purchased, on a limited budget, their unlimited package which is 6 days a week up to 12 hours a day (their normal program is 3 days a week). The program was worth every penny. Although I had limited income, I knew this program was vital for me to make this ESA work, which I needed so desperately. Fast forward....I'm still very sick and off work, however, the Puppy Academy worked with my dog and me to make sure we were a success. Each one of the staff members are AMAZING, from administration to the trainers. They all care so much not only about your dog but the owner as well. You receive daily "report cards" on how your pup did during daily training and what homework to do to instill the training learned. A huge shout out to my dog's main trainers, Sparky and Josh who had patience with me even though I didn't follow through with all their professional advice, until the end that is. Each trainer and staff are so encouraging and loving. In addition to the weekly training sessions, you receive 4 one hour "Professional Trainer Sessions" (which I had with Sparky) throughout the program. I would recommend this program to anybody getting a new pup. It is worth every penny! I know I wouldn't have been able to keep my puppy if it weren't for them. Thank you so much Puppy Academy!!

Sara Kakuris Murrell

Update 12/1/24:
My last update, unless something changes. To close the loop - as soon as I said my review could not be bought, I never heard a word from Marco again. We never received the additional training we were offered and accepted. We never received the refund we were offered and accepted. Given our experience, I have no choice but to believe the vast majority of the reviews were bought. My recommendation is to save your money and find another trainer. We'll take our $5k loss and lick our wounds. So many ways this could have been addressed and remedied and they went the shady route.

Update 11/6/24: Google Reviews has a character limit, so please see my full review on Yelp about how the owner of Puppy Academy tried to buy me off to change my review and then ghosted me when I informed him I would only update, rather than change my honest review of our experience.
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We are incredibly disappointed in our experience with Puppy Academy and I find it strange there are ONLY five star ratings, except for one stars from people who didn't pass evaluation. Incredibly suspicious.

We enrolled our 4 month old Saint Bernard in Puppy Preschool, which was a three day a week, three month program for $5,000. A ridiculous amount, but we were told they would be spending most of the day training and received a list of all the commands they would learn. We would then have four owner sessions, ostensibly to teach us what to reinforce.

We became worried in the first month when she had learned NOTHING. I brought it up to PA and they assured me the next month we would start to see improvement. Then we got to the "homework assignments". They instructed that we should be spending AT LEAST 90 minutes a day training her on the days she wasn't in class. Um, that's LITERALLY what we were paying them to do.

The lead trainer kept exclaiming how great it was that she will sit on "place" for four hours at a time, which is when we realized we had paid $5000 for her to sit on a bed. I kept bringing up concerns that she wasn't improving and just kept getting notes to "keep practicing."

After the three month program, she learned to sit and lie down. That's it. She has NO recall at all. The only reason she walks decently at all on a leash is that they had us put a prong collar on (which we were fine with, as she's incredibly strong).

I'm beginning to expect, especially after seeing only five star reviews from people with no other reviews, that we were defrauded. We are very consistent and experienced dog owners and have no issues remaining consistent with training. But basically they took $5,000 from us to make us train our own dog. I wish there was some guarantee or refund policy because we now have to pay for a second trainer. We will never again go to a trainer that doesn't let you observe either in-person or on video.

There are 30+ dogs there at a time. That is an INCREDIBLE amount of money to be getting to have dogs lie down most of the day and have the owners do the training.

Monica Kimble

Want help with your puppy jumping on people, not listening to you, having accidents in the house and walking on a leash? Then The Puppy Academy is the best place for training you and your puppy. After one month of our Bernedoodle attending The Puppy Academy, we are able to walk him without him pulling us down the street and the accidents are no more. I can’t say enough about the support the staff gives the owners. They really care about the pups and their families.

Valerie Gomez

Was looking forward to bringing my 8 month old pup here. One of my friends suggested for me to check this place out. It was a great experience for my friend so I thought I would give it a shot. I thought it’d be a perfect fit for my pup since he is super friendly and loves meeting new people and pets. And when I say pets, he loves rabbits, cats, and dogs. My pup has had many interactions with many animals. However, after my pups evaluation my pup was rejected. They said that they couldn’t take him in because he had signs of territorial/aggression in the crate. I have never had nor seen this happen so I find it kind of ridiculous that they’re assuming this, just because he lunged in the crate. I feel like the evaluation was not fair and not thorough enough. The trainer had the audacity, to give me his card for private lessons. He suggested that my pup would do better in private. Like it’s sad like you’re supposed to be a training service and help young pups out.
But you obviously just didn’t give my pet a chance especially, since he’s in a new environment. Also, please note that the puppy Academy, doesn’t ask for rabies when you first bring ur pup in for the evaluation.So that was a big red flag for coming in for an evaluation. Def not worth 5K bringing your pet here.

Lynne Pope

Puppy training in Hermosa Beach has blessed families and pets with education. This most essential time to go beyond the adorable puppy moments for completing a happy,safe and memorable future. I met a graduate dog and was so impressed watching his work with his owner that I had to share this local news.

Olivia Sweet

I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY RECOMMEND THE PUPPY ACADEMY to EVERY HUMAN who has a PUPPY!!!!

Three months ago I came home with two 7-week-old lab siblings and felt completely exhausted, defeated and overwhelmed by puppies and had no idea where to start.

We quickly realized we needed guidance, support and relief. That's when I reached out to The Puppy Academy and after speaking with Sparky, meeting with one of the fabulous trainer's for a tour and chatting with Kimberly I just knew this place was special and got on the waiting list right away!!!

The all encompassing program is so well thought out and customizable to your needs. The team/ staff have truly poured their love and energy into our puppies, held our hands every step of the way, problem solved our endless questions, gave us our life back and gave us such a great schedule for both my human family and our puppies to be set up for success.

They instilled such a strong foundation, with everything from potty training, crate training, manners, obedience and combatting littermate syndrome (if you're not familiar look it up - I promise you it’s a real thing - and if you’re thinking of getting two at once - I highly recommend you don’t) aka surviving two puppies.

The dedication, thoughtfulness and care each team member has shown our family will forever have a special place in my heart. THANK YOU PUPPY ACADEMY from the bottom of my heart!!!! Moose and Lily thank you tooooo!!!!

P.S. The only word of warning I'll give, is you'll get out of it what YOU put into it (like anything in life)! But, if you trust the process, remain open minded, ask all the questions, try your best to follow their expertise and most importantly be patient with yourself and your puppy... you will have truly a super star puppy!!! I can proudly say I have 2 SUPERSTAR PUPPIES because of The Puppy Academy!!! Stay positive and do your homework... trust me it's worth every bit of your energy and every penny. And tell your friends!!

Alyssa Ciffone

The Puppy Academy exceeded my expectations. We brought our 14 week old puppy to them. They catered his training with regards to what we specifically wanted. The experience is really customized to each owner and what they want their dog to be like. We wanted our puppy to be relaxed and able to be calm with distractions around. He is now able to sit, stay, come, great on a leash, fetch off leash, potty trained, and calm when we are watching TV or working. Overall this place was instrumental in meshing our dogs life into ours. Very happy clients.