K9 City

A serious lifesaver. My corgi never got out of the terrible puppy phase and would act on urges. He bolted from me one day and at wit's end, I called Paul. He's given me sooo much confidence in handling him and my dog is so much calmer and submissive. I always tell my dog, "want to go see Paul?" And he's so stoked to see him. I recommend anyone with any dog, any personality, any background to go to K9 city.

We have worked with Paul with 3 generations of rescues over the last 20 years and have recommend countless people to him. He has an authentic method of training that empowers an owner to become the best trainer for a dog that they can be by establishing a clear hierarchy and then working from there. Paul has helped us turn rescues with behavioral issues into loving parts of our family. I cannot recommend his training enough.

So glad we took our pup to Paul. About 15-20 years ago he worked with two of my parents' dogs growing up via home visits/lessons (a Mini Dachshund and a St Bernard). So when I realized my 10 month old St Bernard mix was acting aggressive towards people after nipping at a neighbor, my parents referred me to Paul. First, we took our pup (Oliver) in for a consultation. The consultation was a little over an hour and he stayed until after 7pm to meet with us. Paul has a very direct style and was honest with us about what he saw in Oliver. While he's seen much, much, much worse, he said human aggression could be in his DNA and unfixable, but he was willing to spend time with him and had some exercises he wanted to try. I was pretty defeated after the consultation because I was hoping he would say this is fixable. But this was our reality and I wasn't going to give up on our dog just yet. We ended up scheduling him for a day lesson with just Paul at k9 city, with a private lesson involving us afterwards. When we showed up at the end of the day for the private lesson, Oliver was acting different than I've ever seen. Paul told us about the day and said without us around, he was actually a really good dog. (Like I said, Paul is direct with his approach, so for a split second it hurt our feelings but woke us up at the same time). Turns out we "dog parents" were part of his problem... We were not direct/commanding enough with Oliver (babied him too much), therefore he felt the need to protect himself. He had taken obedience classes for sit/stay/lay down etc but I had never seen him so focused on leash as he was when Paul had him. Paul told us that he was even able to use some of the neighbors around K9 City throughout the day to practice around strangers (they are apparently used to him coming around with dogs who have issues). Oliver was suddenly a working dog and we were coached how to keep him attentive to us, and how as dog parents we could show him we are "pack leaders". We left with some exercises that we implemented the next few weeks before booking our second private lesson to learn "come" - so he will come to us no matter the distraction even off leash (dogs, people, food, animals, if he has something he shouldn't etc). Oliver's progress has been amazing - but no matter what Paul can do/teach he was adamant that it's up to the dog owner to follow through with the exercises. We have been diligent every day in practicing at least one of the exercises, and are still cautious with Oliver around new people, but have absolutely seen a change for the better in our dog. I definitely recommend at least a consultation if you have a dog with aggression or an issue. I re-homed a dog due a number of years ago due to dog-aggression with another one of my dogs and even though he has an amazing home and family now I am so sad that I didn't know about/take him to Paul.