About Dog Academy of NC, LLC

Dog Academy of NC is a family-run training business on Stone Road in east Durham, founded in January 2008 by Sandra and Michael Ward. Michael is the head trainer; the site says he attended the Tom Rose School in High Ridge, Missouri and graduated from its Professional Dog Trainer Program in 2007. Sandra manages the business and, in her own words, handles the administration, so she is usually the person who answers the phone.

The property

The academy describes itself as sitting on almost eight acres, with facilities that deliberately include "lots of integrated distractions" – dogs of all sizes plus cats, chickens and the family's three children. The stated reason is practical: a dog learns to respect the other members of a household and to resist chasing smaller animals alongside the obedience work, rather than in a sterile room.

Programs

The published services page offers basic and advanced obedience, problem behaviors including aggression, and puppy manners and crate training, across several program formats. Free evaluations come first, described as a chance for everyone to meet and agree which program fits. The headline program is the Boarding School: a two-week residency in which the head trainer works one-on-one with the dog every day on basic obedience – sit, down, stay, walking in heel position and recall – and on correcting problems ranging from aggression in older dogs to crate training, mouthing and jumping in puppies. Owners and their families are invited out for lessons during the stay so the handling transfers home. The site also notes experience with rescue dogs and a discount for them.

Approach

The site describes an approach developed after training school that combines traditional and motivational methods with what the trainer calls the use of your energy, involving "a balance of praise and correction" that he offers to explain in detail at the evaluation.

Also on site

The business runs a separate puppy operation under the name Rising Star Family Dogs and lists available dogs and puppies alongside its training pages, so the academy is a breeding and placement operation as well as a training one.