Mid-Atlantic Dog Training

There is not enough that I can say about Tom at Mid-Atlantic Dog Training. If I could give a 6th star, I would not hesitate to give it. My wife and I came to Tom because our dog began to show a lot of leash aggression toward other dogs. Additionally, he was starting to misbehave a lot around the house! We contacted MADT to set up some training for him and he was responsive and professional. He communicated to us exclusively by email as he is pretty constantly on the move with training. At (and after) the first actual lesson, our dog responded very well! We just finished the training with Tom and our dog Sailor is a brand new dog. I now feel confident in his ability to perform basic obedience tasks on command. Tom's program will take a lot of dedicated time, patience, and consistency from the owner. If you stick to the gameplan, you too can have a dog that "learns to make you proud".

Tom helped us address behavioral issues with our 6 month old pit/cane corso and 3 and a half year old yellow lab. He starts with a clear and honest discussion on his dog training approach so that you can make an educated decision on whether or not to make the commitment to work with him. Commitment is the appropriate word to use as he does have a planned curriculum that spans over a period of 12 weeks. He ends every session with a written plan to follow before the next session to maintain consistency for your dogs and help you as owners get into a rhythm that reinforces and maximizes training outcomes. After a short adjustment period our pups began to embrace the new routine we were establishing. Our walks became so much more disciplined as both our dogs became less and less reactive to other people and dogs. One of the major issues we wanted to make sure we addressed was our dogs’ tendency to pull with excitement when encountering others when walking. During our very last training session, we were blown away when we were able to take them both on a walk in a crowded park without these reactive behaviors emerging. We are certainly still working with our dogs after the conclusion of our training time with Tom, but this was fantastic progress. All in all, Tom is meticulous and very thoughtful about his approach. He is all about establishing a routine for your dogs that is based on discipline. He was available to us to answer any questions between our live training sessions and we never felt lost throughout the process. We are happy to recommend his services.

My girl is a 2-year-old Aussie who has randomly shown leash aggression towards other dogs and people. I was very nervous reaching out and starting training especially with a male as the trainer due to my dog being scared of men as well. Tom was beyond helpful and really helped me learn as a dog owner how to treat my dog and allow her to respect me while still loving her. He was always on time to our meetings and very easy to reach when needed help or collaborating for the next lesson. Tom demonstrates all of his training first before asking you to try with your dogs. Willow is still not perfect but we both are still learning to do better.

Highly recommend training with Tom! He is a great teacher and resource for new pet owners or people struggling with behavioral issues. We previously tried training at a big box store and as new pet owners, we did not understand the amount of time, structure, and consistency needed for training. Tom is very understanding of this and provides step-by-step instructions to help you better communicate with your dog. You do have to be willing to put in the work in between training sessions but it is very worth it and has greatly improved our relationship with our pup. She is responding to commands consistently now, is calm when guests enter our house, is no longer pulling on the leash - this was a big one for us because walks are enjoyable now! Tom is very attentive and flexible. I can't recommend him enough. Both my husband and I are now much more confident as pet owners and our pup is feeling much more secure