Houston Dog Behavior

We were having several problems with our rescue puppy. She was fearful which led to aggressive behavior. With Michaels help she has become a loving family dog. His services were worth the time and money.

We are so glad my wife found Michael Curran to get us acquainted with Bruce, our rescue Golden Retriever. My wife had never had dogs before and developed a phobia towards Bruce after a couple months of having him. His zoomies along with him jumping on the bed and occasionally on her had her flustered. We were in a bad place which gave rise to thoughts of rehoming Bruce. Michael came in with a plan and allowed us to understand Bruce and calm him down with exercises which we performed diligently. He said it from the get go that the training was more for my wife and how she could understand Bruce better. After just a couple sessions, she was able to overcome all her fears and regain her trust in Bruce. Michael was always available via text and calls and his advice came in handy on some particularly tough days and nights. His constant encouragement was much appreciated and we really are glad we found Michael. I highly recommend Michael to anyone who is thinking of getting a dog or owns a dog because after going through his sessions, you get closer to your dog and have a great long lasting relationship!

Michael was a pleasure to work with. I contacted him about a VERY high-​energy 5 month old puppy (viszla) to help us give her a good foundation for obedience, but in a positive way. He spent many hours with us teaching our puppy the «basics» like patience and focus through positive reinforcement. He clearly loves dogs, especially puppies, and it was great to work within someone who cares about our puppy as much as we do. He never rushed us, and offered endless resources. I enjoyed hearing his perspective on the psychology of dogs, such as reading their signs, and this helped us understand our dog better. Finally, I was pregnant, and his tips/​resources for planning for dog/​baby were also much appreciated.

Michael is great with dogs — as anyone would expect of a dog trainer — but even better is that he’s great with pet owners! I joked that he was training me and my bf more than the dogs, but it was kind of true… We had a lot to learn about how to work with our foster dog and our dog, and some bad Cesar Milan ideas that needed changing. We made a lot of progress with our boys, and ended up keeping the foster! I wish we had had Michael around earlier to help train our first dog from the start.
Our issues were minor, compared to most Michael deals with: Doc had some separation anxiety, confinement issues, light destructive behavior, lack of boundaries, no concept of how to be a pet («what, we don’t walk on the dining room table?!»), and was slow to housebreak. But Michael specializes in handling aggression, so you should especially contact him if you need help on that front.
My boyfriend and I are better pet owners thanks to Michael. Even if you think you know what you’re doing, I promise you’ll benefit from a session (or four) with him. And as an added bonus, he is very accessible via text, email, and phone — so your random late night questions and frustrations are likely to get a quick response.
An important note to close: unless you send your furbaby off to doggie boot camp, no trainer can work wonders without your help. Commit to doing the homework with your dog every day, and you will see significant progress. Good luck!

Micheal literally saved my dogs life. I was at my wits end of what to do with her. I decided to try one more training before putting her down because of her aggression, (shes been kicked out of 2) I called Micheal and can not say enough good things. Within the first 3 sessions I can truly see a more relaxed and calm dog. I have learned things about dogs that I never knew. He has taught me why my dog acts like she does and how to control her and get her to relax. He is always accessible when I have questions and even encourages me to call more often. I no longer dread having people come over because my dog is so much more relaxed and does not want to eat them anymore. Thank you Micheal! He truly is a «dog whisperer»

I won’t comment on Michael Curran’s training methods as I didn’t work with him long enough to see any benefit. What I can comment on is that he promised to refund part of the large fee I had paid him, since his training methods were not helpful to me. He never refunded the money that he agreed to refund, and would not return calls. If you want to work with someone who does not keep his word, is evasive and unprofessional, this is your trainer.

I had such an issue with my 18 month pit/​lab calming down. After the first two sessions I could see a tremendous improvement! Doing the simple exercises everyday and integrating them in my route really instills calming behavior. Of course it will always be a work in progress to keep it up but these training sessions have made things so much easier!
Thanks so much Michael!

My husband and I contacted Michael for behavioral issues with our 3.5 yr old Shiba Inu, Archer. Archer recently started guarding food and toys at our friends house with their other dogs. He was also not behaving well on walks and barking at the front door. Michael taught us SO much about dog behavior and how to read dogs. He also gave us the tools to help Archer with his problems. Michael was very promt in answering emails or texts and always had a great attitude. The entire training package we got included Michael coming to our house as well as an online journal for us to write in that Michael would review and post suggestions. One thing I should make clear is that training your dog and dealing with behavioral issues is not a one time fix kinda thing. YOU as a dog owner have to put in the work with your dog. You cannot expect results if everytime the trainer leaves, you go back to your old ways. We saw awesome results with Archer and are still using Michaels training techniques because they work so well. I highly recommend Houston Dog Behavior training with Michael.