Top Dog Texas

I cannot say enough good things about Top Dog Texas. Our first year after we got our Standard Poodle, Monet, was a mixture of wrong decisions and timing. As soon as we finished her immunizations and could start training, we chose the wrong trainer and wasted valuable time. Then the pandemic hit, which meant we could not socialize her like we needed to. So, she was very shy out in public. That’s the reason we are so very thankful we found Top Dog Texas. The varied activities of Top Dog’s 6-month Group Class was exactly what we needed. In addition to that, we’ve completed the AKC Trick Dog Novice class and enjoyed every minute of it. We have gotten great training and behavior advice and had a lot of fun doing

Update; Top Dog did reach out to me and try to make it right. I’m changing from 3 stars to 5 because I do believe I had a one-off experience. I think I may have had a rare case of a poor experience with Top Dog. Nothing dangerous happened as far as I know but it just wasn’t great. Adam was awesome, I appreciated his insight and thoroughness but after my initial meeting with him and the first trainer, things just went downhill. For reference: I bought the puppy training; two in-person trainings and three social days. My dog is a heeler mix. My first in-person training was AWESOME! The trainer was so patient, kind, and taught me how to communicate with my dog. She has several heelers of her own and I really felt like my dog was in great hands! I think her name was Lindsay. I knew going into this that I would have to follow up with my dog at home, so I did! My dog learned “place” and “wait” very quickly and became very consistent. I was told that when dropping the dog off for her social days, I needed to bring the folder that they provide and kind of give the trainers a run down of what my dog needed help with or was doing great with but there was just no follow up on the folder. They just take your dog for the day and let them run around or whatever and that’s great because she needed to be socialized. There was what I felt, a lack of communication on social days- not that they promise any communication, but when picking her up, I’d just like to hear how things went. The next in-person training was horrible. The girl was new and mentioned she was from petco or PetSmart several times when she was training. “I learned this at petco- I don’t think they do it here” was mentioned a lot. I expected to expand on what was learned in the first in-person training but instead, she just went over “place” several times and then got frustrated when my dog was distracted or bored and would pull her to the mat by her collar - didn’t hurt her but really scared her. Once that happened, my dog checked out and was very timid. Not sure why my trainer was switched that day but I don’t think it was intentional - I think another training with Lindsay maybe went too long or something. After the last training, I had one social day left and again, there wasn’t any follow up on the folder or in general. I picked her up from her last social day and that was it. Nobody reached out asking how things were, nobody said she did great, nobody said she did horrible either lol. It was just done? It was just very odd communication wise. Another thing I noticed after picking her up the last time is that she was suddenly very timid around bigger dogs. I take her to the dog park every day and she would tuck her tail and squeak when bigger dogs wanted to play. I have a feeling she may have gotten into a tussle of sorts but again, was not communicated with. If something happened, I want to know so I can help my dog overcome this new fear. Again, I really do think my experience was rare because after meeting with Adam and Lindsay, I was EXCITED! They were really really great. The follow through and lack of communication just really ruined it for me. I think I just happened to be in the middle of some company changes or something.

If anybody has ever owned a reactive dog you are aware of the struggle. After months of trying to find the perfect trainer for my Belgian Sherpard I was recommended by several people to try TOP DOG. As a first time dog owner, I was anxious and worried wether I could actually help my dog as it got to the point where he was “banned” from his vet and I couldn’t take him on walks because of his reactivity. I had a 1:1 in person consultation with Adam and in the consultation alone I was able to learn so much about my dog, I was treated as if I was already a client. I chose the 4 week board and train with Adam and although it was very hard to be away from Ghost for a while I knew it would be worth it. Adam and his team also were very helpful with the best payment plan that worked for me. After the first visit 2 weeks later I could not believe how much ghosts behavior changed. I couldn’t believe that that was my same ghost I took 2 weeks ago?!?!?!?. Adam was able to give me control of my dogs behavior with the leash. Adam will make sure you understand everything clearly and is very detail oriented. His entire team did an amazing job with his entire training and I am beyond thankful that I got the help he needed. I am finally able to take him anywhere and finally able to go on afternoon or morning walks with out worrying he will lash out. WE LOVE TOP DOG!!! BEST TRAINING YOU COULD EVER GIVE YOUR DOG AND YOURSELF!!