The FUNdamental Dog

My puppy is learning so much so fast thanks to the help of the wonderful ladies working there. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT ONLY. Nobody should complain about this. Not even k9 units or military dogs are trained with punishments. It creates anxiety in dogs.

Went to my first conformation class with Peggy DeMers last night. Due to a couple of people having a conflict, I was the only person there. Peggy gave me the best private lesson! I had a young puppy that was fearful and not staying with me - Peggy had great tips on how to distract her and keep her on track as well as instruction on how to achieve a perfect ring gait. Also, how to set up on the table for the judges best view. Then she worked with my Champion dog and even brought out her own dog to give mine practice with another team in the ring. So many good ideas and was generous with her encouragement. Highly recommended!

The good: As the other reviews say, Marie is a knowledgeable trainer and the facility is very nice. The clicker training is good for teaching the.. fundamentals.. of obedience to puppies. The price for puppy class was also very cheap and is hard to say No to. The bad: Contrary to others experiences, nor I or my dog got the "patience" that other's experienced from Marie. Part of this was because of the number of puppies per class. Every class felt jam packed and most of the time was spent trying to get the pups to focus on their owners and not all the other dogs. Unfortunately, my dog has an incredibly low attention span and it was very hard to get him to stop wanting to play during class. Marie never offered advice or a "Try this.." but instead would tell us to go out in the other room and stay there until it was time for the next exercise. This made it hard to get the attention we both needed to learn properly. Also, every class feels very rushed. You get a few minutes to practice something new, try it out a few times, then on to the next. If you have a question, it will most likely be brushed off by Marie, for the sake of time. I understand a lot of the practice and training is suppose to go on at home, but it's really difficult to know how to do something properly when it's go-go-go in class. The ugly: If you have a Pit, a bully breed, or any dog with a big head or stigma... be weary of this place. In all 4 learning sessions, our dog was met heavily with disdain from the instructor which was such an awful feeling. I won't dwell on this point because I'm not trying to slander or cause a disturbance, but it is painfully true and it needs to be said. Our pup never acted out or gave a reason for the rude looks, unnecessary caution, and inappropriate remarks that came from Marie. But don't worry, if you have a Golden, a Lab, or anything small and fluffy, it can jump, bark, nip, pull, poop and still receive the utmost praise from the instructor! Overall, if money is an issue, this is one of the cheapest places you will find in Houston. If you want time, patience, and commitment to you and your puppy, I would look elsewhere and spend a bit more to do so.

Marie is a wonderful trainer. She is patient with both owners and dogs. I really appreciated her style of training. It emphasized real life situations that dogs might encounter and how to make them confident in handling them. For example, she had mobility devices for the dogs to sniff and be treated so they would be comfortable around wheelchairs and walkers, etc. Her hints were very helpful and her facility was top notch. Give her a try, you will not be disappointed!!

The dogs and owners in The Woodlands, TX are so lucky to have Marie and The FUNdamental Dog teaching dog training and puppy training classes and private lessons! She has the experience and the education to teach people how to train their dogs with methods that work. She also serves Spring, Tomball, Magnolia, Montgomery, Conroe, and surrounding areas.