Nitro K-9 LLC

Working with Steve and his team is hands down one of the best things we did for our dog. My wife and I are first time dog owners and we enrolled our 1.5 y/o Australian shepherd Quinn for the 14 week basic obedience course. We started our training journey with a few food based trainers and classes. We were able to teach Quinn some basic commands like sit, down etc. but hit a ceiling when it came to real life skills like walking without pulling, extended stays, consistent recall, and ignoring distractions. You know, actual manners and obedience. Steve and his teams approach changed everything for us. Quinn is like an entirely different dog now. They trained us first by teaching us how to read her and communicate through leash skills. Quinn knows what is expected from her now, and eagerly awaits direction. She’s a much happier, calm and confident pup. We’ve developed a rock solid heel/recall on and off leash. She knows when it’s play time vs work time, when she can meet other dogs and when she can’t. Quinn’s favorite part, we have the off leash confidence to safely trail run + mountain bike (where appropriate), my favorite part too. Beyond a highly knowledgeable trainer, Steve is also a wealth of knowledge all things dog. We left every session with some additional facts about food, diet and health - to how dogs pick up smells and scent travels through the air. Thank you Steve, Haddyn, Kate, and team, for helping give us an incredible relationship and bond with Quinn.

My heart is so full of gratitude for Steve the incredible impact he’s had on our journey with Gwen. In just three short weeks, the progress has been unbelievable - not just in her behavior, but in our connection with her. She listens, walks calmly on leash, and today at the park I was blown away with how far her recall has come already. Watching her respond with so much trust and confidence made me feel so proud of her—and of us. Steve’s and North’s guidance has given me and my husband the confidence I didn’t know we needed as a dog owners, and it’s brought us even closer to our sweet Winnie girl. I honestly can’t thank him enough. 1000/10—highly, deeply, and wholeheartedly recommend.

I reached out to Steve for basic and advanced obedience for my dogs. I have two rescue staffy‘s who are timid and shy but Steve understood their remper right away! I was already training my dogs for about 2 years and I never thought I would see this progress! Only after 3 lessons my dogs were so much more confident and were able to hold a focused heel!! Working on the heel made all the difference for us. If you‘re willing to put in the work Nitro is the place!!

Working with Steve and crew at Nitro K9 has changed my life for the better! Steve really took the time to train ME! With the 14 week program my partner and i learned how to communicate with our wild GSP puppy who was more than a handful. We learned all the basic commands and a few bonus commands. We learned the proper use of a prong collar, hand signals, and an e-collar. I was not into the prong collar at first, but boy did I have it all wrong. It was the prong collar used correctly that saved our relationship with the our doggie. Thank you Steve and crew! We are back again with puppy number two!

The first time I spoke with Steve over the phone I thought he sounded a bit arrogant or cocky. Then I met him in person and had a great conversation and was able to ask a ton of questions. It was then I realized my initial judgement was very wrong. And while I was wrong about my initial assumptions about him, I also realized he is right to be so confident and sure that his training techniques, expertise, and ability to help people properly train their dogs works and works quite well. Once I met Steve in person and was able to have a conversation with him, I immediately knew he was the right choice to select as our trainer. At times the tips, advice, and training techniques he shares seem so simple in theory or thought. And once you put them into practice, you will quickly realize how well they work. You will quickly understand during daily practice and exercise of your dog that the tips, advice, and training techniques Steve shares are the easy part. You will quickly come to understand that the most difficult part about training your dog to be successful is that you have to train and exercise your dog daily and consistently. I would even say to see the best success in and to see best of your dog’s abilities; you should be doing all this 2 or more times each day, don’t miss or reschedule any of your weekly training sessions, and if there is a dog social event scheduled during the week, try to attend them whenever possible. Last, to share our own experience; we are training a small service dog. When we started she expressed a lot of anxiety toward just about any dog she saw no matter the distance or what the dog was doing. Taking her into establishments as a service animal often created a feeling of being anxious because we weren’t sure or confident she wasn’t going to act out which is never good when she’s supposed to be working. It was only a matter of a few months of training with her consistently that the feeling of anxiety disappeared and we could take her into any establishment without hesitation believing she was going to perform without any issues without worry that she might act out when any situation arose that could cause a distraction and her behavior might change. Thank you Steve for providing such a great place to train and all the advice and tips along the way that have made Izzy a fantastic service animal. She’s truly the amazing dog she should be and so much better for it.