K9 Responder Academy

06/20/2024

Dottie and Minnie keepin it cool.

Puppy swim lessons, just another part of our full service training here at KRA 🤣

06/16/2024

Happy Fathers Day! (Stay with me on this one)

I'd like y'all to meet Ed. Ed is a pocket Hyena some ding d**g dumped on the side of the road. A friend of ours took him in, and reached out through the Hi-Vis gent behind him to see if we could help. (For reference, no chip, no paw boosts etc)

Ed is probably the most people oriented dog we've had in a long while, but he's also the most leash reactive dog we've had in a while. He has been a challenge and then some. But see the human with the matching smile here?..That's my dad. (Coach Sam's dad too...supposedly)

And he doesn't quit on dogs. So this tongue spotted little goof has absolutely been my most challenging student to date, and I'll be real...I wanted to quit on him. But the guy here that literally has his back taught me not to quit, he taught me how to see things through, to look ahead to the future even if the present doesn't show us what we want.

So here's to Ed on his first father's day with the best father anyone could ask for.

Love ya both.

06/15/2024

includes a pupdate from Vanessa!

Vanessa, the GSD mix from Gaston County Animal Care and Enforcement, was adopted during her foster train with Coach Matt. We’re so excited to see her doing well in her new home.

As a reminder, for the rest of 2024 we’re offering 25% off our 10 or 14 day board and trains for any new shelter/rescue dog client.

06/13/2024

The "DDDFD-DD". A HIGHLY advanced training move.

Dottie Doing Down for Duration - Duck Distraction.

We taught a lab retriever not to care about ducks, or water. We can teach your dog to stop jumping on your guests and pulling on the leash.

06/12/2024

25% OFF DOG TRAINING!?

Y'all I'm just gonna say it. Our friends at Creekwood Acres are producing some of the smartest, sweetest, most beautiful Goldens out there!

We are now 3 for 3 with their dogs being simply amazing!

Meet Sadie! She's a 10 month old golden from Creekwood just starting her training with Coach Sam. She is HIGHLY people oriented and eager to please, which is making her training a breeze.

Creekwood has a couple English left from her litter and several standards in the 5-6 month range.

KRA offers a 25% discount on out 10 or 14 day board and train for pups from Creekwood Acres.

If you've already got your pup, just verify with us where they came from to get the discount. If you're looking to add a new golden ray of light to your home, contact Creekwood Acres and once you've made arrangements with them, contact us. We can pick them up direct, do their training and bring them to you just like Princess Sadie here!

06/11/2024

Check out the latest episode of The Bark Side and listen carefully for these amazing puppy tips AND find out where I've buried a large sum of money in the Charlotte metro area!

Tara & Wilson invite Rick to expand on puppy training over the summer

06/10/2024

Team KRA at last weekends Gastonia Pet Fair, expertly hosted by City Church - Gastonia NC

We were thrilled to meet some great future clients and look forward to introducing you to their pups very soon as they join K9 Responder Academy for some excellent dog training!

Ms. Cat loved meeting y'all...and staying cool on her brand new training cot from 4legs4pets

06/08/2024

Very difficult day so far, Orville is still fighting.

The rescue that provided him to us to train for a veteran in need is covering the cost but they need all the help they can get.

06/08/2024

Come see us chillin at the Gastonia Pet Fair 3100 City Church until 1!

06/06/2024

Happy 1st Birthday to our favorite noodle boy, Lincoln!

Stinky Linky came to us for board and train back in January and is back for a little vacation while his humans are doing human stuff.

HBD to the Sweet Man!

06/06/2024

We cannot say enough good things about this family! They adopted one of our foster-trained dogs with Gaston County Animal Care and Enforcement a short while back and her husband Kemp discovered a growing passion for dog training. As a veteran and thus, part of the first responder family, we’re super excited to announce him as the newest member of our team. More on Kemp soon!

Cheers to the Harvey family, and to Cap for finding his forever home with them!

Her mission? Adoptable dogs! Associate Stephanie Harvey volunteers to walk and play with strays at her local animal shelter. She finds it rewarding and says the personal attention helps make each dog more adoptable, but there's more to the story: https://bit.ly/3yV6hqJ

05/31/2024

https://www.k9responderacademy.com

What does your dog do when you're on vacation? Are you paying $75 a day or more to kennel them in a boarding facility with 30+ other dogs?

Save on the boarding fees and give them a training vacation!

We still have availability for summer 10 and 14 day board and train package. We train 2-3 dogs at a time out of our homes. No overcrowding, no stress, just a focus on teaching your dog the skills they need to be their best in a relaxing home based environment.

Locations in Charlotte and Gastonia area. Free pickup and return within 100 miles of Charlotte city limits.

AND dogs that have trained with us get access to our $35 a day boarding for your future travel needs.

05/29/2024

One of us was more excited for pool time than the other...

05/27/2024

Sometimes she's the smartest dog I've ever seen and sometimes...

05/26/2024

When you're tryna be a serious, tough guy shepherd trainer but these chocolate labs keep stealing your heart...

Dottie is crushing her training (as well as my ribs) and would be a great therapy dog for just about any agency. If you're interested, send us a message or email [email protected]

05/25/2024

Vanessa is our featured pup. She's been training with Coach Matt and is doing great. Another great potential service dog. With a little more training her focus and affection would be a great support to someone in need.

Vanessa is available for adoption from Gaston County Animal Care and Enforcement. Get you a well trained pup at a shelter dog price. Looking for service dog training? We'd be able to discount that package heavily because a lot of the ground work is already done.

05/24/2024

This is an Ewok.

We're dog trainers, but we pride ourselves on customer satisfaction, so we trained her anyways.

Meet Ruby Rose of the Forest Moon of Endor.

05/23/2024

Happy Gotcha Day to this sweet love!

You saw her in a post last week, but I'd like to officially introduce you to my new love.

She was seized by Gaston County Animal Care and Enforcement after her previous owners tied her to a horse trailer during a tornado. So we're calling her Dorothy, Dottie for short...

She's been in training for a little over a week. She's an absolute doll and we're very much trying to find her a job as a therapy dog somewhere in the state.

We don't typically take legal custody of a dog unless we have a job and handler lined up, but knowing how perfect she's going to be, we made the decision to adopt so we can finish her training and find her a gig as our newest shelter to service grad.

If your organization is looking to start their therapy program with an amazing dog with a heart of gold, send us a message or email us today. [email protected]

05/22/2024

PEACHES!
This beautiful girl passed her AKC Canine Good Citizen after her two week board and train with us. She's back home with her family as Peaches 2.0

Interested in CGC for your pup? We can get them ready to succeed with our 14 day board and train. Call or email today [email protected]

05/21/2024

BIG thanks to Jessica from Grateful Paws for getting Siren camera ready before her big day last Friday. If not for Jessica we would have had to do it ourselves and it would have been embarrassing to do all the work on training and then have her show up with a bowl cut.

Check her out in Belmont!

THANKS JESSICA!

05/20/2024

It's and what better way to celebrate than to showcase some rescue pups!

Show us a picture of your rescue pups! We'll go first...

Pictured here is Orville. Orville was being trained to be a police detection K9. His previous trainers deemed he didn't quite have what it takes and he was adopted out to someone that pretty immediately failed him and tried to pass him off as a stray.

Enter our friends at Forgotten, Now Family Rescue!

They reached out to us to see if we could help. We did a quick evaluation and now Coach Matt is working with Orville to repurpose him as a service dog for a veteran!

Orville already has a rock solid foundation so we're just doing some fine tuning and then he's going to work!

One fun thing has been that he was initially trained as play reward, meaning when he found whatever they had him tracking, he got a ball to play with for a bit. He didn't get to play unless he worked.

Scrubbing that from his training by letting him have a ball when we're not working has been a lot of fun. Orville is living his best life, and it only gets better from here!

If you're interested in having a service dog trained by us, send us a message here, or email [email protected]

05/17/2024

It's important to talk about your feelings, even if you don't have words to describe them.

Folks, my feelings right now are that of a spikey haired 12 year old drinking Surge and rocking an air guitar.

WHAT A DAY!

Siren is home! She's got the weekend to bond and be loved on by her new human, and she hits the ground running next week.

I'm so beyond proud of Matt Mantooth for his work on this. This was all his idea, and he made it happen.

We could not be more proud to have our first ANNUAL scholarship winner be the Durham Police Department. Top to bottom this is an amazing organization that wants to be their best for their community, and we're humbled and blessed to have just a tiny part of that mission.

She's going to help members of her department and her community!

Good girl, Siren!



America’s Police Comfort Dogs

Meet Siren, the Durham Police Department's newest employee. Siren will officially begin her career as the police department's therapy dog on Friday.

05/16/2024

Tomorrow Siren joins Durham Police Department and her new handler, Sergeant Lafferty.

Here's a piece from the press release DPD sent out.

"Siren will be assigned to Sergeant Lafferty of the Durham Police Department. Sergeant Lafferty was the handler of K9 Daro on DPD's K9 Unit. K9 Daro was shot in 2021, recovered from his injuries, and was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer resulting in his passing a short time later."

Sgt Lafferty has already lived through every handlers worst nightmare and is stepping up to serve again. I couldn't be more proud to have him serving as Siren's handler. The whole KRA crew is thrilled to see what the future brings for Siren and the entire DPD team!

"I will faithfully and impartially execute the duties of my office as a law enforcement officer according to the best of my skill, abilities, and judgement"

We have no doubt!

05/16/2024

Tomorrow is the big day! Tomorrow Siren officially joins the Durham Police Department!

This shot here occurred when Public Affairs Officer Park was trying to get an awesome shot (Postin that later today) but all Siren saw was someone getting down to her level, and decided to give her some love.

Park's dedication to her craft clearly paid off 🤣

Does your agency need a therapy dog? We've already got dogs in Charlotte, Wheeling, Durham and more...we can help. Message us here or send an email to [email protected]

Dogs for First Responders, trained by First Responders.

05/16/2024

Well that’s fun.

05/15/2024

Update on Daphne!

Daphne was adopted out to an amazing family! Big thanks to her former owner for letting us help with a tough situation, trusting us to teach Daphne some skills, and for keeping Daphne out of the already packed shelter/rescue system.

Not every dog is right for every home, but the accountability to do whatever was necessary for Daphne and the other dogs in the home is commendable!

05/14/2024

“Get an American Mastiff” they said. “They don’t slime like the English” they said…

05/14/2024

Please spread the word...

What a difference a person can make in a single day...

Yesterday this pup started her day like too many dogs. Tied up outside in the elements with no human interaction. We're nearly certain she saw Gaston County's recent tornado from this same spot...

Enter our favorite Firefighter turned Animal Control Hero, Specialist Zimmerman. GCACE shelter is absolutely full, and bringing in another dog was probably not going to make her popular at work, but she had a job to do.

She made some calls and now this gorgeous dog is with us at KRA, and her future is looking REALLY bright (More on that later)

But I wanted to give a big shout out to Specialist Zimmerman and the whole GCACE crew for the work they do day in and day out. Short staffed and over worked, they show up and do the job...and they do it very well.

I also want to encourage y'all to take our .

See what kind of difference you can make in a dogs life in just one day. There are countless dogs in shelters all over, spending their days in a confusing, stressful environment...just waiting for someone to step up and help.

So here's the deal. You foster a dog for ANY amount of time, and we'll do $200 off our regular (already less than anyone else around us) price for our 10 or 14 day board and train. Good through Dec 2024 (Just show us the foster paperwork from the shelter or rescue)

You adopt a dog from a shelter or rescue and we'll do $500 off the training price of a 10 or 14 day, again good through 2024, just show us the adoption paperwork.

AND starting today we're going to make this deal retroactive for the rock stars that have already fostered or adopted this year.

For now this won't be a paid ad. I'm grumpy with FB over shenanigans with a previous ad, so I'm counting on y'all to share share share.

Questions? Message us here or email Rick@K9ResponderAcademy.

Tag your rescues or county shelters here as well.