Dog Academy of NC, LLC

We contacted the Dog Academy when we purchased a Briard Service Dog for our son and the company shut down. We were suppose to get him at a year old fully trained and they handed us a large 35 pound 3 month untrained puppy. I had him an hour, and he chewed up a seat belt in my car. He also went the bathroom in my car and chewed all over my son. It was my worst nightmare. I handed Michael a big mess. We had never had a dog and I personally felt lost and helpless in handling our dog. I am not a dog person at all. Michael Ward was our saving grace. He not only trained our dog but also put in countless hours working with me to teach me how to manage and care for him. We have had him home now for almost a month. We are currently looking into the next step in training for our dog for being a full time service dog for our son Charles. Other trainers and many people are shocked how well behaved our dog is currently. The crazy part is our dog already fulfills many of the beginning requirements for the basic skills. He is crate trained with no bathroom issues. He can come, sit , stay, walk by my side in public with no issues. He doesn't bark, chase anything or jump up on anyone. He is quite in the crate and house most of the time. We still struggle with puppy chewing and hyper activity due to age but that's about it. Thanks to Michael our dog brings joy to our family and most importantly is already a well behaved friend for our son and family. If you need help with your dog or are a first time dog owner in the triangle area I would really consider using Dog Academy.

I contacted Sandra and Michael about a goldendoodle puppy we had seen on their website. Sandra responded very quickly (despite us contacting her on a Friday night) and answered all my questions over text and we set up a call to for the next morning to discuss the puppy and her mannerisms / traits and if she would be a suitable dog for our family. Although there were 2 puppies available we decided on Gracie and Sandra and Michael agreed to keep Gracie an extra week to continue training and so that we could pick her up from NY during thanksgiving. Throughout this time Sandra sent me photos and videos of Gracie training and with her beautiful kids. We had read a couple of the negative reviews so asked Sandra about these and the techniques used and Sandra explained the training Mike undertakes with puppies and dogs. Sandra was very open and honest with us and told us that Michael does not use ‘punishment’ techniques, he uses a special collar that will tug on dogs neck and rewards the dog with affection once they complete the command, keeping his voice calm and measured the whole time so as not to confuse the puppy. When we picked Gracie up, Michael went through his training plan for about an hour. Although tugging on the dogs neck collar looks harsh, it really is not and we discovered this when we took Gracie home. She had no marks on her neck and was not a nervous or anxious dog - she loves people and other dogs and is extremely loving and obedient. However she is a puppy and if you are not strict on her she will take advantage. Michael did a fantastic job in training Gracie and getting her crate trained. The most important thing however is keeping up Michael’s training when you get the puppy home - it’s hard when they are so cute and you want to give them whatever they want! However we listened to Michael and as a result we have an extremely well trained puppy, for her age, who is fully crate trained and attends doggy daycare throughout the week where her socialization with other dogs and people is continuously praised by the staff. We would highly recommend Sandra and Michael to buy a well trained puppy from! Thank you both! Emma (NY)

We bought our golden retriever from here about 5 months ago. He was trained from these people. When I picked him up, he had the same kind of marks on his neck as the photos. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. But as we continued training him, with positive reinforcement, we noticed he was trembling. He trembled every time we got into training! We are now 4-5 months later and he is still trembling! We love our dog, great listener and companion but you don’t have to be so extreme with your training! We have experience with another golden retriever that lived to 12 years old and didn’t have to be extreme to get results! I can’t imagine the horrible things they did while having him! I feel like I rescued him! Stay away from here!