K9 Connection

Tyler's crew and our trainer Sami were amazing with our German Shepherd, Roxy. We got immediately applicable strategies to try and things to curb her bad manners on leash. They're not opposed to tools like the E collar or prong collars. And that's a good thing! You want your trainer to be open to proven tools. Not everyone can solve every dog's problems with positive reinforcement only. This contrasts to some popular YouTubers who never seem to have a potential bigger scary dog featured in their videos. Highly recommended if you want to teach your dog to be the best they can be and strengthen your bond with your best bud.

K9 Connection helped our nearly 5 year old Golden Retriever and us overcome his anxious, fear reactive, grieving behaviors and our own fears of aggressive dogs. Loren Danaher was the perfect trainer for Griffin’s concerns. She was very calm and steady with him and he responded very positively to her direction. By the end of the first week, she solved the issue of him not wanting to get out of the car, to come reliably when called and to stay in Place (we learned this but never truly understood the immense benefits of utilizing this command). We sent her videos of problems we had during our weekend times together and she would respond back how we should approach the problem — corrections we needed to make so he would respond the way we wanted. She also could see what issues she needed to work on for the next week of training. She literally sat in the bathroom with the fan on and walked him by a building with a noisy outside A/C for a week to help desensitize him to the noise our A/C units made. What a relief as the week he came home after training, the temperatures were in the 90s and we could use our A/C without him freaking out! During our end of week training session, Loren showed us what Griffin learned and then taught us how to procure the same response she could get from him. She gently pointed our learning opportunities and how we may be sending him mixed/confusing messages. Loren continued to be responsive to e-mails and questions during weekends and the months following his completion of the program. We followed their post-training instructions exactly and I highly recommend everyone who invested their resources in training to do so. Griffin was, as many reviews say, a “different” or “well-behaved dog” after he got home. However, we were prone to making the same mistakes that reinforced his problem areas in the first place. The two month protocol was important to keep his training and ours reinforced. When we strayed from the instructions, we knew it immediately, because he responded to reverting to our old ways of being with him with his old undesirable behaviors. Not his fault—he is looking for his cues on how to behave from us. When he starts to relapse to undesirable behaviors, we know that the first thing we have to do is check our own behavior. Extra Kudos to Meghan who responded quickly to all communications with her and provided much needed reassurance that K9 Connections would be able to help us when no one else seemed to think it possible. Six months later: *He has a reliable recall—we can even have him off lead and on his remote collar only in safe locations. *We can use A/C without him freaking out. *We can use the stove/oven and he will come in the kitchen or not retreat to the farthest corner of the house. *He still notices new things and with simple encouragement he will “check it out” vs run from it or refuse to pass it. *He doesn’t lunge at other dogs. If they are approaching him when they are out of control, he will react but we recognize this is normal behavior for a dog under these circumstances. Loren taught us that we are protecting our dog when we cross a street or avoid the poor behavior of other dogs.

If you're like me and think that $4k (for a board & train) is an insane amount of money to spend on training your dog, you might want to instead consider it an investment in your mental health. I was worried this wouldn't benefit Harley because she is 5.5 years old and has been leash aggressive (and off-leash intense) for over 3 years, but I could see a difference in her demeanor after just the first week. I feel so confident walking her around the neighborhood and the staff at K9 connection helped me realize that she just needs some structure to be a really well behaved dog. You have to do what they tell you, and continue the structure they put in place forever after the board & train, but if you do it you'll likely see a dramatic change in your dog's behavior. We are continuing Harley's socialization through day training at K9 Connection, which is a great opportunity if you're in the Buffalo area. In the end I am happy to have spent as much money as I did/continue to, as it's allowed me to breathe easily for the first time in years; and Harley benefits tremendously from the structure (and exercise, now that I feel I can walk her anywhere!) in her life.