Quality Pet Dog Training from a Current Experienced and Successful Police K-9 Handler and Evaluator.
(19)
08/09/2024
In 2015 I had the opportunity to hear a man named Bart Bellon speak at a K9 conference I attended. His ideas regarding dog training and the perspective he brought intrigued me. That started me on a path of seeking out and consuming every bit of information from him that I could find. For years I had wanted to attend his NePoPo Silver School. But, with kids, running my own dog training business, and holding down a separate full time job, things never were able to line up for me to attend. So when Bart and Michael Bellon started their Online Silver School, I had to jump on it. I’m now a NePoPo Online Silver School graduate and have taken another step in my quest to gain as much information as possible to be the best K-9 handler and dog trainer I can possibly be.
07/26/2024
The look of “We’re not done playing ball yet…”
07/12/2024
Chloe is here for a 3 week board & train. She’s such a good looking dog. I’m going to try to be better about making posts so her progress can be seen.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
06/10/2024
Just got done running her ass off and couldn’t be happier.
04/30/2024
Words can’t express how proud I am of this team right here. Welcome to the most rewarding/ frustrating career path you can possibly imagine… Go get em Meya and K-9 Riot!
04/24/2024
TEAMWORK… She does the work, I try not to get in her way.
04/12/2024
This goofball has made training a blast. Food motivation for days and so much energy.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
04/09/2024
The one who calls all the shots around here…
04/03/2024
Board & Train pup TOBY having a great time discovering his actions can cause the human food dispenser to activate.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want
03/06/2024
The possibilities are endless when the owners keep up on things after their dog returns home. We can set the table, but if when your dog returns home you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got. If you make some changes and put forth the effort until the behaviors you want from your dog become habit, the sky is the limit. Duke is living his best life and getting to enjoy everything his world has to offer.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
02/14/2024
The look I get from Xena when I’m not fast enough with the food dispensing…
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
02/12/2024
The semi- retired Daddy’s Little Monster, AKA: Puma Geel.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
02/12/2024
LOKI = always laser focused… Even when relaxing.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
01/15/2024
Congrats and good luck to this badass woman and her new partner as she starts her journey into the most frustrating/ rewarding position in law enforcement. .c_ I know you’ll crush training just like you do everything else you set your mind to. I’m lucky to get to call you my wife.
01/06/2024
One of the most common things we hear from people looking for help with their dog is “My dog just doesn’t pay attention to me”. When I hear this, the next thing I say is always the same: What are you doing to give your dog a reason to pay attention to you. I’ll hear a number of things in response, and they all have one thing in common: they do nothing toward giving their dog a reason to pay attention to them. Trust me, your dog does not naturally want to please you, or even know how to if they did naturally want to. Dogs are naturally selfish creatures. They have to be to survive. So, what do you think would be the result if your dog learned that everything you say to them is a potential opportunity to earn something they know they need to survive (food) or something they greatly value (toy or game of tug or fetch)? Your dog will absolutely pay attention to you and value their relationship with you.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
12/25/2023
MOLLY is easily one of the happiest dogs I’ve had the pleasure to train. And she loves her tennis ball.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want
11/07/2023
3 years ago today the OG of the Steubenville PD K-9 program passed away. My family and I miss this guy every day. He was truly a special dog. He brought the hammer every time he was called on and made me look like I knew what I was doing as a handler when I didn’t. He made his own reputation on the street and set the bar for what every K9 in Jefferson County will be compared to for a long time to come.
11/01/2023
I get tremendous joy out of working with every dog I’m entrusted with. The follow-ups I receive from their humans are always reinforcement as to why we work so hard together for one goal, whether their training with MPDT is recent, or long past, messages like this make it extra special.
Marley recently finished a 2-Week Board & Train, and is the second dog her amazing humans have trusted me to train.
Witnessing Marley experiencing adventures with her humans is definitely gratifying, but witnessing Marley help others experience the joy of having a well-behaved dog visit them when they can no longer adventure themselves, is truly more than I could have asked for.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
10/10/2023
Actions speak louder than words. If your mouth is telling your dog to do one thing but your actions tell them they can do something else they’d rather do, that’s exactly what they’ll do.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
08/26/2023
We took a little time off, but now we’re back in full swing. BUSTER arrived today to start his 2 week board & train and they don’t get much more handsome than this guy. He’s going to be a lot of fun to work with. Stay tuned for training updates.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
07/30/2023
One of our former Board & Trains, LENI, living his best life.
07/26/2023
All you female runners out there, PUMA is counting on your support! She’s one of only two female K9’s in the association and the only dual purpose female K9 in the association!
Register now for TEAM PUMA for the 2023 PK9A K-9 5K, 1 Mile Walk, and Community Celebration! 🐕
🔹 www.PK9A5K.com
🗓️ Saturday, October 7, 2023
📍 Downtown, Canton
💫 Virtual option also available!
🌟 This is a family fun event with options for everyone! 🌟
• 5K (Run or Walk)
• 1 Mile Walk
• Free Kids’ 1/4 Mile
• Spectator Here for Beer (No walking or running required!)
• Virtual (We will mail you your packet!)
All of our active teams have a competition to have the most people register for their team! Will you register? 🐾
100% of proceeds benefit active and retired K-9 teams through the Police K-9 Association 501(c)(3) nonprofit and charitable organization.
07/21/2023
I couldn’t be more proud of this woman or to be by her side.
07/06/2023
07/04/2023
RAMBO, John J. is in his second and final week of his board & train. After Sunday, Col. Trautman won’t be the only one that can say, “God didn’t make Rambo, I made him”.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
06/20/2023
Every year I go to the Campbell family and MM True Value Hardware to ask for a wheelbarrow to be donated for the Police K-9 Association golf outing for our wheelbarrow of booze raffle and every year the answer is “Yes” before I can even finish asking. Words can’t describe our appreciation for their generosity that helps so many K-9 teams in Ohio.
We are donating to help support the Steubenville Police K9 Fundraiser!
Look at the pretty girl Puma ♥️😍
06/14/2023
Congrats to the two most recent 6 Week Obedience Course graduates, LUNA and CAPTAIN. It’s always fun watching the transformation week to week when the humans are putting the work in, and it was obvious these folks put the time and effort in every week. Next week two new dogs will be starting their journey.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
06/13/2023
Board & Train partners GOOSE and ANNIE. Two amazing dogs that are lookers too! Both are so much fun to work with.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
06/11/2023
It’s a sad but true fact that this is the actual man of the house around here… The Slinky Man.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want
05/27/2023
We said so long to one of the great ones today. Burt was already up there in age when I met Meya, but we still got a few great years together. He was a rare one. As laid back and easy going as they come. He was the ideal dog to have around when working other dogs with reactivity issues because I knew for certain Burt was going to allow me to work the other dog through the issues without doing anything to add extra chaos to the situation. The role he played in those situations is going to be tough to replace. He didn’t care about anything… except Meya. The only time he’d get worked up is if he thought someone was messing with his person. Kids could wrestle right next to him… he didn’t care. Other dogs could play next to or even on top of him… he didn’t care. Mess with his mama and you would see a side you’d never expect. He wasn’t possessive of her, never guarding her as a resource, but if he thought you were trying to mess with her it was go time. The first picture was his post every time Meya left for work. He’d lay by that front door for hours waiting for Meya to come back until someone would make him get up to go outside or to eat or he’d get thirsty. We’ll miss ya buddy, but we’ll see you again.
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Puma has a love/ hate relationship with the Jolly Ball. She loves to chase it around, hates that she can’t possess it.
We should all strive to be as happy and eager to work as TOBY is.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
My man LEO has been working hard. He sleeps even harder. Not even the sound of Puma’s evening cry for attention can disturb him.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
#bulldogsofinstagram #bulldog #englishbulldog #englishbulldogs #englishbulldogsofinstagram
Added my girl Puma to the ink collection yesterday. Not only does @romanstarkey_ @evolvetattoo_ do unbelievable work, but he also makes the whole experience enjoyable. I’ll definitely be going back for another soon.
MOLLY, she won’t turn down the food when it’s offered, but she’s really hoping and praying every next rep is the rep that I’m going to throw that tennis ball. 🎾 🔥
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
#labrador #labradorretriever #labradorpuppy #labradorretriever #chocolatelab
CHUCK with that recall 🔥
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
It’s been a while since we made a post because the month of November is largely dedicated to spending as much time in the woods/ fields as possible to hunt. But we’re back at it now and Board & Train pup CHUCK is having the time of his life. Play is a big part of the training process. We try to end each training session with some play time. It’s play for CHUCK, but we’re also accomplishing many things. This play time allows CHUCK to fulfill some of the needs that are deeply engrained in his genetics. He gets to chase the prey when I throw the tug. He gets to fight and “kill” the prey when he’s thrashing around. It also builds a strong bond between dog and human. Lastly, we are teaching CHUCK several things including the game starts and ends when we say so and that he must let go of whatever he has immediately when we tell him to.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
The adventures you can enjoy with your dog are endless when they’re properly trained. RAMBO is living his best life post board & train.
Small stakes practice for high stakes results: Laying new floor in the living room was a good opportunity to work Board & Train pup Ike on place with some high level distractions going on. When Ike arrived he was scared of everything. If we’d have tried this early in his training, he’d have been running for the next county at the first sound. We built his confidence through obedience training with no distraction and then gradually ramped up the intensity. The result is a dog that can handle anything life throws at him. Do I care if Ike makes a mistake while I’m working on the floor behind him? Absolutely not. But if we want the obedience to be there when we absolutely need it, we have to work on it when it doesn’t matter if the dog fails. I’ve heard professional fighters say they want their training camp to be so difficult that it’s actually a relief when they get to fight day because they’ve trained so hard that the actual fight itself is a lighter workload than the prep spell. Thats exactly the approach we go for with obedience work. There’s probably very few, if any, situations where Ike will be asked to deal with a distraction as high as someone hammering away behind him once he goes home to his humans. But, if he can handle this, anything his humans throw at him will be a breeze.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want
#germanshepherd #germanshepherds #germanshepherdpuppy #germanshepherdsofinstagram #germanshepherddog
Evening play time with LADY girl.
#bassethound #bassethoundsofinstagram
LADY got dropped off on Sunday to start her 2 week board & train. She’s on day 2 of actual work and has already learned through self discovery that getting on the cot gets her paid. So much so, that the first place she goes when I open the crate door is straight to the cot to get paid. Ideally this is how the initial phase would be done with every dog, but it doesn’t always work out that way when you’re under time restrictions and have a nervous dog that refuses to take food from you. But, when it does work out this way, man is it magic and so much fun. I’m not saying anything to her other than the reward marker. She’s doing what she’s doing because she taught herself it’s the path to what she wants. Self discovery will always be more impactful than anything we could do to teach the dog. She’s doing the behavior because she truly wants to, not because she has to. The “must do” will come later. There’s plenty of time for that. Right now we want to build up the “want to” bank account.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
#bassethound #bassethoundsofinstagram #basset
BUSTER in the process of learning. He makes a few mistakes in this short clip. Contrary to what many think, we want those mistakes to happen at this point in training. That’s where the learning occurs. If he never made mistakes in training, he’d never learn what behavior is desired and what is not. The mistakes made by the dog are what frustrate many people and cause them to give up. You gotta learn how to love the mistakes as much as you enjoy the progress made. We’ve spent a lot of time teaching BUSTER what we wanted with the leash. Now that the desired behavior has become his default, we start removing the leash and adding the electronic collar to both make the desired behavior sharper and more reliable as well as give his humans off leash control. I recently heard the great Bart Bellon on a podcast say something to the effect of everyone wants their dog to have freedom, but there is a price for that freedom, and the price for that freedom is control. There’s a lot of wisdom in that one statement.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
#germanshepherd #germanshepherds #germanshepherdpuppy #germanshepherdsofinstagram #gsd #gsdofinstagram #gsdpuppy #gsdlove
Logan’s version of living his best life…
#germanshorthairedpointer #germanshorthair #gsp #gspsofinstagram #gspofinstagram
One of our former Board & Trains, LENI, living his best life.
This is Jake. He’s just about done with week one of a three week board & train. Jake came to us a bag of nerves and was on prescription anxiety medication. Simply by creating clear communication and giving Jake simple tasks to complete, that anxiety has virtually disappeared. And Jake hasn’t had a single dose of his anxiety medication since he arrived. Anxiety is all about the fear of the unknown. What if this, what if that, etc. if we can make the expectations and outcomes predictable to the dog, that anxiety melts.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
GOOSE’s time with us is just about up and we couldn’t be prouder of how far he’s come. He’s going home with a solid foundation for his humans to build on. We can’t wait to help his humans guide GOOSE toward reaching his MAXIMUM POTENTIAL.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
There is no better distraction training assistant than good ole Jaws. Bonus points to any 80’s babies (or anyone else) out there that can correctly guess why I named our vacuum Jaws. Hint: it’s not because it’s a shark brand. The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
There is no better distraction training assistant than good ole Jaws. Bonus points to any 80’s babies (or anyone else) out there that can correctly guess why I named our vacuum Jaws. Hint: it’s not because it’s a shark brand.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
Board & Train pup SEBASTIAN has all the bases covered. He works hard helping out around the house with tasks like putting the kid’s new soccer net together, he plays hard, and when all the work and play is done, he sleeps hard.
The Training You Need for the Dog You Want.
#pitty #pitbull #pitbulls #pitbullsofinstagram
These two together are like Spike and Tyke from the old Tom & Jerry cartoons.
I’m Rob Cook and my love for dogs goes back as far as I can recall. There’s never been a time in my life where my world did not include dogs. Initially, just as family pets as a young child. My curiosity for working with and training dogs began at around 11 or so years old when I began hunting with my father. We’d get up early and head out to the fields in search of pheasants, and I’d see these other hunters out there with their bird dogs and I’d be amazed at the energy and capabilities of these dogs. The hunting, pointing, flushing, and retrieving abilities I observed in these animals captivated me. At that time in my life, we had a couple dogs as family pets, but not a hunting dog. It took about 4 years of constant begging and pleading, but I finally talked my folks into letting me get my first bird dog when I was 16. Bo was a 2 year old German Shorthaired Pointer my father found for sale in a local newspaper classified ad. The owners decided they didn’t have time for him and needed to find him a new home. I’ll never forget the day we went and picked up Bo. I couldn’t have been more excited. I thought I had just obtained the ticket to bagging endless daily limits of pheasant. Looking back, I was lucky Bo was blessed with a lot of natural hunting desire and ability because I had no idea the process, time, effort, dedication, and patience involved in training dogs. I was learning as I went along. Bo ended up taking to my father much more so than he did me, which frustrated me. But, it ended up being a blessing in disguise, because it afforded me the opportunity to stand back and watch him work and interact with my father. It was during those hunting trips watching Bo work that my interest in observing dogs, how they work, and especially how they communicate really began. Bo is long gone now, lost to cancer while still in the prime of his hunting years, but I credit him for sparking my interest in the dog training world.
Fast forward several years and dogs later, and I became a police officer with a local police department in Ohio in 2006. In 2014, the department decided to start a K-9 unit, posting a position for one K-9 handler. I applied and was fortunate enough to be awarded the position. Becoming a K-9 handler was the greatest thing I could have asked for, allowing me to blend my loves for law enforcement and dogs. Being a K-9 handler has allowed me the opportunity to work with, observe, and learn from some of the most amazing trainers, dogs, and K-9 handlers that can be found anywhere. This unique experience has helped me to further develop my ability and passion to read and communicate with dogs, as well as further enhanced my respect and appreciation for the loyalty and abilities of the canine species.
If you want to want to truly develop an appreciation for the canine species, have one save your life, or at the very least protect you during a serious physical confrontation with another human being intent on doing you harm.
All of this I have described has brought me back full circle to where it all started for me as a young boy: FAMILY DOGS. The field trials and competitions that are so popular with so many sporting dog lovers was never something that interested me. Not that I have a problem with the competitions at all. I think they’re great. They’ve just never been my thing. All I’ve ever wanted to do was enjoy the satisfaction of watching my dogs do the things I’ve trained them to do or at the very least helped shaped them to do using their God given abilities. My desire is to help the relationship between dog and owner to reach its maximum potential so you and your dog can enjoy the real world together. Real world obedience, good manners, and calmness are the foundation of what I strive for between owner and dog. My love for sporting and working dog breeds has given me the experience in handling and working through issues with high energy, stubborn dogs. Too often dogs end up at shelters or euthanized because owners do not know how to deal with issues. If I can help keep dogs out of shelters and improve their quality of life, my mission is complete. My greatest satisfaction would be to help you improve your relationship with your dog.
To me, dog training is something that is never fully mastered and there is always room to learn, grow and develop. My desire to grow, develop, and blend what I have learned from various sources over the years is an asset I believe you as a dog owner can benefit from. Let me help your dog ownership experience reach its MAXIMUM POTENTIAL!
