K9 Guide Dog Training

I have a 3 year old Belgian Malinois. I have worked with my Mal with Collin since he was 6 months old when we had the opportunity. Collin was located in IL. when I first met and worked my Mal with him. I was beyond happy when Collin relocated to Ohio and began working with K9 Guide Dog Training. Events in my life in 2023 caused me to be negligent in maintaining and leveling up my Mals training. And by the end of the year, while he’s an exceptionally good dog, I could see the deterioration in his training, focus, engagement, behaviors. I was elated to now (the end of February 2024) be able to work consistently with Collin at K9GDT. First, I attended a 3 day seminar, hosted by K9GDT, presenting the NEPOPO ideology and application. Collin being 1 of 2 NEPOPO Gold Certificate presenters for the seminar. I learned so much in those 3 days. Next, while consistently practicing, daily, exercises presented to me at the seminar, I started private sessions with Collin at K9GDT. I am incredibly happy to be working with Collin one on one with my dog. Collin is so talented with and a wealth of knowledge about dogs. His ability to read dogs is uncanny. In addition to being a superior trainer with dogs in general, Collin thoroughly knows, understands, and works extensively with Malinois, which is my 1st requirement in a potential trainer. Collin has taught me so so much about training my dog, which is ultimately what dog training is, in my opinion; a professional trainer training the owner how best to train their dog. Collin is currently helping me to improve my dogs existing obedience skills, teaching me different exercises to strengthen clicker response, focus, marker recognition, e collar use, exercises to encourage my dog to use his brain/think for himself, and Collin is remotely (through text and video) instructing me in conditioning my Mal to using a slatmill. He (my dog) started out scared of the apparatus. At this point he is comfortable getting on and off of it, and also able to be comfortable on it wearing a harness and hooked to the slatmill. He’s enjoying the conditioning to the machine, progressing well. My goal is for him to enjoy being on it and burning up some energy. 😁 I love working with Collin. My Mal thoroughly enjoys Collin! I’ve met Yana and Jimmie (Fall 2023) through Collin and I like them both very much. I drive an hour and a half, one way, to work with Collin. Worth it. Highly recommend K9GDT.

Finding K-9 Guide Dog Training is the best thing that has happened to our family. Our Teddy is a 2 yr old Golden. He was not your typical Golden. UPS didn't come in our yard, he would corner Amazon drivers in the corner of our porch, and he would jump at people when they came in our house. I would have to have two leashes on him when we went for a walk because heaven forbid we see another dog... Never, ever could we take him anywhere! We were so afraid he was going to hurt someone. I went on the hunt to find a trainer that could help our Teddy. I found K9 Guide Dog online and read all about them. I made an appointment for them to come to our home. I liked Yana as soon as she got out of her car. She came in (I had Teddy on a leash) and we talked about everything and what would be best for Teddy. Yana is so nice and truly cares about helping you and your pup! I decided on the in-home training and signed with her that day. I was very confident they were going to be perfect for us! It's so easy to schedule training appointments. Collin came into the picture at our first appointment. He is just awesome and I can't say enough good things about him. Collin trains both Teddy and me! I think I needed more training than Teddy. Collin's dog, Douglas, is the best trained dog I have ever seen! Yana, Jimmie, and Collin have all worked with Teddy. They are all phenomenal trainers and people! They care about you and your dog and want you to succeed. They are passionate about what they do and it shows! Teddy is a different dog from training with them. I walk him now with no problems and I just lightly hold the leash. We had two people come to our house this week with no problems!! We went to Lowes for a training lesson. He did so well I couldn't believe it! They knew Teddy was not an aggressive dog but just needed some help with his confidence. We are at the end of our training but we get to go to group classes. I am not worried at all about taking Teddy there! They have different programs to choose from so you can pick what is best for you. I highly recommend K9 Guide training and we are so glad we found them. They have made our life with Teddy better! To say they have changed our life is an understatement. I could cry because of how happy I am with everything they have done for us.....and I think I have..haha I hope you enjoy working with them as much as I have.

If you do not feel like reading this whole review, just take this: K9 Guide WILL NOT disappoint, 10/10 recommend! We met Yana in October of 2023 and went with the Hybrid program that K9 Guide offers. Our girl Molly was struggling with reactivity when walking and was an all-around anxious girl. Working with Collin, Jimmie, Yana, Wes, and everyone at K9 Guide has absolutely changed Molly’s world. Before working with K9 Guide, Molly needed anxiety medication every day and we would work our walks around times that we anticipated others would not be walking their dogs. After, Molly no longer needs her anxiety medication, and we have the confidence to take Molly for a walk at any time of the day! Finding a dog trainer is so hard, it is a huge investment of your time and money, I can promise you that working with K9 Guide will change your life and be well worthwhile! For other dog parents of reactive furbabies, something that I ran into when researching dog trainers were dog trainers promising to “fix” Molly’s reactivity. We knew that this was not something that would just go away and upon meeting Yana she was very open with us that it would take hard work to build Molly’s confidence and that there was no “fix” to her reactivity, it meant a lot to us that no one was promising us an unrealistic result. Reactivity is not something that just disappears one day, we work every day with Molly to maintain the progress she has made through working with the trainers at K9 Guide. Training is not linear, dogs are not perfect, Molly has good days, and she has bad days but as long as you are willing to put in work for your dog and for yourself K9 Guide will be there for you every step of the way. They will treat you like family and in the end not only will your dog be more confident but so will you as a dog owner!

Yana, Jimmie and Collin are more like family members than dog trainers. I would trust my children with them! After all they were rated #1 dog trainers for 2023! We chose the 4 week board and train for our young dobie. It was a breeze! The communication was amazing and they trained my family to understand we were training all wrong and dogs need boundaries! We met a few times over the course of the training because these folks are really hands on with families! You really can’t mess this up! Fast forward to Kane coming home! It felt like a family reunion and our best friends were invited. Collin and Yana set a great expectation and spent time working with us as a family. Kane is a different dog! He is work driven and wants to do well. We no longer take commands from him! We now share a home with him and love it. For those of you who want to keep reading, boy do I have a story for you! Back story- I purchased a Doberman for my son who was then diagnosed with a very rare and dangerous tumor. I was broken because that kid is my life and I didn’t know what I was going to do about training. All my finances would be sunk into surgery and recovery. I asked God to make a way and then I called K9 Guide! Yana reassured me she was able to help with Kane and made payment such a great experience. We were no longer worried about how we were going to choose between the dog my son loved and training because now we had both. We love K9 Guide and thank God for them everyday!

Where do I begin? I highly recommend K9 Guide Dog Training, it has been an incredible experience working with Yana, Jimmie and Colin...they are absolutely amazing dog trainers. I'm in awe at the way they handle my Rott Gracie with each of their unique talents. I've been working with them since Gracie was about 12 weeks old and I couldn't have gotten her to listen as good as she does without their training techniques. Gracie is now about 7 months old and is 70lbs of pure muscle and I would have never been able to handle her the way I can without their training skills and ability to teach me what I need to do in order for her to be the best dog that she can be!! They are reliable, educated, experienced, supportive, knowledgeable and patient.....they are passionate about what they do & the proof is my dog Gracie. I know it can be overwhelming deciding on where to get your dog trained, but seriously look no further....K9 Guide Dog Training is who you need...I promise, you won't be disappointed.... money well spent!!!