Dream Dog K9 Academy

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United States
Boulder, CO
Dream Dog K9 Academy

Private dog training that resolves reactivity, decreases anxiety and builds confidence + the social skills necessary to hike off leash.
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Help your best friend live their best life so YOU can enjoy a lifetime of fun adventures with the Dog of Your Dreams! We help you and your dog build a relationship where you can go anywhere together and overcome any challenges you face. Jack has had a lifelong fascination with dogs and dog behavior. He began training dogs professionally as a teenager, and went to college to study under Dr. Sophia

Yin, a world renowned animal behaviorist. Over time, he found that a comand-centered, operant behavior approach to dog training was failing his clients. Dogs could rapidly learn how to sit, down, and come when called under certain conditions, but were still reactive with other dogs, out of control, or anxious - the real reasons their human had called a trainer! For answers, Jack turned to the best dog trainers he knew - other dogs! He carefully observed what calm, confident dogs did to bring excited, anxious or reactive dogs back into balance within the pack. He returned to his training clients with a new approach and amazing results - dogs that could remain calm, happy, and responsive to their humans in any situation.

Address

Boulder, CO
80305

Telephone

+17203916765

Website

http://dreamdogk9academy.com/

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About “Dream Dog K9 Academy”

Helping dogs become the best friends and family members they can possibly be!

Our goal for every client: to help you develop a strong enough bond with your dog that you can safely and happily “Go Anywhere and Do Anything”, both on AND off leash.

Jack Youngfox, our lead dog behaviorist, has enjoyed a lifelong fascination with dogs and dog behavior. He first began working with dogs professionally as a teenager, teaching basic obedience lessons for dog owners he met at local parks and moderating an online dog training forum. He chose UC Davis for their excellent undergraduate Animal Science program and was fortunate enough to study under and work for Dr. Sophia Yin, a world-renowned animal behaviorist. Throughout college, he worked for several other dog trainers in Davis, CA and also taught lessons through the UC Davis Equestrian Center, which helped him learn how to explain the nuances of animal language to his students in a clear and concise manner.

As time went on and he pursued various dog sports (competitive obedience, tracking and agility) with his own extremely high-energy adopted lab mix, Onyx, Jack found that a purely command-centered, operant-conditioning, behavior-first approach to dog training was failing to give him and his clients the deep, meaningful connection and relationship they truly desired with their dogs.

Under an operant behavior (also referred to as “clicker” or “treats”) approach to training, dogs like Onyx could easily learn a wide variety of behaviors such as how to sit, down, and come when called in specific scenarios, but often remained highly stimulated in the presence of other dogs and new people, became easily over-excited, anxious, distracted, or lacked basic self-control and focus in the absence of their favorite treats and toys: the primary reasons most people seek dog training in the first place!

For answers, Jack turned to the best dog trainers he knew: groups of dogs who ran and played all day off-leash with their dog walkers in the many dog-friendly parks and beaches around San Francisco. The dogs he met while out walking and socializing his own dogs with the local dog walkers all seemed to have excellent interpersonal skills, were unusually calm, aware, and well-behaved both on and off leash, and seemed to possess an abundance of life experience. No level of distraction seemed to get these dogs too upset or excited to listen to their walkers, and they could play chase, fetch balls, swim and wrestle with their friends endlessly while remaining generally polite, respectful and well-behaved with each other and with new dogs and people they met. Jack took note of how the more experienced, emotionally balanced dogs in these groups behaved to quickly bring overly excited, anxious or reactive new dogs into balance with the rest of the pack, generally after only a few outings together!

Jack returned to his dog training practice with a new approach that was based on seeing the world and communicating from a dog’s point of view, the way dogs naturally speak to and teach each other. His training clients began enjoying fabulous results through their work with their dogs, far beyond simply fixing the original problem that had led them to seek training.

His clients’ dogs were quickly becoming calm, fun, emotionally-balanced canine friends who could keep themselves under control, were content and happy, more aware and responsive to their humans than ever before, whether they were on or off leash, and in any level of distraction or excitement. In short, clients were building friendships with their dogs that kept them behaving like the calm “eye of the storm” in the face of any level of challenge, excitement or distraction.

In 2015, Jack moved from California to Colorado to pursue his dream of one day owning a beautiful mountain property for his own 2 dogs and 3 horses to enjoy.

Dream Dog K9 Academy of Boulder, Colorado was born.