Wind River Canine Partners, Dog Training & Boarding
  
 126 Google reviews 
 
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 Beth Kohn 
 
January 3, 2024
 
 
  
My Rosie girl absolutely LOVES Wind River and the team there! They've become a second family ♥️
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Nikki Pastian 
 
February 8, 2021
 
 
  
Amazing facility and trainers.  At first we were slightly unsure of what to do when our border collie became protective of us, however trainer, Haley turned this around.  Haley's hard work and dedication truly shows through with the amount of love our pup has for her.  She has been professional, dedicated, and normalized all our concerns, because of her we now have the confidence to take our pup places again.  We cannot wait to continue training with her to expand the positive relationship we now have with our pup.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Gina Sanford 
 
February 22, 2019
 
 
  
There aren't enough words to describe how amazing Ally & Kelsey are!  Ally at Wind River Canine Partners helped train my husband's service dog Cadence and my Daughter's service dog Jazmine. During Cadence and Jazzy's board and stay portion of training, they stayed at Wind River and received the absolute best care.   Cadence is now a working service dog for PTSD anxiety and migraine detection. Jazzy is now a working service dog for allergy detection (peanuts) medical alert and anxiety.  There aren't words to describe how our life has changed for the better, because of the work Cadence and Jazzy are able to do for my husband and child.  This is the absolute best facility around for training and boarding!  Thank you Wind River for all that you do.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 George Havens 
 
October 24, 2021
 
 
  
Nice facility with an outstanding staff.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Elizabeth 
 
January 20, 2023
 
 
  
We love Wind River Canine Partners for several reasons. 1) We feel confident and safe leaving our dogs in their care. I have 3 dogs. 2 of our dogs need medication and they are able to administer it to them. Our border collie, bull dog is scared of gun shots, and fireworks. They make sure she feels safe and confident. Our chihuahua can be grumpy but he is so happy when we come here. Our American Bully gets plenty of outside time, play and socialization. 2) Their training results speak to their dedication and hard work. We did a two week board and train last April with several follow up sessions for our American Bully. She was 4 months at the time. Lydia did such a great job with her. Our dog is now 1 and is still very motivated to do all of the training Lydia helped her with. The training we learned from Lydia also transferred to our other 2 dogs and helped us form new habits creating a more peaceful home environment. Also, our dog loves Lydia! 3) They are continuing to work with us as we prepare our American Bully to start training to become a service dog. We highly recommend their services.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Rebecca Aliff 
 
November 10, 2023
 
 
  
Our 7mo lab Yarrow was rehomed to us, with no training. When Yarrow turned 1yo, we contacted Kevin Alford at Wind River. Kevin provided excellent insight & instruction to make Yarrow successful in a wide range of venues. Kevin is kind, funny & a clear communicator. We have enjoyed our training sessions, and watching Yarrow being successful. We recommend Wind River and trainer Kevin Alford!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Ellis Juhlin 
 
February 13, 2026
 
 
  
We LOVE Wind River, I cannot say enough good things about the kennels and especially Elena. She has helped us learn how to communicate with and support our herding breed rescues and helped both our pups overcome tremendous hurdles! We tried several other types of training at other places but nothing seemed to work for Zayda to feel less reactive and just comfortable in new situations. Then we found Wind River. The dog Zayda is today is a complete 180 from the skittish pup we rescued, and we have Elena to thank!! She is the only person Zayda will choose to run to instead of me. Her care, commitment and ability to adapt to meet a dog where they’re at is inspiring.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Jeff 
 
January 25, 2024
 
 
  
I felt extremely comfortable recommending wind Rivers services during the time I managed a competing facility, unleashed. I received exclusively positive feedback about wind River from clients and acquaintances. Recently I had two of my dogs in for a temperament assessment at wind River. I was very impressed with the smooth and professional operation I found. I received a detailed behavior report on both my dogs, compiled by one of the wind River trainers Hannah. I've had the pleasure of working with Hannah in the past at another facility and I trust her implicitly. The owner was kind enough to come out and go through my dog's assessments with me personally and in depth. It was the end of the day, there was only one dog left, but The owner still took the time to give me the very best one-on-one service. Boarding is hard. It's hard on the dogs and it's hard on the people. Knowing there's a place I can trust to care for my dogs when I'm away is literally priceless! Thank you so much
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Lara Chodelski 
 
February 13, 2026
 
 
  
I've been a client of wind river for both boarding and training purposes and have nothing but wonderful things to say about both services. For boarding, they are incredibly professional and saftey-conscious. One of my dogs is not dog-friendly and they are great with him, make sure he's not put in positions that would make him uncomfortable and unsure everyone is safe. I feel confident leaving him with them when I need to go out of town, and they are fantastic to work with for drop off and pick up. For training, I've been working with trainer Elena for both general pet behaviour and competition obedience for my sport dog. We have also gone to El for bitework foundations and progression. Elena is a wonderful trainer that teaches in a way anyone can understand, and tailors training style and explanations to the person and dog she's working with. I'm a visual learner and it's been so wonderful working with her and having her show me what I need to do, and then helping me with my positioning to achieve the same effect. My dogs absolutely love her and I couldn't ask for a better person or trainer to work with. Go-home work between sessions is reasonable and achievable. I am so grateful to have Wind River and Elena available to me for boarding and training purposes. Knowing my dogs are in safe hands and I've got expert guidance with my training is a weight off my shoulders and it's so nice to see progress with my dogs. Also, my dogs absolutely adore Elena.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Ken Marshall 
 
February 22, 2019
 
 
  
Much wow!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Sadie Viergutz 
 
May 10, 2021
 
 
  
I literally can't say enough good things about Wind River. It is a 40 minute drive...one way...from our house, but we wouldn't consider going anywhere else. When we first moved to Missoula we struggled to find overnight care for our bulldog. She is high maintenance both medically and socially. She can be a bit of a bully if she is hanging out with anxious/not confident dogs and was a cleft palate pup so is prone to pneumonia. We had actually been asked not to come back to a local facility that only breaks their groups up into "large" and "small" categories regardless of play style. They said that she required too much handling. Wind River has had no issues with her and integrates her into small play groups where she gets to have fun, but isn't allowed to be a diva. When we adopted a puppy during quarantine, we had a lot of issues getting him socialized and he developed some reactivity towards other dogs on walks. We decided to send him to the Board and Train program. It was expensive, but worth every cent. Ally sent us regular updates and videos of what they were working on so that we knew how to continue once he got home. We got an awesome hand off lesson where she showed us all of the ways that they had worked to make him more connected, more confident, and less reactive. It has been a lot of work to bring what he learned at "boot camp 😂" home, but Ally has been there for us with the included follow up lessons. We have had nothing but great experiences with Wind River. I completely trust them to care for my kids and they have given us so many tools to improve our all around relationships with our dogs.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Kate Haire 
 
May 13, 2023
 
 
  
Many thanks to Kevin Alford for working with me and my English Cocker Spaniel puppy Percy - we are making real progress and I couldn't be more pleased.  Kevin is extremely knowledgeable, experienced, and professional - as well as kind, patient, and able to explain not only what to do, but why, and the short-term and long-term outcomes to look for.  Looking forward to more training in the future!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Jami Fink 
 
August 12, 2020
 
 
  
Wonderful place! I wouldn't take my dogs anywhere else for training or boarding. Amazing staff!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Deb Bradford 
 
June 29, 2024
 
 
  
I gained valuable experience with my pup training with Kevin. I appreciate the time spent learning the proper way to handle situations that I might encounter with people and dogs. I know that it is the person who is ultimately responsible for the reactions of the pup. The training has been very helpful to a great relationship with my new companion!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Lori Davisson 
 
December 23, 2023
 
 
  
My dogs love coming to Wind River. They have developed friendships with other dogs and it has made such a positive difference in their happiness plus they come home ready to rest!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Ben Deeble 
 
January 21, 2024
 
 
  
Boarded our dogs really well during 10 days of Montana winter cold.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Ivvy Craig 
 
December 19, 2024
 
 
  
Love this place. They do a great job with my disabled dog, and their training is next level. I use them for boarding while I am gone on vacation and my dogs always come back to me happy as can be. I did the board and train with my hound mix, and I would say that he was a totally different dog when I got him back. Best thing I could have ever done!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 MariahLynn Macy 
 
August 17, 2025
 
 
  
Absolutely an ama,8ng place with ama ing staff.  My dog loves it there
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Jason Watkins 
 
December 21, 2023
 
 
  
Wind river was a great way to get foundational training when our busy life caring for young children didn't allow us to put the time into our puppy the way we needed to. We sent a hyper, non-obedient dog in hopes that we would see some improvement. Kevin spent 2 weeks training the basics of sit (applied stay), place (applied stay), and walking on a leash.  When he came back to us, we couldn't believe how well he behaved. With our commitment to ongoing training, our dog has continued to flourish. We couldn't be happier with the results.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Terri Phillips 
 
March 31, 2025
 
 
  
Dogs seemed well taken care of and were ready to go when we got there. No kennel cough
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Mary W 
 
September 25, 2022
 
 
  
Definitely recommend wind river canine and specifically Kevin. We took the foundations and off leash courses and I can honestly say the differences on off leash outings are like night and day. My dog is a high drive dog that wants to go,go ,go! And now we can do that, but she and I have learned that there are some basic rules🤣. Kevin was really great at training me and great at answering questions, helping me to understand the methods, etc…..I also really liked having lessons in a variety of settings, so much more real life situations than meeting in say an indoor facility. I really liked having private lessons over a group class setting. I know for a fact, I would not have gotten to where we are now being off leash without Kevin’s expertise.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 K G 
 
April 28, 2016
 
 
  
This company is truly amazing. The care and passion they put into the job and every single animal they work with is beyond exceptional. I did individual lessons with Ally and I can't express how much I (and more importantly, my dog) loved them! She's incredibly talented, loves what she does and it shows every minute you spend with her. I've heard great things about all the other trainers as well. I've boarded my pup several times through them, too, and she always has a blast! Everyone there is incredibly friendly and wants the absolute best for your pet, so it makes training/boarding/anything so much easier and worth your while. Incredible people and incredible company. Would recommend a thousand times over!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 John Sullivan 
 
January 21, 2024
 
 
  
We have been boarding our dogs at Wind River Canine Partners for many years and we highly recommend them. The staff is personable and professional and we never have any concerns when boarding at Wind River. In fact, we think our dogs look forward to staying at Wind River! Highly recommended!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Mary Newpower 
 
June 11, 2023
 
 
  
Wonderful people, superb training highly recommend
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Don Iarussi MFA 
 
January 28, 2021
 
 
  
this is a great place that I would recommend 21. They have done such an amazing job with my dog Zuma and just two visits a 5-month-old lab retriever. I cannot believe the progress that they have made with him in just two visits. Between my wife and wild River canine the dog has made remarkable progress from the time we adopted him a month ago
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Emily Adams 
 
September 18, 2022
 
 
  
Wonderful people working for a wonderful cause
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Loren Mostad 
 
September 4, 2016
 
 
  
The dog trainers are awesome!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Jessica Smith 
 
April 10, 2024
 
 
  
We did private training lessons from Elena and it was incredible! Our new pup is doing so great now thanks to her! Everyone was always super friendly and great to work with! Highly recommend! :) Thank you so much!!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Boo Bear1982 
 
December 28, 2023
 
 
  
Great place to let your dog have a vacation! The staff is great with ALL sizes of dogs.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Steven Goodsell 
 
August 24, 2021
 
 
  
My 4 obnoxious pups absolutely love coming here for the weekends. When we pull on to the road they start hopping around and whining because they know where they are. That they get to get out and play with the staff, and other pups.