Dog Training Philosophy
Real-World Dog Training Built on Experience
At Michigan Dog Training, our philosophy and approach to dog training is based on a simple belief: effective dog training should create clear communication, dependable behavior, and a stronger relationship between dogs and their owners.
We use a balanced dog training approach that combines positive reinforcement, motivation, structure, and fair corrections. Dogs are first taught what we want them to do through rewards, praise, play, and repetition. Once they understand the behavior, we help them become more reliable around real-life distractions by providing clear guidance, boundaries, and appropriate accountability.
Balanced training is not about intimidating dogs or taking away their personality. It is also not about depending on treats forever. It is about helping each dog understand which behaviors lead to success while giving owners the practical tools they need to communicate confidently and consistently.
Michigan Dog Training founder Michael Burkey brings decades of professional dog training experience, including a background as a Police K9 Officer, Search and Rescue K9 handler and team director, dog behaviorist, and service dog trainer. The precision, consistency, and clear communication required when training working dogs now serve as the foundation for him and his highly skilled team of trainers to help family dogs become calmer, safer, and easier to live with.
Every dog and family is different, so training is customized to the dog’s temperament, behavior, learning style, and the owner’s goals. We help friendly but overly excited dogs learn polite manners and self-control. We help owners achieve dependable obedience and off-leash reliability. We also specialize in more complex needs, including dog aggression, leash reactivity, anxiety-related behavior, and service dog training.
Our goal is not simply to make a dog obey during a training session. We want the dog to respond at home, on walks, around visitors, in public, and during the everyday situations that matter most.
The result is a dog who is more confident, responsive, and enjoyable to live with—and an owner who feels more capable, connected, and in control.
At Michigan Dog Training in Plymouth, Michigan, we do more than teach commands. We help create dependable dogs, confident owners, and partnerships that can succeed in the real world.
- Humane training methods
- Reward based training methods where the dog learns to better his own situation
- Focusing on teaching the dog “what to do” instead of “what not to do”
- Using techniques that 1. prevent problems, 2. manage the dog’s environment and 3. teach alternative desired behaviors
- Breaking learning exercises down into easy to understand components for both dogs and people
- Relieving stress in dogs and people for optimum learning
- Making learning fun for dogs and people
Michigan Dog Training (MDT) is an internationally recognized five star pet dog training company providing:
- behavior solutions,
- obedience training,
- aggression rehabilitation and
- the training of Service Dogs.
We are sought out to train service dogs to negate the disabilities of their handlers.
MDT is also known for:
- providing dog behavior education to families, corporations and the media,
- expert witness services,
- trained Dog Actors for movies and commercials to provide an animal heartfelt story to the sale of life improvement products, and
- emotional enrichment for dogs.
To enhance human and dog relationships to live in harmony together.
We improve family relationships through family based dog training.
- We deliver 5 Star Customer Service
- We Respect people and dogs
- We are Problem Solvers
- We believe in Teamwork
- We demonstrate the upmost Integrity (Truthfulness, Transparency & Responsibility)
- We pursue ongoing Self Development
- We are Effective Communicators and Educators
- We are Professionals
- We hold ourselves Accountable to our values
Michigan Dog Training does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, age, or military veteran status in its employment or in the provision of educational programs and services.