Some years ago, we got our first child, Rose, from Mark. She was over a year old and had been displaced in her puppyhood by unexpected triplets. She was obedience trained when we got her but we weren't. Mark fixed that. We had a wonderful but too short life together. We've raised our human children and some service puppies (Canine Companions) and two other big dogs. Now we want to pick a dog for us and hope to consult M soon. read more

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BEWARE! DO NOT EVER TAKE YOUR DOGS TO THIS MAN! The negative reviews only touch upon the least of the issues with this man. Anyone who commented positively only does so because they are clueless as to what went on behind the scene. He is brutal, barbaric & achieves that "trained" dog appearance by fear and breaking a dogs spirit in a completely unacceptable way, by any dog lover standards. He himself is rather odd & absent minded as if running in 30 directions going no where. He conducts HIS daily activities at HIS home as if just another day, regardless how many dogs are in his care for training, without any real sense he is being paid top dollar to actually spend time with his furry little clients & TRAIN them. He actually spends little to hardly any time with them. Dogs sit in cages. All day long. His belief, as some reviews allude, dogs are meant to be in cages atleast 85% of the time & should only come out when directly played with. He does train with hot dogs. They respond to this garbage, because they are starved. Fluffy will only be let out of his cage once or twice a day to pee & the 15-20 mins of so called "training" or attention he will give him. Then back to the cage for another 8-10 hours. We made the mistake of taking multiple dogs to this man through a misguided friend's referral. We spent many thousands of dollars we didn't have to waste, with the expectation in return we would have well behaved family pets. Our dogs, typically a family protection breed, learned NO obedience or social skills but say the word CAGE & they stop dead in their tracks & immediately retrieve (at high speed) back to their crates and cower. We wonder with what brutal force and barbaric means these beautiful protection dogs were beaten into submission that they would disregard their natural inbred instincts in the short 10 day training time they were with him. As far as lifting dogs up by their slip knotted choke ropes he uses on all pets, and flinging them in the air, that is also TRUE. We witnessed multiple owners dropping off or returning to pick up their pets during our time there & watched in horror as some poor dogs made the mistake of desperately trying to run to their parents to take cover. He jerked the leash so hard & fast, the little guys went airborne 5 feet off the ground, by their necks, as they were flung across the room into a stack of cages, missing the openings, then he grabbed them before hitting the floor & roughly threw them inside the cage & shut the door. We gasped! This man is definately NOT an animal lover, rather an animal abuser that charges top dollar to basically break your dog's spirit & uses pure fear for their motivation. He spent very little to no time with OURS & it showed in their lack obedience & social skills, which was vitally important for them to learn. As lifetime pet owners and lovers of animals we strongly urge anyone thinking of training their dogs with this man, to run as fast the other way as possible. This is NOT training with respect & positive reinforcement. If people keep paying him top dollar to kennel board their pet, which is all you will get, he will be able to continue his abuse and financially benefit from it. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. read more

Dallas Dog Trainer, Mark did a phenomenal job with our puppy! Our Pup was there for two weeks and the results where amazing! Mark use positive reinforcement and the results are truly amazing. Mark took the time to show us how to talk to our puppy and how to keep reinforcing her good manners. We are so happy for our dog and made our lives a lot easier. I will highly recommend Dallas Dog Trainer to anyone that needs help with their pup. Thank you Mark! read more

I thought the yanking of Riley off the ground was harsh. You left so called notes scribbled on a page that you can't make heads or tails out of. You yourself said several times you lost your train of thought of what you were telling me. I realize you've been doing this and it's make perfect sense, but to a consumer it does not. Your methods make work "old school", but had I known you were going to do that. I would have never agreed to it. I'm not one to make a scene especially in front of neighbors. The best that could have happened was to get you off the property. read more

Very helpful and friendly!! I am so glad i found Mark!! I have two very large Dogos who desperately needed his help. I would recommend this trainer to anyone... What a positive difference in my two Dogos.. Thank you so much Mark! Shara read more

This was a terrible experience for me and my dog. This guy is old school dog training - much harsher than Cesar Milan. My dog was so stressed and scared, dogs can learn under stress- they just shut down in fear. He told me to stomp my feet and smack my dogs crate when he whined... My dog has separation anxiety now and I can't get him near the crate. I would never recommend him to anyone. Sad that this punishment based training is still promoted. read more

Dallas Dog Trainer - Pet Training Near Me - Dallas, Texas

Mark revisited Suki to give her e collar training as she has a neck injury and can no longer wear a regular collar. He spent over 2 hours with us at our home showing me how to use it and introducing her to the new collar. He has a special relationship with dogs that they understand him, and boy do they understand him! He walked into the house and Suki was transformed, lol! He explained everything to me, and enlightened me on the many ways I was confusing her. Suki and I are back in sync thanks to Mark, I hope I don't mess it up again, but if I do, I know who I call! read more

My son went to college and left me with his spoiled Pit Bull mix female. I needed her to be exceptionally well behaved because I moved to a condo where aggressive or noisy dogs could be banned. Mark came to my condo and worked with me one afternoon. My dog absolutely fell in love with him. She could tell that he was in charge. That was a relief to her because she needed someone who would be in charge so she could relax. Following his advice, my dog's behavior was greatly improved while in the house but she was still a lot to handle while on walks. This was because I was so nervous she knew I was not in charge. I called him and he told me to come to his home and we would do more work. He spent several hours with us at no additional charge. I no longer feel like I got stuck with this dog. She is a model citizen and a delightful, loving companion. When dogs bark at her on walks, I say her name and tell her look. She maintains eye contact with me while we walk by and all the drama is from the other dog not her. She knows who is in charge and that's a huge relief to her. Thank you so very much, Mark! Sharon & Tiger read more

I got the chance to speak with Mark this afternoon, he is very knowledgeable about training. He gave me set by step instructions on how to fix the problem I have with my dogs. I am extremely grateful for his time, and would 100 percent recommended him to anyone that needed help. Mark, thank you so much!!!! read more

This guy is terrible. He came to my house and was 2 hours late....Then he brought a whole package of hotdogs to train my dog after I ask him not to feed her that crap. He's very disorganized. My dog learned nothing and thru up the hotdogs. He never called me back. He also hung my puppy from her leash about 6 inches off the ground to show me how hard you can pull on the leash, I thought I WAS GOING to SLAP him. I finally ask him to leave. If was very inhumane. This guy gets a "F". read more

Mark is a fabulous trainer. He trained our beagle fourteen years ago. So when we got two beagle puppies we knew just who to turn to for assistance. We enrolled our puppies in Mark's 10 day board & train program. When we picked up the pups Mark spent time with us on his approach and concepts on training dogs and our pups responded successfully. We are extremely pleased with the results and I would highly recommend working with Mark to train your dogs. Bob read more

This guy is EXTREMELY "Old School." I had a great pyrenees that I wanted to have basic manners with as he was such a big dog. He went in calm and with a bubbly personality. What I managed to get back was NOT what seemed like the same dog. He was scared of his own shadow and afraid to do anything in fear of getting into trouble. I CRIED on my way home not knowing what this person or others did to my dog. I will say that Mark tells you to scare them to get them to submit when they are doing wrong. This is no way to train any animal. He told he that he only used "positive reinforcement." Umm no. It made my Great Pyrenees afraid to go toward any man after that. For those of you that were stood up via appointments, PLEASE count your lucky stars and kiss your pup. You don't need their lives and yours forever changed by these "training" methods. read more

This mans philosophy on training is horrible. A very old school authoritative approach to how to dominate your animal. He suggested that the best training is to keep a dog caged 85 percent of the time. To only let him out while on a leash. I feel sorry for the animals he " trains". This is not training this is Totally inhumane. Please dont go here. read more

This man is not a bad guy and he loves animals. He is not barbaric in any way and he has very good methods. Our dog was with him for 10 days and she has been very good so far. The people on this app saying that he tortured their dog must not understand what noises are. He throws something across the room to distract them, not to kill them or torture them into submission. He uses positive reinforcement to train these dogs and he does a great job of showing it. He is a great man who loves animals and knows what he's talking about. read more

Mark spent a couple of hours with me and my dogs and changed everything! The concepts he uses were not new to me, but he managed to teach me MUCH I didn't "get". His approach for training the trainer (me) was comprehensive, practical, specific...yet simple. In fact, he was more thorough than I realized until I started following through on his suggestions. He's great at specific techniques for sure, but his genius comes in connecting it all up in a way that I could see how the pieces work together to create a solid working dynamic between me and my dogs. The results were immediate toward my specific goals. I could not be happier with my experience thus far AND he provides ongoing phone support. Thanks, Mark! read more

tried to schedule an appointment for a Tuesday in which they agreed to show up at my home at 1. I was stood up with no notice until 1:15 and I had taken the day off in order to do this. I am very disappointed. read more

Mark spent an afternoon with my rescue Terrior and myself. I am pretty sure she had never had any training when I got her. He really helped me understand "dog thinking" and she understood "stay" command by the time we left. Mark related very well to my dog. read more

My German Shepherd Greta attended Marks 2 week course at Dallas Dog Trainer in 2000. She came back a different dog. She had more confidence, was obidient, and even learned how to run the obstacle course. We recently adopted a 17 month old female shepherd from a rescue group and it turns out she has agression and issues related to lack of socialization. Mark came to our house for over 3 hours to basically train the trainers. He gave us several good tips and taught us how to be the leader so the dog did not take that role. He also gave us tactical advise on how to walk her properly and give her commands. He was very detailed and I would recommend his personal training session to all dog owners who are not professional dog trainers. Cindy T. read more

Mark just kept our sweet 5 month old wild golden retriever puppy for 11 days. She was everything a sweet wild puppy could be. We picked her up yesterday afternoon and our sweet wild puppy was STILL SWEET but not WILD. It was amazing. I asked my whole family over to see what she had learn and everyone was amazed! We are so very pleased and want to thank Mark for his hard work and dedication to helping our puppy follow us well. Our family believes she is a happier puppy now that she has more of a direction and we are happier because we know how to lead her better. read more

We had Mark come to our home a few weeks ago to help us with our female German Shepherd, who is very protective of us and her home. Mark did work with her for about 30 minutes, but the session was really about teaching us to train her. He provides excellent feedback and guidance on how to show her our leadership. Anyone considering a home session needs to think of it as a seminar, where you will walk away with the tools to train your dog - if you are diligent and stick with his plan. Sure you can read a book with much of the same information, but that didn't "hit home" with us until we really saw it in action. If you arn't willing to put in the time and effort, you won't get much out of it. In that case, you may consider paying $1,500+ to board your dog for training as we originally considered. Yet, that is an extremely expensive option for something that may have an easier fix. After Mark left, our German Shepherd was acting like a new dog. She was following, listening and behaving. She even sat on her bed while he went to knock on the door. She didn't dash to the door barking, like normal. It really showed us that if we stick to his plan, we could have the same results. It's not easy, and we've slipped up some. She is a very dominant, Alpha female. However, we received a lot of value from our session because we see that the problem is US - not her. Dogs need leadership, and no, you arn't being "mean" by putting them in their place. It gives them structure! We have the tools now to fix the problem. If you are expecting an overnight success story in 2 hours, you will be disppointed but you are also missing the point. Mark does write down his plan on a piece of paper that is difficult to read. You shouldn't need to refer back to this, as he has already spent 2 hours describing it. However, I would suggest taking your own notes, if his writing bothers you as other reviewers have mentioned or if you think you may need to refer back to something. In summary, we thought Mark did a great job and would recommend him to others! read more

Unfortunately not a good experience. He was impossible to get a hold of, when we finally connected he showed up at the house 1hr late. Only after I called him to see if he was coming. He talked for 3hrs, trained for 20mins, took my 200 down payment told me he was going to come back later that day. That was several months ago and I have yet to hear from him. Upside is I did find a great quality trainer and my pups are doing great. My understanding is back in the day Mark was amazing, however something has changed along the way. read more

Mark Minnerly is the CEO of The Dallas Dog Trainer, www.dallasdogtrainer.com, and made more progress in one night, in training my two border collies than the trainers at PetsMart did in two semesters. There's something to be said for one-on-one training. His rates are reasonable, especially compared with Man's Best Friend, who I keep hearing commercials for. It was a productive 2 1/2 hours. read more

Was basically stood up twice by Mark. He must think his customers don't have a schedule to keep. Going with another trainer.

I was scheduled to meet with Mark today at 1:00. I talked to him by phone on Saturday and he instructed me to go buy crates for the dogs. I spend around $100 on the crates. I waited and waited. I tried to call him - no answer. I texted - no response. I emailed him - I got an email around 5:00 to tell me his family wanted to spend the day with him. He could not take ten seconds to text me to cancel. He had time to write a long email explaining what I should do with my dogs that I suspect was cut and pasted standard instructions or follow up with excuses at the end. Unprofessional and inconsiderate does not begin to describe him. Angry does not begin to describe me at this moment. My holiday was important too and it would have been great not to spend it here waiting for someone to show up. He described himself as a workaholic. Actions speak louder than words. read more

We took our 12 week old puppy to board/train with Mark while we were on vacation for 10 days. When we returned, she was doing great with crate training, sit/stay, leash walking and staying where told. Mark spent two hours going over the training and informed us in an entertaining way how to keep up the training. We felt like Mark really cared about our puppy and did a great job! read more

Mark came to our home yesterday and worked with us and two of our four dogs. After meeting the dogs, he spent more than an hour sitting with us and explaining his program. He is very easy to understand and presents his training program so you can ask questions and really understand. Once he began working with the dogs, we were amazed at seeing his program in action. He uses positive reinforcement to get results. One of our dogs lunged and barked at other dogs when walking on a leash. He saw this unwanted behavior firsthand and showed us how to handle it. When we saw it in action, it just kind of clicked for us. Very pleased and happy with Mark! Thank you! read more

We've had both positive and negative experiences with Mark Minnerly. The positive - we sent our puppy to Board & Train and saw a significant improvement in potty training. He also spent an hour with our family recapping the training. The negative - a month later we left her for 6 days to board while we were on vacation and offered to pay $30 more per day (Board & Train rate) for more training. Long story short - the day we picked her up (at the designated time we told him) we went through 6 1/2 hours of no responses to calls or texts and 2 trips to his house (which was dark and no one answered after pounding on door and ringing doorbell). We finally got a call from his asst. saying THEY were waiting for US to pick her up and claimed someone was home the whole time. (Mark admitted to being away doing training.) Finally picked her up - she reeked like smoke and no mention of ANY training that was supposed to have taken place. After leaving her alone for 6 1/2 hrs (that we know of) and not responding to ANY calls is unacceptable. We will never use him again. read more