Testimonials

Yesterday may have been Skye's best day ever!!! She had a fabulous time attending Believe in Dog's Fall Festival - romping on the ranch, jumping and swimming in the river and meeting new friends. She even had her tail tip painted blue. It was a perfect event with obvious care and planning.. And none of this would have been possible for Skye a year ago. She was a sweet, smart and energetic 6-month old rescue when she became part of our family, but she was also shy, fearful and reactive. BIDT changed her life...and also ours.

This summer we completed BIDT's Adolescent Basic Manners class with trainers, Lily Conine and Megan Mitchell. Make no mistake, we were definitely being trained right along with our baby which seems to be the key to success. Lily and Megan were fantastic with all of the dogs and their humans. The class was informative, interactive and fun! Skye made such wonderful progress and LOVED going to class. Of course, none of it would have been possible without the foundation of Reactive Rover training with Stephanie and Lily. We can highly recommend the whole team at BIDT for their training approach, in-depth knowledge and personal dedication to making the world a better place for dogs and those who love them.

Believe in Dog has truly been life changing for us!

We adopted an abandoned Great Pyrenees mix named Cora and we had never had a dog who was reactive/fearful before. Cora had a lot of resource guarding and reactivity. Cora did 2 times a week for Puppy day school where she learned to be more confident, new skills, and fell in love with all of her trainers (it's not easy to be in the "Cora Club") so it was amazing for us to have a place she truly felt so happy and loved going to!

Cora successfully completed Puppy class 1 and 2 where she learned so many amazing foundational skills. We had a scary incident and Believe in Dog quickly set us up with a one on one session with Stephanie to dig deeper into the incident and give us ways to better handle and support Cora in the future. Cora has started muzzle training with Julia and Alyssa (she is completely obsessed with both of them and so are we)! The trainers are kind, patient, supportive, and SO knowledgeable. I've never felt so supported as I do at Believe in Dog!

We will soon take their Reactive Rover class to better learn how to handle Cora in those tough situations. Believe in Dog is hands down the best investment you can ever make for your dog and yourself! Every staff member there is so amazing and truly loves the dogs so much. We call it Disneyland for Cora and we are so beyond thankful for their support and the community they have given our sweet Cora! We HIGHLY recommend them, we truly couldn't love them anymore than we do!!

- Steffanie Davenport

Remember our Kipp? You helped us make a great dog out of him! You also made him a “PetTalk” cover star because he would work for treats! Then… the "Sherlock Nose class”… … he was a champion and I must say he never lost the “nose". You were a big part of us helping Kipp be the best he could be after such a “rescue challenge” and we thank you.

Kipp passed today, at 12 1/2.. , still by his side we were. Thank you for helping us to be our best for Kipp.

- Carol Gibson

BIDT is truly a one of a kind, magical dog wonderland!

We take Giuseppe to Puppy Day School and also did Puppy One (a group training class). Giuseppe started off as a very shy, nervous puppy. He didn't really feel great playing with other dogs and wanted nothing more than to be in our laps. After ONE day of PDS, he was obsessed with other dogs and was a totally different dog - confident, fearless, and SO HAPPY! Throughout Puppy One, he learned so many things and it was really helpful to talk to other puppy parents and get some structured training! I would recommend puppy one to any new parents to build a really solid foundation with their pup.

PDS on the other hand, has single-handedly made having a puppy a much more enjoyable, stress-free, and EXCITING experience! The investment is 10000000X worth it. It is so obvious how much time, effort, and intention is put into the curriculum and the structure of the program. This is not a doggy daycare - this is a true training program where they think of absolutely EVERYTHING! From desensitization, crate training, potty training, confidence building, socialization, leash walking, decompression.. they really do it all. They specialize training for every dog and give them a lot of 1-1 time, too. They are absolute experts at what they do and it really shines through. Both PDS and puppy one helped us teach Gio balance and helped strengthen our bond with him. It has really been an invaluable experience!

Most importantly, the people at BIDT is what makes this place really special. From the front desk, the trainers, Stephanie - they all make us feel like Giuseppe is the most special boy ever and shower him with so much love! He has worked with several different trainers and all of them are absolutely incredible - it is so obvious how passionate they are about training dogs. They make the most out of his time there and are invested in his development. When I drop Giuseppe off, he is leaping out of my arms to go inside and see his favorite people! He is so happy to be there which truly shows how much time and thought they put into their puppies having an amazing experience. Leaving your dog with strangers can be a scary experience and BIDT has been so kind so patient with all of my concerns and I know he is in great hands there. A huge shout out to Joanna who has answered endless questions with grace and kindness!

BIDT has allowed us to raise a happy, well-rounded, and very confident puppy. They are a huge blessing and I would recommend them a million times over to anyone with a puppy or dog - for obedience, reactivity, socialization, tricks - anything! The results are incredible and you will not regret giving your dog a training experience at BIDT.

BIDT staff - thank you for being you and doing what you do so incredibly well. You are an extremely special group of people and we are SO grateful for you! We are forever Believers!! :)

Believe In Dog is the absolute best.

Our border collie Holden has completed basic adult manners as well as intermediate skills. He LOVES going to class, and every instructor has been so wonderful. I love that their methods do not involve any sort of punishment or force - only fun, love, and compassion. I have truly seen how these gentle methods not only teach you how to communicate more effectively with my dog, but also strengthen our relationship.

I’m so glad we chose this place and can’t wait for more classes!

- Lauren Donelson

Believe in Dog is the best investment we've ever made for our dog.

We adopted our corgi/beagle mix through a rescue. She came with a lot of anxiety and no former training at all. We always thought she was a reactive dog from how she would interact with other dogs, so we decided to do a consultation with a trainer at Believe in Dog. When we met with our trainer, Lily, we learned so much about our dog and how she communicates and that she is actually not considered reactive. Lily set us up with the Basic Manners class from there and we've now graduated from that and Intermediate Obedience. I've watched my dog become so much more confident since taking their classes. She can train and learn new tricks around other dogs, something we never thought we could've done before. Going to class with our dog every week has strengthened our relationship with her and we're so excited to take more specialty courses!!

Believe in Dog really does a great job of providing a fun, safe and positive environment for you and your dog. They only use positive reinforcement and really tailor your experience for your dog's personality. I always tell people that the classes are almost more for us owners than for the dogs, because they give us the tools necessary to guide our dogs and be their advocates. Not to mention, everyone I've met there has been so kind and helpful. I also love their little store in the front, it has everything we need to keep our dog enriched.

- Jennifer Truong

I absolutely LOVE this place!! I have a 5 month old Doberman puppy and have tried other highly recommended trainers and they all wanted to put choke collars on her or prongs & e-collars, I believed I could get her trained without the use of those collars. I had found Believe in Dog Training after I had already put money down on a trainer, so I figured I would just go with my original plan and use the guy I gave my money to even though my gut was telling me to cancel that, and sign my puppy up with Believe in Dog. Come to find out after the guy comes out to my house and spends 4 hours with me and my dogs, he tells me he is not a dog trainer!!! I couldn’t believe it! I knew I should have listened to my gut and I immediately called Stephanie Bennett’s Believe in Dog Training.

It must have been fate because I took the last spot in a training group class the very next day, and I didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for the classes! Stephanie Bennett’s Believe in Dog Training is all positive reinforcement and they help you build a trusting and loving relationship with your puppy. The day school is my all time favorite thing in the world! I know my puppy is getting the attention she needs, training and playing, plenty of naps. This is not a daycare this is strictly to help with socializing them properly and introducing them to all kinds of things, I can tell you I didn’t think of half of the things they use to socialize your puppy.

I am so grateful to have found this place. I truly believe this is exactly where my puppy and I were supposed to go. She is learning so much from this place and so am I! She comes home from day school pooped and well behaved. I 1million % enjoy our weekly group training classes, Cayla is really patient and great with the puppies. There is so much going on for the puppies. I have seen such a change in my puppy’s behavior and I now know how to transition our training sessions to home. I was really struggling with a training routine and wasn’t sure I was doing things right. I get homework every week to work on and I love that!! I now know what to work on and when and how!!!

This is the only place I’ll ever take any of my puppies ever again. I’m blown away at this place and the staff, they all care and not one single person has that I don’t want to be at work attitude, they all love being there and you can tell. I don’t even like going places and I look forward to bringing my puppy here for all of her stuff and hanging out after classes with the staff for a few minutes chatting away. They are literally the nicest people you will ever meet, I can’t recommend this place enough! I’m completely hooked and can’t get enough of their store full of goodies!!

What can we say! Being one of BIDT’s first customers has always been an honor for us. 5 years ago, we got our beautiful boy just days before Hurricane Harvey hit and we lost not only part of our house, but my father too. Thanks to Stephanie, we had the much needed help to train one of the smartest dogs I have ever owned. And I have owned a few! I remember Stephanie coming to our house 5 years ago to talk about our boy and started training right away. He is kinda of a goofball, but we love him that way. He loves Stephanie and everyone that works there. No matter how long it has been Wolfe always knows and remembers that Stephanie is that treat lady. Only if he behaves around her. She has always been a great friend, and has even accepted our other dog who flunked out of puppy Kindergarten and was asked to leave. Unfortunately, Ruby missed out on the wealth of knowledge that Stephanie and all her wonderful crew have to offer. When therapy dog training wasn’t a good fit for Wolfe, she guided us into the sport of dock diving and what a champion he became. Making it to the Nationals in his first year competing. ABC-13 has even done a story on how wonderful he really is but he would not be the dog he is without Believe in Training!

Believe in Dog was one of those happy accidents I stumbled upon looking for a puppy class for my shy Italian greyhound puppy. We live in the center of this noisy, chaotic Houston metropolis, so a pooch on the verge of a nervous breakdown wasn’t going to cut it. Very quickly the B in D cool and knowledgeable group of dog trainers turned my puppy from a timid, shy introvert into a confident urban girl, that I can take anywhere and everywhere sans problem. I will forever be grateful to the Believe in Dog crew, they are an absolute wonder, thank you. 

       - Paris

Archie was adopted from Second Chance Pets, a wonderful rescue organization based in League City. He and a litter mate had been dumped off Hwy 3, and Archie had hip dysplasia, rare for a puppy of just seven or eight months old, so it's possible he'd been hit by a car. The rescue paid for an initial hip surgery, but X-rays revealed he would need a second surgery to relieve his pain.

The day surgery was scheduled, Archie jumped off a piece of furniture and, due to his hip injury, landed with all his weight on his left front leg, which broke in two places. The repair was complex, requiring hardware, stabilization, and crate confinement. This all had to happen *before* his hip could be repaired.

When his leg hardware was removed, the second hip surgery was performed, and we began another long road to healing. He was doing very well and we finally started taking walks to rehab his hip. On one of these walks, he was attacked by a large off-leash dog who went after his "lame" leg. Thankfully, the wounds were superficial and we resumed rehab, but confined walking to our yard. Sadly, a lot of emotional damage was done, and with little to no socialization, Archie became a very reactive dog.

When we moved to a new place, he was excited to take walks again! But that meant seeing other dogs, and he was Not A Fan. A dog could be as far away as multiple blocks and Archie would stiffen, then growl or even lunge if another dog got too close (meaning as much as 50-100 feet away). I didn't know what to do. For months we crossed streets, doubled back, walked at "off" times, and sometimes, I'd just have to scoop him up and take him home because he was so overwhelmed.

I made an appointment with Believe in Dog behaviorist Caroline Mattioli and learned more in 90 minutes than I had in more than two years. She explained how Archie's reactivity is emotion-based, and we discussed strategies for his walks that would help ease his anxiety. The work is incremental, but I've seen huge changes in Archie's responses to dogs on his walks. His "threshold" for reactivity is down significantly (we can walk right across the street from other dogs! Sometimes a bit closer!) and instead of reacting to dogs, he looks at me for reassurance (and cheese ... so much cheese). He's a calmer, more confident walker.

We also joined Reactive Rover class, where I knew he would be really challenged due to his lack of socialization. Both of us were nervous, and at the first class, he wouldn't even get out of his carrier. But by class 4, he was practicing good habits while being able to see other dogs across the room -- including a Bernese Mountain Dog! I was thrilled with his progress!

We can't thank the trainers at Believe in Dog enough for their support throughout our whole learning process, which is ongoing.

- Julianna Arnim

Believe in Dog Puppy Day School, where to begin - AMAZING!!!! Just a super experience for my daughter's chocolate lab pup and us too. We all gained from and loved this experience. All her trainers were superb - so kind, caring and knowledgeable. She enjoyed going so much she would be sitting for her momma at the bottom of the stairs ready to get in the truck and go! Not our first puppy but we still learned new things and new ways to do things. Danielle and Joanna in the office were superb too - kind, helpful and knowledgeable in explaining everything when we called. Big HUGE thank you to everyone, it is greatly appreciated. PS Please can you open a High School so we can continue bringing her. She's sitting nicely saying please with her cutest puppy dog eyes :-)

Tracey Williams

The trainers and techniques they follow are amazing at Believe in Dog. If you follow the HW assigned and read through all the material they send you, you'll be amazed at the well-trained puppy you'll end with after just a few months.

The most useful part of the day school program for me was the socialization aspect that they focus on. It was something I struggled with my previous dog on, while Loki is now a social butterfly after his time here.

Most importantly, seeing Loki's reaction everyday was definitely the main selling point. Your dog will tell you how much they enjoy a place. Seeing his excited and wagging tail every morning I dropped him off told me everything I needed to know.

Yi

I brought Dynamo to BiD when she became too reactive to take group rally classes. I was feeling pretty hopeless, but after a couple of private sessions and a Reactive Rover class, I saw a dramatic improvement. I still take the occasional class here, it helps me gauge our progress. Dyna has improved to the point that one morning as we were leaving the dog park (if you have a reactive dog you understand the peace of 6 am exercise), we came face to face with two loose dogs and she didn’t react. She looked at them calmly, then willingly walked with me back into the dog park. She then proceeded to play through the fence with the smaller one. Not one bark or screaming frenzy. Don’t get me wrong - this was an incredibly good experience but she is still reactive. It’s just that after BiD her reactivity is manageable and she is still improving. The skills BiD has taught me has improved our quality of life immensely. Highly recommend.

- Valerie Faour

My dog Skye is a rescue. She came to us from a very difficult situation when she was approximately one year old. She was extremely skittish. She would tremble in fear. She had not been trained to walk on a leash or ride in a car. She was basically afraid of everything. She had not been properly socialized. We worked with her for approximately 8 months before bringing her to Believe in Dog in order to build her trust in us before attempting to train her. When we first started she would tremble in class. She ended up being awarded "most improved confidence" at the end of beginner class. She completed both the beginner and intermediate training classes. A well trained dog is a most loved dog! Thank you Believe in Dog.

The picture is of Skye and I attending a Social event with
Golden Beginnings Golden Retriever rescue. - Cheryl Yetz

When we decided to get a chocolate labrador we knew that we were in for a handful and would need some serious training. When we found Stephanie Bennett, we had no idea that 7yrs later we would have a pack of 3 chocolates, with each of them going thru her puppy classes and daycare.

When we decided to add Jaxson to the family, before we even got him, I had called to make puppy day school reservations and get him a spot in a puppy 1 class.

Adding an 8 week old puppy to the family is no easy task but with Stephanie and her team helping us every step of the way, it made getting thru all the puppy nightmares so much easier.

Tailer was an amazing teacher for our puppy 1 class. He made everything fun and safe for all the dogs. He was an amazing resource when it came to some struggles we had with crate training and was always available for questions.

Now with Jax in puppy 2 classes, Austin & Zoey are not the only ones getting a good refresher. Most importantly, we are too. Stephanie has a 6th sense with the dogs, but really is training all the humans!

Her lessons last a lifetime and Austin who is 7, is the master at obedience. Zoey, she's 6, and while stubborn, she knows all the things. Jax, he's 7 months now, was bred for hunting and has the most energy I have ever seen in a lab. Her techniques even work on him. We are able to get him to focus, behave and respond to us...at least most of the time.

We go to the dog park quite often to get their energy out and literally every single time we are there, at least one person comments on how well behaved our dogs are. Even with Jax, people are amazed that a 7 month old lab will come to me when I call his name, even with a million distractions around.

To say that I would recommend Stephanie and her team is an understatement. Joanna usually answered the phone and was always so willing to help answer questions and make recommendations. Hayley helped us in our private lesson before Jax started day school. She was spot on with suggestions on how to do things differently to help us make life easier with Jax. The little tweaks she made to our commands with him helped so much and she has been an endless resource. From also helping us with the crate training to giving me suggestions to help wear Jax out, before I go crazy! Everyone on the team is just so awesome with the dogs.

The value that you get back from the bond with your dog for the rest of your life is priceless. For as long as we add more dogs to our pack, every one of them will go thru her program. Stephanie is the real deal.

Erica Popowitch

Dear Stephanie,

When Liesel arrived home on Wednesday, the family was tickled to see her wearing the BIDT scarf and her fabulously painted nails…our cute girl! She didn’t want to take the scarf off later! We cooed and she pranced. Thank you for loving on her!

Thank you as well for all the photos, the videos, and for her wonderful bag of goodies. She loves to chew on bones, chews, etc and has been so excited to dig into these presents.

We feel so very grateful to have participated in BIDT. As someone once reviewed and I echo this sentiment — puppies have so much fun doing what you ask of them during Puppy Day School that they do not resist the learning process. The magnitude of what you teach the puppies — fit paws, learning to skateboard, the mental stimulations, the obedience, plus so much more is awe-inspiring and quite amazing!

This chapter in Liesel’s life and the enormous part you played in it will be fondly and forever treasured.

We wish you all the very best,

Susan and Walker Beavers