Utah Dog Training Tailored to Fit You and Your Dog’s Needs

A dog’s obedience is determined only by the owner’s expectations. A good dog trainer can help you set the proper expectations for you and your dog. In most cases the dog owners under estimate what their dog can do. We can help with that, we want you to enjoy your dog more and your dog to have the freedom to spend more time with you. More Manners = More Freedom

Services Pricing Call Us: 801-592-1524

Services

BOARD AND TRAIN
Let us do the work! your dog will come live with us for 4 weeks and train with us multiple times a day and become a Top Dog. We will work on behavioral issues, socialization, basic obedience and build confidence. We will update you at least 2 times a week and at the end of the 4 weeks we will show you how to continue with the training so that the it sticks. We transfer the Dog Whisperer baton to you. Then we are always there for you to answer questions and help with any issues that may come up.
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1 ON 1 TRAINING
This is for the dog owner who has the time and drive to do all the heavy lifting (the training) with our support. This is a great way to train your dog especially if you don’t want to be away from your dog for a long period of time. But you must be consistent. It is like piano lessons, if you only practice during your lesson in front of the teacher, it will be a slow and disappointing process. It is the same with our 8 week Top Dog program, you need to be consistent and put in the time training you dog, or it will be a slow and disappointing process for you and your dog. But if you do the work this is the program for you and your dog. You will learn together.
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BOARDING
Need boarding for the holidays? We are here for you and your dog just might get some free training while he/she is here. Your fur baby will be staying with us in our home not in a warehouse or shelter style facility. Your pup will have crate time, free time in our back yard and at least one walk a day.
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PUPPY TRAINING
Start your puppy off right, enroll them in Top Dog Puppy School. This will give your puppy a great foundation in learning just like grade school is the foundation for high school and high school is for college.
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Questions Call Us 801-592-1524

OUR STORY

Trainers Bart and Jeff (not Mutt and Jeff) Met while attending Innovative K9 Academy’s Dog trainer school. They made a connection because they both had reactive dogs and they were determined to learn how to curb their dog’s reactivity.

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Both Bart and Jeff have owned and worked with dogs most of their lives but wanted to put structure behind their life experiences getting training from one of the top K9 training academy’s in the nation Innovative K9 Academy. It was a hands on 8 week course where Bart and Jeff were able to get their hands and over a hundred dogs of different sizes, ages, breeds and personalities. They both graduated with honors.

They didn’t intend on combining forces but two heads are better than one. They joined forces training their own dogs. They discussed situations and issues with their dogs, then bouncing ideas off of each other to solve the problems. It became obvious that they could provide greater value to their clients and clients dogs by doing the same. Hence their partnership was created.


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Certification

Bart and Jeff are both certified graduates of the K9 Academy method of dog training. This elite training uses techniques that adapt to your dog’s learning style. Our goal is to train your dog and empower you with the the skills to do what it takes to continue to receive the results you are seeking.

Simply put, this method works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Board and Train

There can be a little bit of anxiety, they are in a new place around new people and learning new things but they are in a home not a warehouse that could feel like a shelter situation. We take great care of your fur baby and create the optimal situation for their growth and learning to help your dog become the best dog they can be.

Before you take your dog home we will teach you all you need to know so that our training transfers to you and your family. We will send you videos before you pick your dog up and then the day of we will do an extensive training with you and your dog, a transfer of power if you will, we will have 2 follow up sessions if you need. Also we are always available by phone, text or email for you to address any questions or issues that come up.

Your dog will be staying in my home inside our house, not a warehouse or factory dog training facility. We take great care in making sure that you dog is well taken care of and watched over paying close attention to health and anxiety issues. We do offer a free evaluation to discuss all of the details so that both you and us feel comfortable.

We only train a max of 4 dogs at a time so that your dog gets the attention that he needs and deserves so that he will become a Top Dog so depending on our availability we will get you in as soon as possible. You can get your free evaluation done now – put down a non-refundable $500 deposit to save your spot.

We can do puppy training before six months old but for our obedience training your dog needs to be older than six months.

No, not with board and train because it is not less work for the second dog.

Here at Top Dog Dog Training we take a balanced approach to training. Not positive only and not correction only. We provide a fun positive atmosphere where we create proper boundaries that are fair, humane and consistent. If you are looking for a positive only trainer that is not us. We use lots of positive motivation with fair, humane communication and correction.

Yes, we guarantee our work and that we use proven, humane techniques. We guarantee that we will be available to help with any questions or issues that may come up. We also have two follow-up sessions to help the training for both you and your dog last. We hold group sessions that are free for you to attend, a good place for you to keep up on the training. It would not be fair guarantee anything further. Because with any living thing, we cannot always predict how they will behave. Guarantees in behavior modification are dishonest and unethical as behavior is not static. Medical issues, household compliance, environmental conditions and repeated exposure to triggers can cause behavior change.

1 on 1 Training

The first few sessions will be done at your home but there will be times that
We meet at a park, HomeDepot or other places that have distractions.

Each session will be about 45 minutes to an hour. It depends on your dog’s attention span and the number of questions that you have. We want to make sure that you understand all the information so that you are able to complete the week’s homework.

You should plan on working with your dog a minimum of 15 minutes a day, ideally 15 to 30 minutes twice a day. This will also depend on your dog’s attention span.

Yes, we guarantee our work and that we use proven, humane techniques. We guarantee that we will be available to help with any questions or issues that may come up. We also have two follow-up sessions to help the training for both you and your dog last. We hold group sessions that are free for you to attend, a good place for you to keep up on the training. It would not be fair guarantee anything further. Because with any living thing, we cannot always predict how they will behave. Guarantees in behavior modification are dishonest and unethical as behavior is not static. Medical issues, household compliance, environmental conditions and repeated exposure to triggers can cause behavior change.

Yes absolutely, the amount of discount would depend on the situation but something can definitely be workout.

We can do puppy training before six months old but for our obedience training your dog needs to be older than six months.

Here at Top Dog Dog Training we take a balanced approach to training. Not positive only and not correction only. We provide a fun positive atmosphere where we create proper boundaries that are fair, humane and consistent. If you are looking for a positive only trainer that is not us. We use lots of positive motivation with fair humane communication and correction.

our reviews

Finally, our dog Joey can relax

Our rescue dog Joey was boarding with Bart for a while we were out of town. We didn’t discuss any formal training, we talked about what we had been working on. Our dog has never been aggressive, but his time as a stray had made him hypervigilant and was presenting a big challenge in a home with three small children. Before his time with Bart, any time anyone even shifted in their seat, Joey would be alert and checking to make sure we were all safe. Now we have been able to sit and watch movies, take naps, and play while he relaxes. We are really grateful for the work Bart did with Joey, especially on settling, it’s really improved the quality of life for us and our dog.

Elyssa Zimmerman

Bart did such a wonderful job helping us train our goldendoodle

Boone! Boone was pulling on the leash and wouldn’t come when we called. Bart gave us step by step training to gradually train Boone to follow these commands! And the results were QUICK! I couldn’t believe the difference in Boones behavior even after just ONE session working with Bart. Bart was very knowledgeable and patient and kind with our dog. We highly recommend Bart!

Beth Farmer

We left our big dog with Bart for 9 days. He was amazing.

Our dog is a handful. She is energetic and demanding and requires a lot of exercise and attention. We had no idea we were going to get dog training with boarding! Bart sent us daily pictures and took such good care of her. She was calmer when we brought her home and we plan on doing more training with Bart. Your dog will beg to stay there! Thank you, Bart!

Becky H.

Customized Training

We welcomed a 6-month-old miniature (30lb) Bernadoodle into the family . As much for safety as well as fun we explored training. A local training center in Las Vegas, 4 weeks away from home was recommended. What we saw at site visit was a warehouse environment housing 20 dogs in individual cages. A woman was leaving her dog who was being dragged by training leash away from tearful owner into the facility. Not for us.

After considerably more research we happily discovered Top Dog and Bart Merrell. The 4 week away training is done in his loving home environment with 3 other dogs. There is plenty of play and petting between training sessions. Although an e-collar was used ( and I was very skeptical and averse to negative reinforcement) Patches came back to us happy, not fearful, eager to train more and as goofy as ever.

Bart customizes the curriculum to needs and wants of the owner and individualizes the use of the e-collar to the particular dog’s temperament. Patches could be easily distracted but only vibrate mode was necessary most of the time and if electric muscle stimulation was necessary, only a minimal setting was sufficient.

When we got him back he fulfilled our expectation: come on command even with distraction, walk perfectly on leash, walk in heel position off leash, down-stay until release , rest on a cot “ bed” until released. Of course the training continues now at home with treats and vibration ( he’s a kid and pushes limits) but loves the training and eagerly responds to praise. Even our grandkids can put him through his paces. He’s becoming our perfect dog.

Bottom line, if you entrust your dog to Bart and Top Dog, you will not be disappointed.

Lawarnce Gardner

Boxer with Fear Aggression

Bart did such a good job with our boxer (Roxi)! She had some fear-based reactivity with dogs. 
She would fight with my girlfriend’s dog quite often, since going through Top Dog Board and Train program we’ve not had hardly any issues. Go see him if you want your dog trained!

Carson Bowdren

German Shepherd Obedience

Bart was extremely helpful and wonderful to work with. He helped with my German Shepard Mix Maverick and he is now pretty obedient. I would highly recommend giving Top Dog Dog Training a call if you are interested in training your puppy!

Christopher Facer

Strong Willed Ovcharka

We have a wonderful Ovcharka. Very strong willed, very large breed dog who without training could easily be a difficult and even dangerous dog. We are experienced dog owners but felt it necessary to invest in our pet and ensure we had established the right foundation for him in our home. We asked Bart to work with us and train “Tommy”. We had such an amazing result, Tommy did super well and all the basic moves of command were taught. Moreover you can see how much Bart loves his job and pours that affection into Tommy. This was excellent money well spent, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Bart updated us regularly with pictures and audio updates. We have maintained the training and now at 12 months we are confident at taking Tommy anywhere with everyone.

Lyndon Smith