Complaint Review: Kevin Salem - Sacramento CA

From my own personal experience dealing with Kevin, I highly advise you learn from our mistake and look elsewhere to hire a dog trainer. This is a firsthand, honest customer experience review, no truths twisted. This review is for the unassuming dog owner who wants the best for their family member.

I implore you to do THOROUGH research (despite being so busy, trust me on this) before leaving your fur family member with someone like Kevin as ratings can be deceiving. Kevin boasted paying yelp $3000/month to take down negative reviews. Curious as you may be, be weary of anyone who is secretive about their training methods. This is definitely not something you want to leave to guesswork.

Tip: Be present for any/every training and Avoid leaving your dog overnight for long periods of time anywhere unless you absolutely have no choice. If so, make sure to see/ FaceTime live with them EVERY DAY.

If not, pick up your dog earlier than scheduled, soonest as you can and disregard any excuse to leave your dog longer. If I come off as guarded, I have good reason to be. We made a costly mistake of entrusting blindly. 

FACT: Our last video received of Bronx was almost 1 week prior to pick up date. Don't believe Kevin or anyone that says "no news is good news." 

1. Long story short, day before pick up of our 5 mo. old puppy Bronx on 5/5/19 after he was with Kevin for 2 weeks at his dog training boot camp, we get a video from Kevin saying our dog was stolen from him at Howe park in Sacramento where he was last training with him. 

FACT: Til this day, our dog is still MISSING, no where to be found, (despite all the necessary steps we took: filed police report, hefty reward, flyers everywhere, active search and heavy media coverage), with vague account from Kevin on what happened that day. (Please look up KCRA for a video of Kevin fake crying, Fox 40, ABC10, Sacramento Bee for more info.)

Funny how he can recall “a black and Mexican guy in their mid twenties smoking weed”, but can’t recall the make and model of the car that took off with our dog (according to his story). To make matters worse, he did not file a police report right away or get police involvement because he says “I didn’t know what to do.” Suspicious much? Very.

After visiting the park ourselves, we discovered though there may be cameras, they are old and not facing in the direction of where Kevin's van allegedly was. How convenient. People frequently at the park said “there was no commotion during that time.”

How did Bronx go missing you ask?

2. According to Kevin, he left our puppy alone in his van "a/c on, windows down, engine running, doors unlocked." Negligent much? I don't think I need to elaborate on this. As a smart consumer, I think you would know right from wrong.

I will not go into further detail, but I trust that you the consumer will trust your gut instincts, like you would if you were to hire a babysitter for your own children, and look up people's references/backgrounds! *Ask to see certifications, permits, notarizarions and kennel license before hiring any dog trainer (or anyone's services for that matter) to see if they are in compliance and operating legally. The dog industry, come to find out, is highly unregulated. You'll thank me in the long run!

FACT: Read info on the internet, but also...better yet, to find out more factual information, you can access public records. Public records DONT lie and paint a more accurate picture of who he is. Kevin is so good at covering his lies, threatens former clients (who have reached out to my partner and I) to prevent them from going to authorities and the media, and outwits even animal cruelty. He knows to evade them- after 45 attempts of showing up to his home d/t several complaints made and nobody answers the door, they’re left with no choice but to drop the case. Unbelievable! 

What was Kevin's response to our missing dog?

3. According to Kevin, he paid us what we paid for Bronx ($1200), gave us the refund for the training ($1500) and "threw in $900 on top of that".

FACT: He paid us partial payment $3000. The reward for Bronx stands at $5000. Minus the training refund and what we paid for Bronx, there's only $300 that goes towards the $5000 reward. Kevin said to us "with the money, you guys can pay for 3 Bronx. He was just a puppy guys... I'm sure this is not the first time you've had something stolen from you." Who the hell says that??!! GTF outta here!!

I feel we should not have to pay a single cent towards the reward being that he lost our dog under his watch. Action and attitude matter the most! Then this guy has the nerve to tell us to adopt another dog at the shelter. That’s beyond the point and this guy does NOT get it. He is minimizing his actions and so dismissive! He says he is truly sorry?! His efforts to find out dog were minimal at best and that was with our prompting! He is SOO FULL of himself!

Impact hiring Kevin has made on us as a family?

FACT: My husband made a custom homemade dog kennel for Bronx, and everyday we come home to an empty dog kennel. We have young kids that ask about their puppy boy everyday and say "Bronx is still missing" and they miss him ALOT. It is a learning lesson for our children as well as ourselves. We believe character and integrity goes a long way and speaks volumes!

If only we knew then what we know now... We have a missing piece of us out there and Bronx will not be forgotten! We have good faith and believe in God as he is omnipotent, all knowing, knows all and sees all and we put our trust in Him. #bringbronxhome #justiceforbronx