A1 Total Control Dog Training Academy

I have a 7 month old German Shepard. Steve took the time to train me not my furry human. I've read all the reviews. \r 1. Steve is not a girl . Bonnie C.\r 2. Amy P. Don't lose your clicker or your dog may end up as a traffic fatality. If you had to pull on your dogs chain constantly YOU weren't trained well, that' your fault for not learning the correct procedure. If your dog cowered at your approach what had you done to it when Steve wasn't around. You're right Amy, there is a better way it's called a training collar and my voice. Now it's just my voice.(look no clicker)\r 3. Anonymous- says it all, obviously they don't know who they are so how can a nobody expect to train anything..Most people call them choke collars - I choose to call them training collars. If used once correctly it is a tool that is needed very seldom. If you use it often I suggest strongly that you are the one that needs training.My hairy person comes when she is called, lays down when she is told, sits more

i have marley- my dog ate his way through my living room until i met steve. after 3 sessions i knew we would succeed and we did. there is nothing cruel about this training. i have a much happier dog(if that's possible with a lab) ! more

I took my puppy to A1 because he ran away and was found by the police in the middle of the highway. I was away for the day and left my grown son in charge. Apparently Sammy got under his fence. You can imagine how horrified I was to learn about this. The only thing that made me feel better was to enroll Sammy in doggie school. Steve was great, I was actually the one in training not Sammy. Sammy was a great student. I left a lot to be desired but I got the hang of it eventually. It was so cute to see all 4lbs of my Maltese obey my every command. In German no less! We enjoyed it so much that we went back for two more classes. It was so much fun and I never laughed so much when I was trying to do everything Steve was telling me to. I can't say enough about A 1 and I highly recommend this school and Steve. Thanks to Steve Sammy follows me everywhere. We can go outside without a leash and he's right by my side. A1 is the BEST!! more

I read some of the reviews below and had to offer my $0.02 as well. I had a WONDERFUL experience at A1 and the relationship between my dog and I is completely different now. I feel like the proverbial "pack leader" you read so much about. We are not done with our training yet as we intend on going back for the intermediate class, but my dog no longer takes me out for a drag, or insists on sleeping on my bed. He comes when called and is much better around people. He can even be trusted to be off leash when we are working in the front yard (Note - we do not live on a public street). Others have remarked on how far my dog has come in his training. \r \r I am not sure who Bonnie is referring to below, but the owner and operator of A1 is Steve Nixon, not a woman, so maybe she has the wrong school.\r \r Edit/Addition - After reading some more of the comments I would like to add some additional information. \r 1. My dog is pretty close to being my best friend. We have an AMAZING relationshi more

I read some of the other reviews and must disagree. My Maltese was adopted from a shelter (she was a stray) . At the shelter she was cuddly and even a bit clingy. Once out of the shelter, she was SATAN dog. She did not listen, you could not catch her, she shred anything she could get her teeth into and bolted out the door whenever the opportunity arose and much more BAD behavior. I was considering bringing her back to the shelter but instead enrolled her at A1. After the 1st lesson she did bolt out the door but I told her to 'stay'. She did, I picked her up, praised her for being good, put her in the house and went to work. In the few short weeks I was extremely pleased with the training . She is now a very good dog AND she's still a loving and happy pooch. more

The world of dog training has evolved quite a bit since the inception of clicker training. If only I had known that when I first signed up my dog for training at A1. The use of aversive training techniques may, on the outside, appear effective in training your dog; but this method can, and in most cases will, be detrimental to your relationship with your dog. I know this because I took my 12-week old puppy to this training class. I'll spare the many details, but what I can remember is training my dog to heal by "snapping" a a leash that was attached to the prong collar around her neck as we walked...all the while my puppy was squeaking in pain and confusion. I was told by the owner and trainer, Steve, to ignore it...that it wasn't really hurting her. I did so. Within weeks, my dog cowered at my approach. She made her body small when I tried to pet her. She no longer came to me when called...she slowly approached...afraid to move too quickly, lest I snap that leash again. If I more

Steve Nixon, owner of A-1 Total Control, does not feed his dogs treats. And when looked at through an unexamined, uninformed lens, this philosophy and others he holds may seem startlingly cruel to apply to your cute, cuddly dog; but I would urge perspective owners to think more deeply about his methods, and, dare I say, to give them a try. Mr. Nixon understands, as we all should, that dogs are resilient, strong animals, with an anatomy and physiology vastly distant from our own. He also understands that a dog's cognitive development and natural rearing also varies greatly from ours. With sound pedagogical logic and blisteringly fast speech, he has approached dog training in a way that allows the owner to assume a more maternal (or paternal) dynamic with his or her dog. Mr. Nixon teaches, disciplines, and nurtures dogs as a mother would; and this creates a strong, naturalistic bond with the dog, not one predicated on jarring combinations of treat-giving and shaky operant conditioning t more

not exactly the best tactics for dog training in my opinion. we took our puppy there and he was very impressive with his own animals but when it came time for training he got very aggressive with the choker collars. he insists on using a german mix dialect while trying to train the animals. i would not take another animal there nor would i recommend anyone go there more