Puget Sound K9 Academy

I never thought I could love an animal so much, before DeSoto came into our lives, and I’m so grateful to Jamie at Puget Sound K9 Academy for understanding that – and being exactly the trainer our family needed. We are an older couple with a 95 pound Pittie mix. After a few bad encounters with dogs a couple of years ago, his disposition was pretty decent with human visitors - but rarely okay with other dogs. We figured that’s just how it would remain. But in recent months he started to show occasional signs of reactivity/aggression that were unpredictable and made no sense, towards people on the property - like his inner gauge of friend/foe seemed to be malfunctioning. I feared we might have to re-home our beautiful boy. But after only six sessions… I am thrilled to say PSK9 has completely restored my confidence and hope. First and foremost, Jamie knows dogs. And he will make it his mission to get to know YOUR Dog. I felt from the very first introduction, he was noticing everything – to get the most thorough and specific picture of my dog’s behavior AND as importantly, mine. From body language, voice inflection, timing, leash control… There were so many “little“ things that we were inadvertently doing, which were at best ineffective, and often sending a message that was super counterproductive. One gift Jamie gave me right off the top was to tell me that my dog was not at all vicious or aggressive, nor was he fearful – but was actually very confident (which meant he would be easier to train). His reactivity was because he was being protective. So his main issue was that he was assuming it was his job to figure out when to relax, and when to protect. The reason for this is because We Never Taught Him that wasn’t his job! I had to let go of some false beliefs. And, importantly also had to learn some new things about dog behavior - mostly that I need to always advocate for him, stay tuned to his body language and keep him out of his head. When I first decided to take our dog to training, I was not convinced it would make a huge difference. But now I am seeing it happen. I now know that although each dog has his own personality and stored experiences and every household is unique - reinforcement training is universal, thanks to Puget Sound K9 pushing me to keep going. (I had A LOT of questions and “what-abouts” thinking it might not work with my situation… lol). I can tell you this: before PSK9, DeSoto obeyed commands 50-75% of the time (often bargaining with us for treats) in low stress situations, and almost never if he was at all worked up about something. Now he’s listening on the first command 100% of the time in low stress situations; on the first command 85% under medium stress, and miraculously on the first or second command 75% when he is in a high arousal state - like chasing after a critter on his midnight potty or darting towards the fence at the UPS truck!! He doesn’t even always get a treat (though I make every effort to reward him when he shows us something amazing). That’s not why he’s obeying. He is responding to commands that have been “Marked and Locked In” - which is absolutely incredible! With the progress I’ve seen so far, I have no doubt that we can be awesome paw-parents and DeSoto can be a wonderful and well behaved dog, allowing his sweet and goofy personality to shine. I am know Puget Sound K9 has been instrumental in getting us to this point, and I look forward to continued progress!!