Alpha K-9 Obedience

Alpha K9 Obedience has provided me an amazing set of tools for dealing with my German Shepherd puppies. I have had several breeds of puppies over the years six different times. All of these puppies were intelligent and well behaved. However, the German Shepherd was a "new" breed to me, and without the help of Alpha K9, I would neither have understood nor enjoyed this wonderful, strong and determined kind of dog. We began working with Michael when Max was just 10-1/2 weeks old. Max was a large dog and I am a small woman. My hands were chewed up unbelievably with puppy teeth. Without the help of this animal behaviorist, I would have been lost. We worked together on a weekly basis for a year. Max was very smart and became the perfect (well, nearly) 130 pound dog. Our tiny (3 month) old grandchild could be placed on his side and he would not move. All of our 5 grands could play around and with him indoors and out, and he was kind and gentle, but had the potential to be ferocious. He walked quietly and carefully beside my mother as she exercised following hip replacement surgery every step of the way. He traveled 1900 miles in the back seat of my truck across country with my mother's cat, to visit, stayed quietly in hotels. Without the training and understanding provided by Michael, we would not have reached positive results with the strong willed puppy who wanted to take charge. Always, he was confident and ready to be in control which could not be! Unfortunately, Max had lupus. At 3-1/2 he became anemic and required a complete blood transfusion. He recovered beautifully. Another 3 years later, it happened again and we lost him. This was a heartbreaking loss. Almost immediately we were on the list for another male German Shepherd from the same breeder. In late October, the breeder let us know a young male had been returned to her because he was "too much dog" for the family who had purchased him. Thor came to our home the next day. Personality-wise, he was extremely similar to Max so we expected him to develop from the perfect puppy into the perfect dog. Alpha K9 came out within the week to support us in his training. He is a happy, willing learner, and every bit as strong-willed as our prior shepherd. Michel has worked with us on a bi-weekly and weekly basis since Thor's arrival. My hands were badly damaged just in the first week. Within the first two weeks of working with Michael, we were well established on the right track. As much as we love these shepherds and as amazingly as their minds and bodies develop, I would be very unlikely to consider working with one without the positive reinforcement of Alpha K9 in the process. One moment of weakness and letting them have control requires an incredible amount of repair. I require behavioral "reminders" just as the puppy does to keep developing such an outstanding relationship with these wonderful dogs. At 6 months of age, he is about 55 pounds -- staying on top of the behavior and keeping him entertained (learning) and out of trouble is paving the way to success. We highly recommend Alpha K9.

Twenty-twenty, made it really hard for us to socialize our one-year-old pups, thus, our beloved Reddington was showing some over-protective behavior. When we went outdoors for a walk, he would get triggered by some people and/or dogs, and really tried to launch at them. As he was getting bigger and stronger, it was clearly becoming harder for us to control him, thus raising some concerns. We constantly worried about the potential risk of him hurting someone if this behavior didn't change. Fortunately, someone saw our struggles at the park, and recommended Michael Mandell at Alpha K-9 Obedience, to see if he could help us with our obvious ordeal. Although the first session was mostly to meet the family and dog in question and set the grounds for the type of work to be done, I must say, I was very impressed by the drastically positive change in our dog. After that one day, we learned a lot about our interaction with Reddington, things we needed to change in order to work better with him, and things that we could look forward to in our future sessions. I have to be honest here, I cried at the end of that first session. I was hopeful again. Michael is a very gifted animal behaviorist, and working with him has been a “God Send”. It has allowed us to have more control over Reddington, without so much physical effort. We've seen much improvement with Red's interaction with us and the change in his personality: He seems happier, less stressed, and he looks forward to our training sessions. In our latest session, we were able to walk Reddington around the block to work on his triggers outdoors. It was an intense session, however, because of all the work we had done so far, we were able to handle Red way better; ending up with a positive outcome. I have to clarify that I've seen way more success working with Michael, from Alpha K-9 Obedience, as an animal behaviorist, than I did with any of the previous dog trainers, from day one. Why? The answer is simple. All the training sessions Reddington learned in the past, taught him commands, and yes, he learned them and executed them well enough. However, once he was triggered by random strangers, no command seemed to work to keep him under control. Michael worked with us, to understand this behavior, and taught us how to correct it so that the commands were effective. It doesn't matter how many times you take your dog to a trainer if there is something else going on inside your dog's brain. As I said, at times, Reddington seemed possessed by such anger. It was like a switch that turned our sweet goof-ball of a dog into a different dog blinded by rage; it was scary. Not anymore! That fortunate accident at the park, which lead us to Mr. Mandell, became a blessing in disguise. I am truly grateful for Michael and his gift, to work with both us (humans), and our beloved Reddington. I know there is still a lot to do to keep up improving, but I am confident that we'll get there soon if we keep up the pace and dedication. Furthermore, I plan on paying it forward, by recommending Alpha K-9 Obedience to anyone who has a dog with behavioral issues. My message to you out there is; don't lose hope. It has been incredible to discover another side of our dog, and I wish this for you too, if you empathize with our case. Just give Michael a call, and see if he can help you and your dog, as he has our family. Michael is very easy to work with, and he kindly listens to your concerns. He really focuses on making sure that you understand the work that needs to be done, in a matter that works for both you and your dog. He's also accessible if you have any questions regarding “homework” between sessions, follow-ups, or where to find some tools you might need. All-in-all, I feel we're all pleased at home with the results so far. We can clearly see how happy Reddington gets as we move forward with each session and our day-to-day training. We now feel more connected to Red, because now we understand why he acted the way he did and were able to work on his behavioral issues, thanks to Mr. Mandell.

If you’re looking for a great animal behaviorist Michael will not disappoint. My girlfriend and I have two female German shepherds and the older shepherd had aggression issues towards the younger one to the point of us thinking about re homing one. Our biggest fear became a reality. with Michael’s help we have learned to become better leaders and have completely changed the dynamics in the house. Our two female German shepherds have now bonded and we can’t thank Michael enough.

I have a rescue dog, Willow. She was basically a good dog but had some behaviors that needed changing. She pulled on the leash until I thought my arms were going to be pulled from their sockets. While we were walking and if someone passed us she would try and sneak up behind them to try and take a nip. She did not come when called. She never made eye contact. A friend told me about Alpha K-9 Obedience. Michael and I spoke about respect, reading Willow's energy and being alpha. Over the course of 4-5 sessions I had a different dog. She walks and listens off leash. She will move off the trail if people are approaching. She comes when called. She still doesn't make eye contact all the time, but I am confident with what I learned from Michael, she will. Oh, I forgot to say...all lessons with Michael were over the phone. He is located in Colorado and I am in New Jersey!

My boyfriend and I found Mike after researching a trainer for our almost 2 year old Rottweiler. We finally found Mike and I cannot say enough! When we started our pup Junior had quite a few issues we needed to work on and Mike had no hesitation he was willing to work with us to get Junior obedient. Taking Junior on walks was a nightmare before Mike, Junior would see other dogs and become out of control and wouldn’t listen to us and pulled me around wherever he wanted to go. We also were hesitant about introducing Junior to new people because he would growl and bark and scare off anyone that just wanted to love on him. We have been working with Mike for about 8 months now and Junior has done a complete 180! We are able to take him on long walks without worrying about people or other dogs that we come across, we have gotten to the point thanks to Mike, where Junior doesn’t even look, or pay attention to anything but us while he’s on walks. Each session is so personal which we feel makes all the difference as well. We know that when Mike comes he knows exactly where Junior is in training and what we need to work on next without skipping a beat. I have told anyone and everyone that will listen about Mike and his techniques, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience and we are so grateful for Mike and everything he has taught to us and Junior!