Doggie Steps Dog Training

If you're researching Doggie Steps Dog Training, you read a lot of great reviews. Here's one more: Mark is a fantastic teacher for the whole pack. Both of my dogs listened to him and respected him as an instant pack leader. My 6-year-old Catahoula can be very stubborn, but he was instantly responsive with Mark, and my 1-year-old English Shepherd calmed her "ADD" tendencies for him. More importantly, though, he's good at teaching humans. I'm the one with the dogs full time, so I needed techniques for training them and bringing out desired behaviors. Mark has a very calm, patient approach, and he focuses on teaching the human to be a better person for the dog--to have clear, consistent expectations and to be a strong leader so the dog understands how to behave. His methods are effective, and I saw an almost instant shift in my dogs' behavior. No training method or tool is "magic"--the dogs and I have a lot of work ahead of us, but thanks to Mark, we know what to do and we're making excellent progress. I hope to take the intermediate class with him in the future--it's money well spent!

We adopted Max, our 90 lb pit bull, from the humane society and didn't know much about him. On our first walk, we realized Max was, what we thought to be, "dog aggressive". This is when we decided to research training to find out if their was a way to correct it. We knew that Max would need something more personal than a group dog training class. Once we met with Mark, we went over some basic training techniques to polish up Max's obedience. After two classes, we had a meet and greet with Mark's female dog. We learned how to properly introduce Max to other dogs and came to realize that what we thought was aggression was actually a combination of anxiety and curiosity. We have continued to use Mark's techniques to socialize Max with dogs and his behavior has greatly improved. We recently took in a stray female puppy and after a week of socialization using what we learned, Max is in love with his new puppy friend. We are now using what we learned at Mark's training classes to teach our new puppy.

We found Mark through an internet search and decided to try his 5 week home training sessions for our 12 year old yappy and nervous miniature schnauzer Finnegan. Friends teased us about training for a 12 year old dog—what would be the point? Finny was adjusting to a recent move from a house with his own yard to an apartment with much more contact with other dogs and humans. Well the point is we have a different dog and we are different pet owners than we were when we began this course a short while ago. Cost: Mark isn’t cheap—we paid $650 for 5 weeks of in home lessons plus lifelong group lessons. Every penny was worth it! I only wish we had found Mark years ago. You are paying for Mark’s expertise, professionalism, calm demeanor and results. If you want to accept Mark’s professional advice and follow his directions, this is a very reasonable price to pay for skills necessary to be a great dog owner and have a fabulous well behaved four legged friend. If you don’t think you have to change anything you are doing--- it is not going to work. Professionalism: Mark was always on time, he has excellent communication skills, with dogs and people, provided us with immediate feedback, and accommodated our schedule 100 percent. Mark also checked in with us throughout the week via email and was available to answer behavior questions as they arose. Demeanor: Mark is very interesting to hang out with and speak to. His calm demeanor is relaxing and pleasant. He is non judgmental about you and your doggie and only wants to help you improve your relationship with your pet and your pack leadership skills. Expertise Mark understands both human and dog behavior and was able to come up with a plan for us that was 100% suited to our dog, in our situation. Mark was able to give us the skills we needed to become better pet owners and our Finnegan followed our lead- both figuratively and literally. We would not hesitate to recommend Mark in any way.

I could not be happier with the training Mark provided both my dog and I. Sophina, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, joined our family at 8 weeks old. I researched the breed which seemed to be a perfect fit for our family. My kids are 3, 5 and 7. Sophina grew very quickly and became quite unmanageable. She was hurting the kids by jumping on them and had a disturbing habit of eating socks! I began keeping her separate from the kids and started to regret the decision of bringing her into the family. When she was four months old I decided we needed professional help. I called a number of trainers and I liked Mark from the first conversation on the phone. His first visit was at our home with all the kids. His calm and controlled demeanor was very reassuring (I'm a bit high strung myself) . He began teaching me the basics, which preivously owning pit bulls I though I knew. Sophina and I worked very hard on a consitant basis and within ONE WEEK she was able to be in with the kids without jumping on them. It only got better from that point on. After five sessions she is a completely different dog! My children are learning how to be pack leaders and Sophina has manners. I feel 100% confident with the effective tools I've been taught. At 6 months old she sits, stays, lies down, waits for food, leaves items alone, heels and leaves a room/space on command. Mark... you are awesome! Thank you!!!

Mark is a saint. I adopted my Kailey back in August and since then its been a downward spiral. MULTIPLE times did I feel like giving up and just giving her to someone else, but it was so hard to let her go. My year and a half old dog went potty in the house, walked me rather than the other way around, was so hyper, didn't listen, and was pretty much a big ball of stress. After moving to a new place I knew things had to be changed. I was not going to stress anymore! So, I called Mark to my rescue! As soon as I met him, he gave me a sense of "things are going to change" and they have! I never thought it would be possible but my Kailey is now going potty outside, has calmed down and even listens to me. I am not embarrassed to walk her anymore! I HIGHLY recommend Mark! He not only trained my dog, but he also trained me. He is the best trainer ever! Thanks Mark!