K9Aholics Dog Training

Our 1-year-old female German Shepherd began to develop serious aggression issues with other animals starting at about 10 months old. She attacked our older dog on two occasions and worked him over pretty good resulting in thousands in emergency vet bills. She also got away from my wife and chased down a fox, killing it in our neighbor’s barn. We lived in a constant state of anxiety about what she would do next, and the liability she represented was not tenable. We were at the point where she had to be corrected, or we’d have to part with her. Our work with one dog trainer focusing only on positive reinforcement was not even the slightest bit effective. We turned to K9Aholics with a lot of hope, but not a lot of confidence she was fixable. I feel like it’s important to note that you cannot take a dog like ours in and have one thing fixed like it’s a car with a dented fender - "just fix the aggression". The correction began with a board-and-train stay for a little over 3 weeks to instill basic obedience because nothing else is possible until that foundation is in place. During her stay she didn’t display aggression towards other animals but slowly reverted to her former behaviors once she arrived home. She was still a completely different dog, and we now had the tools and instruction to manage additional correction for her negative behavior. Follow-up visits have put the next steps in place and are bearing fruit. Proper handling with the Herm Sprenger collar, how and when static correction is appropriate and effective, and (if can be very blunt) the trainers helping my wife understand that those steps are necessary in this case – yes the collars needs to be that tight – no it won’t hurt her – stop letting her bully you - etc., have made all the difference in allowing us to succeed in this transformation. She obeys commands, comes when called, engages her eyes with her handler, loose leash walks now vs. dragging you like a plow, and more. Most importantly, she’s quickly learning aggressive behavior isn’t worth it and she would rather please you and not be in trouble. We also use K9Aholics for normal boarding now because we're confident they know how to handle our girl and not let her get away with any nonsense.

After doing my research we decided to take our 1 year old Rottweiler to K9Aholics LLC for obedience training. At first, I was a little nervous when I dropped Tyrone (aka the dragon slayer) off for the first time but he took to the trainers from the word go. After a month of training he is a new dog. While still being just a little bit hardheaded he is a complete 360. While being a serious dog, they taught us how much he wants to please us, be loved and eat all the treats you can reward him with….. Thank you for what you taught me, my dog and Tanya. While there is still much work to be done with Tyrone, K9Aholics has put us on the right path to enjoying our baby boy. I would recommend this group to train your dog. They know what they are doing, they love dogs and they are great.

I believe he most worked with Jordan and she was amazing!! I did the 4 week day camp and I can not recommend it enough. My golden retriever (2yo) was only house trained and he knew “sit” when I brought him to K9aholics. By the first week he knew place. When I said place he went straight to (in my case) his bed and didn’t get up until I said “okay”. (This also took at home practice) By the end of the second week he would sit with only a slight leash tug. The second and third week he sits when I stop walking while he’s on the leash and doesn’t get up until I say okay. He also has a decent recall and “down position” for when in public spaces. Every Friday I had a, what I liked to call “parent teacher conferences” and they taught me how to do his homework over the weekend. They also have a great website where they upload his reports cards, photos and videos of the training and their outings. They also give a free 1 day refresher training for whenever you need it after the course. Also military gets a discount!! I’m not saying my dog is 100% but perfect I can now walk my dog and him not walk me. I plan on using them again for his off leash training this winter.