PLAY! K9 Academy

We were referred to Play! K9 Academy by a very highly revered canine expert when a puppy had been abandoned into our care while we already had 9 senior rescues in our home. Prince had been living his first months in a small cage, mostly alone being fed by a 6 year old child each day. He was completely unsocialized, never having had the chance to be loose in a household setting. He was afraid of everything and would hear a noise and dart back to the house pulling anything down in his wake. He was afraid of strangers and would scare anyone who came near the house. He had demand barking issues, destructive chewing issues and food guarding problems. They had their work cut out for them. As he grew to a 70lb very strong dog, he was nearly impossible to control on a leash. All the while he was incredibly sweet, with a heart of gold and just wanted a chance. Nina and Rebecca took him into their board and train program and now he walks beside you on a leash, goes in and out of stores greeting strangers with a calm and confident tail wag, loves to play with other dogs but does it with respect and enjoys swimming, as well as, training routines with the pack. He will now make someone a wonderful companion and thanks to these incredible professionals who have loved him as their own…he has a chance at a life as he hits his first birthday! We will be forever grateful because we truly believe they have given a wonderful pup his future. If more people turned to training instead of giving up, so many more dogs would end up life long friends instead of statistics. These trainers really understand the dogs. Trust them…your dogs sure will!

I am so thankful Nina was recommended to me, by several people. I had a rescue pup I was absolutely overwhelmed by, frightened and apprehensive of everything. After offers of training of upwards of $3500, Nina came to my house, literally the same day day I reached out. She worked with my dog and me, and showed us both what to do to get us over the hump of her fears. She was on the right path in a matter of hours and it cost less than $200. Use your network, know your experts. So grateful for this woman’s expertise, kindness and love of her trade.

Rebecca and Nina have been fantastic not only did they help my frenchie puppy Millie in group class when she was young learn her confidence but they also have been a big blessing with King who from another trainer was deemed to be a danger and needed to be euthanized to Rebecca and Nina in just two sessions have brought out so much confidence in himself and has made such a huge improvement in his reactivity. He was able to be around a whole bunch of new dogs for about an hour and a half with only one correction. I can’t wait to see him continue gaining confidence and prove everyone wrong.

I just picked up my 8 month old Belgian Malinois from his three week board and train. I had gone down to work with Nina and Ares the past two Sundays and today was pickup day. Nina showed me the proper way to train/work him plus she even let me train her personal dog to see how a seasoned dog does it. It was amazing. There is a huge difference from when I dropped Ares off to today. When I got home a friend came to my gate and Ares alerted me to the guy at the gate but when he saw me interacting with the visitor he stopped barking and went about his day. Both Nina and Rebecca are amazing. They sent me daily updates and interactions. I will definitely keep working with them. Thank you both so much for what you have done with Ares. This place is a 20 out of 10.