Dog Academy of NC, LLC — Local services in Durham

Let me start by saying my three dogs boarding and training at Dog Academy was the best experience they've had thus far, to include vet visits, prior training and boarding locally.

If you read the negative reviews on here and get turned away by them I challenge you to go see for yourself. I'll be honest I was pretty skeptical after reading one of the negative reviews but decided to check it out and what I saw and experienced with Dog Academy of NC was nothing even close to what one customer had portrayed. Michael and his wife Sandra are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to animals and it showed as they talked and walked me through what was going on with my dogs in each situation. At the end of my dogs three week stay they had grown to love Michael and I had gained a new friend. He truly is a "Dog Whisperer" it's like he is a dog psychologist, he was picking up on so many things that I had never noticed in my years with my dogs. He took three dogs that would pull on leashes, jump on furniture, and smother our guests and turned them into three well behaved, disciplined dogs that I was proud to take in public.

I brought 3 pit bulls to Michael, 2 of my own and 1 foster we had just picked up a few days prior. My female and the foster dog, began fighting almost immediately to the point my wife was scared of them. My female had been showing early signs of dog aggression prior to this and we were worried she may never be able to be social with other dogs.

The first day I met Michael I spent about 2-3 hours at his place just doing an orientation and talking through what he noticed about the way my dogs were acting. Everything he said was spot on and he even helped me work on my negative energy, by which I mean getting upset, aggressive, and/or yelling at my dogs. Michael explained how counter productive this can be when dealing with dogs as it scares and confuses them. He was calm and gentle the entire time dealing with my sometimes crazy dogs which really impressed me.

My wife and I went out to the Dog Academy several times and walked through the lessons with Michael, something he highly encourages, and does not charge extra for. These lessons were extremely valuable for us as he let us take control over the lesson and was able to show us how to communicate with our dogs to get what we wanted out of them in a calm and clear manner.

We will continue to use the Dog Academy as the number one choice for boarding our animals. The outside, natural setting is amazing for dogs. Our dogs were actually walked and given attention during their stay as opposed to being surrounded by barking dogs and trapped in a kennel all day if they were boarded at a vet.

I can't say enough good things about this man and his business. He loves and understands dogs and it shows in his work. Any dog would be happy to stay at...

There needs to be a 5 star rating. This is the place for dogs of all kinds. It was by far the best money spent for our family and for our dog Izzy. Michael did an excellent job of turning our stubborn and out of control puppy into a well mannered puppy. We have a french mastiff that by 4 months was a 40lb torpedo tearing through our house. We also have a one year old and both work full time jobs so we new that this puppy was going to need an intervention that we couldn't provide. Not to mention that she was soon going to be the proverbial "bull in a china shop". We researched and visited numerous local and not so local trainers and new immediately when we arrived at the Dog Academy that this was the place for Izzy. The dogs were free to move around the fenced in area and were not confined to kennels all day every day like many of the training facilities we visited. The area was clean and the resident and visiting dogs were an active part of Izzy's 3 weeks at the Dog Academy. (Yes 3 not the normal 2 weeks of boarding school because like I said...she was ridiculously stubborn and determined to not walk on a leash!) It was the perfect socialization opportunity that all puppies need and many don't get because who in reality lives with a pack of dogs of all shapes and sizes that respond to a barely audible "pshh" sound when they are misbehaving. Michael worked with us on how to calmly contol our dog without needing to take treats with us everywhere to bribe her and without yelling and frustration. He mixes correction with praise, so that eventually it is only praise because your dog is actually doing what you tell her to do! We now take her everywhere with us and get so many compliments on how well behaved she is. If you are concerned about leaving your dog, don't be. I was able to be a part of Izzy's training from day one including the training sessions and the long daily walks that he provides. Michael was very open in allowing me to visit Izzy and train with her. If you don't have the ability to visit everyday then take my word that Michael treated our dog as if she was his own. He even took her to the vet when she had a rogue baby tooth that looked like it was getting infected. He lives and breathes his philosophy of calm and confident energy equals a calm and confident dog. And it does. And if you are looking for a puppy, then check here first because they seemed to always have adorable puppies that they have rescued and are finding new homes for. If you aren't looking for a puppy, then put your blinders on because they are so cute and extremely...

If you have any reservations about training with Mike at Dog Academy of NC, I'm here to dispel them for you. Mike is one of the best trainer's we've ever met and I can't express how happy we were with choosing him. He is professional, extremely knowledgeable with decades of experience training dogs, and most of all really does care about your dog. But even more important than that, he cares more about who your dog could become; stronger, happier, and more capable in every way.

As I'm sure you can relate, its hard to choose the right trainer for your pups. They're family and we love them like children so this can make us very protective of them. We want them treated right and with love. Sometimes that makes us overly protective of them and blinds us to the fact that our own over-loving can be what's contributing to behavioral or confidence issues with our dogs! Sometimes we just don't even realize we are holding our dogs back and that discipline and structure is the best love you can give them. To some people his methods may seem harsh at first, but I assure they are safe and effective. My wife and I were this way at first, but after we understood the process and saw the results, we were converted. Structure, then love. And the love will fix your dog, but first there needs to be structure.

This was the case with our 5 year old pitty Max. He is the goofiest sweetheart and was never aggressive, but had major confidence issues. He was good with dogs, but fearful of people and even flies. Any loud-ish noise would make him nervous and he had separation anxiety. We brought him to Mike to get some training on being less afraid of people. We thought he was pretty well trained and only needed some touching up. From the first session we found out that his issues were much deeper than that. And worst of all we had no idea that we were essentially contributing to them and reinforcing his nervous state.

Through the next 3 weeks we left Max with Mike for intensive training of which we participated in 3-4 training sessions a week. Max made great progress, but more importantly, we did too as his dog parents. Mike taught us so much about dog psychology and how to better communicate with him. By the end of the training we were doing what we thought would be impossible with Max; calmly hanging out at a brewery with him! Mike taught us all how to be more confident and build a better relationship together. Mike's training exceeded our expectations and it was worth...