2K9 Dog Training LLC

08/18/2024

08/09/2024

In a day and age when we have access to an incredible abundance of quality information as well as superior tools and talented trainers, and yet we have more dogs and owners struggling than ever… one should be inclined to ask an obvious question.

Like: “Why?”

The answer isn’t difficult to find.

Regardless of the resources available, if the mindset of those who have this access is one that is crippled by societal programming pushing us all to view weak and enabling behavior as virtuous, sophisticated, and healthy, and eschew accountability and leadership as unkind, unfair, and unsavory—then all the resources in the world will be for naught.

Which is why I’m always talking about mindset first. You’ll never find the resources, nor behave in a fashion that will actually help you and your dog as long as you believe that these “other” resources and this “other” behavior is detrimental or un-good.

For we only find that which we’re willing to see. And at the moment, an enormous portion of society is absolutely unwilling to see, never mind actually embrace, the reality staring back at them from their highly dysfunctional dogs that are the byproduct of their highly dysfunctional relationship, which are the byproduct of their highly dysfunctional mindsets, which are the byproduct of our highly dysfunctional societal programming.

All the resources in the world mean nothing if the minds that could use them have determined them invalid.

07/28/2024

So true!

One of the very best things an owner can get out of high quality training is a clear insight as to what their dogs are truly capable of.

Great trainers can leverage the right tools, training, and mindset to find answers that many owners would otherwise not find on their own. And even though it’s only a piece of the solution—knowing what is and isn’t possible—is an awfully important piece.

Once an owner sees what is possible, then it is up to them (with the guidance of their trainer) to become the equal of their goals and challenges with their dog. This almost always includes immense amounts of mental, emotional, and physical effort. Skills have to be learned, new ways of thinking and acting have to be developed, and lifestyle needs to be adjusted.

Of course this is a tall order. In the same way that most everyone would love to be in great shape, be financially abundant, and have great relationships with friends and family… these accomplishment all require great effort, great sacrifice, and longterm discipline and commitment.

And because we all know how us humans are wired—instant gratification with longterm costs almost always beat out delayed gratification with longterm benefits—we find most humans know precisely what’s needed, but find that cost simply too high to pay.

So when we proclaim how much we desire to transform our dogs and their behavior, it’s best, if we want to avoid appearing foolish and hypocritical, that we first examine how much of ourselves and our behavior that we’re truly willing to transform.

Said another way, don’t complain about the results you didn’t get from the actions you didn’t take. The results are waiting for you, but only come when you’ve become their equal. ❤️

07/24/2024

Facts!!! 💯💯💯

Like the spoiled, bratty child who has been allowed to behave like a tiny tantrum throwing tyrant for years on end, who is then expected to forget all they’ve learned (and become) and behave like a little prince when a special occasion that the parents determine demands decorum and the most polite of manners… this is precisely the same way so many canine brats, tyrants, and at the furthest end, monsters… are created, and is also precisely the same ludicrous thought process which expects them to behave otherwise.

The owner who allows daily chaos, rule-bending, disrespect, and “minor behavioral episodes” should expect their furry chickens to eventually come home to roost.

There’s a reason that smart and effective trainers harp on and on about the immense value of learning to see the seemingly small moments of daily life/behavior/rules as anything but.

These “small” moments (and the way we respond to them) either teach and mold our dogs to understand the exacting standards and expectations we have for their behavior—and pull them in that positive direction, creating healthy attitude/demeanor/patterns—or they pull them in the other direction.

Either way, the dog you get isn’t formed when the chips are down and everything is on the line. The dog you get is formed by the countless chips you’ve stacked—knowingly or unknowingly—over countless tiny moments that were anything but tiny to your dog.
——
The Good Dog Way: Love Them By Leading Them Volumes 1&2 are available in paperback, kindle, or audiobook via Amazon/Audible.

www.thegooddogway.com

07/16/2024

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday! Got to see some good friends...shared some good food, drinks and laughs together. Yesterday (my bday) I was able to spend some time with my family ❤ and my brother from another mother We went to check out the Air and Space Museum. We had so much fun walking around seeing all the cool planes! The highlight for my special day was definitely seeing Logan light up with pure joy and excitement when he saw all the 🛩🚀 Later on that evening we met up with Ashley's family for dinner at and dessert (homemade cookie cake with frosting and fresh fruit) at home. 😋🍛

Cheers to 44 and another year 🍻🍹🚀🛩🥨🍹⚽️🧧

To Good Health and Happiness To ALL....

07/06/2024

Peaceful Coexistence ✌🐾💚...

07/05/2024

It's such an amazing feeling to be able to help a girl and her family achieve their dreams of being able to walk and enjoy their puppies without the chaos.
🤪🤯🙃

Nimona and Blossom (Bichon sisters) went home earlier last week after spending two weeks training with us in our All Star Board and Train Program. They both did an amazing job and learned so much in just two short weeks. Upon pick up we spent over 3.5 hours with the family going over all the necessary information and skills for them to take over leadership and to maintain training at home.

Everyone did an amazing job on their first lesson especially the four legged students (peep out the well behaved sisters holding place during part of the lesson). Can't be more proud of this team. Keep up the good work! Please let us know if you need anything! Happy Training! 🐾🐾🐾...

07/04/2024

💯💯💯

It’s rare that you will see a calm dog make truly terrible choices. The “out of the blue” dog fight, the jumping on and knocking down of a child, the exploding at a dog on the walk, the frenzied bite on a guest as they enter the house, the streaking/sneaking out the front door as you attempt enter/exit, the ignoring of known commands in dicey situations… and on and on.

Does this mean your dog always needs to be calm and laid back? Of course not. There’s absolutely a time and place for some crazy—but for most owners they have little to no say about when the crazy happens and to what extent and for how long it goes on.

Our dog’s factory settings are set to crazy, chaotic, and overly-aroused. Which means, if we want to see our dogs at their very best, WE have to take responsibility for training calmness, patience, impulse control, and an “off-switch”. Because if we don’t, the factory setting will not only be all that’s listened to, but it will actually increase in severity and frequency the more it’s allowed to be practiced and patterned.

Which means, it’s up to us to lead and guide and teach the other stuff—if we want our dog’s most polite, most reliable, most clear-headed, and safest behavior… when desired.

The beauty of it all is that you CAN have it all. You CAN have the crazy and you CAN have the calm. It’s not an either/or equation—and it shouldn’t be. Life is about balance. No dog’s life should only be one of calm, controlled, robot-like “goodness”, because that’s not goodness, it’s an out of balance hyper-fixation on suppression of behavior. But could your dog use a bit (or quite a bit) more calm, polite, impulse-control-rich behavior? Chances are very good that the answer is yes.

And if you’re struggling with behavior issues, the answer is an absolute, 100%, resounding yes.

My advice? Get both, and enjoy both—just remember one comes naturally and one requires help—your help, and lots of it.

06/27/2024

06/26/2024

When most of your work is done behind the scenes and in solitude, it's nice to get recognized every now and then. 🙏 Thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂 We had so much fun working with Logan! Keep up the great work with him and please let us know if you need anything! Proud of you two! 💯...

06/24/2024

Raven & Lila 🥰...

06/20/2024

Roman just got in this morning and we're excited to have this 6 month old boerboel pup join us for some fun and lots of learning. Roman and his family started training with us a couple of months ago through private lessons and now that he's old enough he will be joining us for our All Star Board and Train Program. We will to continue to build and reinforce the foundation we started with this pup for the next couple of weeks as well as proof his obedience around many more real world distractions. Welcome, Roman and family! We look forward to taking your training to the next level!!!
🚀💪🐾...

06/17/2024

Great read!

"My dog doesn't like car rides."

"My dog hates the vet."

"I can't cut my dog's nails."

"S(he) won't eat her food unless I add a little [human food] to it."

"My dog hates other dogs."

"S(he) will *be fine* once s(he) gets used to you."

"My dog is afraid of [thing/place/person/etc]."

"My dog hates the crate."

"My dog can't be left alone."

With precious few exceptions, all of these things are completely avoidable, so they never happen or can be fixed with appropriate effort.

The reason these behaviors appear is because owners never thought they needed to condition the dog to accept these things. At the very first sign of protest by the dog, the owner stops whatever they are doing and the dog registers that protest makes what the dog doesn't like, stop.

The next time the owner reenacts the same scenario, the dog doubles its effort, perhaps even quicker, and the owner stops again.

It doesn't matter what it is, what the dog's takeaway from each encounter, is when I fight, I win.

It could be as simple as holding a puppy, or putting equipment on the dog.

Owners make these things a struggle and heavily reinforce the dog every time they allow the dog to escape or avoid consequence for refusal or failure.

By the time the dog is a practiced adult, there will come a time where these things will need to be done, and either the owner, a veterinarian, some other caregiver, will be the recipient of a fair bit of fury when the dog exercises his memory of fast refusals at the first whiff of conflict, weighing in at adult weights, and having formed adult opinions.

It doesn't take much to prevent these things, but folks have their work cut out for them when they try to remediate these issues after they have been hardened by lack of conditioning.

Your dog is more than capable of learning how to be confined, restrained, groomed, approached safely by strangers, travel, etcetera.

What stands in the way of where you are now, and success, is knowing what to do, how to do it, and the effort necessary to get it all done.

We're here when you're ready.

06/14/2024

Alumnis, Teddy & Molly, living their best life at the beach with their family! So great getting updates from clients! 💯 Thank you for sharing!! Happy Friday!!! ✌💚🐾...

06/14/2024

Littermates, Nimona and Blossom, are closing in on their first week of training with us. We can't be more proud of these two and how far they've come since getting here less than a week ago. They were dropped off completely nervous, fearful, unruly and just constantly barked at everything. 🔊

Owner's Wish List: for them to be potty trained, for them to be less destructive around the house, for them to be calmer around each other, and for them to listen to commands.

Five days into their two week board and train program and I'm happy to report that they have had ZERO accidents in the office, the office has been fairly quiet for the last couple of days, they are much more settled in their crate, they have been able to work independently away from each other with minimal whining and barking, and walking them individually now have been much easier and dare I say enjoyable 😊 All in all these two sisters are definitely heading in the right direction and we are excited for the next chapter of training (proofing commands and layering in real world distractions). LET'S GO!!!...

06/09/2024

Afternoon duration place with the pack (Rusty, Lee, and Nala).✌🐶💚...

06/08/2024

Progress, not perfection! One step at a time for Team Rex!

Rex a 6.5 month old Malinois and his owner came in today for their second private lesson. Truthfully this was more like their first lesson being that we did not get much done on their last visit. A lot of time was spent cleaning up after Rex (marking around the office 😏) and trying to talk over him and his relentless barking. Needless to say he came in HOT, nervous, and completely over aroused. Fast forward to today...we decided to switch things up for this team and took training outside. We continued with marker training using a clicker, talked about the importance of leash handling, the importance of timing and when to mark and reward (behavior & mindset), talked about the importance of keeping Rex engaged, and how to build neutrality into training (the key 🔑 more freedom). The lesson started out a bit rocky. Rex was totally disengaged with us and was really concerned about church member kids next door as well as the dogs in our kennel. We took our time and worked him through all the distractions using movement, luring him and keeping him engaged. Not too long after about 10 to 15 min we were able to get Rex in a calmer state of mind and in more of a pack drive mentality where we were able to continue to work with him on building the marker/clicker and teaching him that checking in with his handler and calmness gets him lots of yummy treats. Can't wait to pick up where we left off with this team in a couple of weeks! Keep at it guys!!! Happy Training!!!

Embrace The Journey! 💪🐾💚...

05/24/2024

Great example of how leash pressure & guidance can help a dog overcome fear.

05/14/2024

Graduation Days are always bitter sweet moments! So proud of you, Lil Ollie! 🎓🐶😊...

05/13/2024

🐾New Student🐾

Welcome to 2K9 Dog Training Family, Breezy and family!...

04/22/2024

Let's give a warm welcome to our new Pro Board and Train Student, Paxton, 18 month old Goldendoodle to our 2K9 Dog Training Family. Paxton will be joining us this summer to work on General On & Off Leash Obedience, Building Impulse Control Around Real-World Distractions, and Socialization with dogs and people. Welcome, Paxton and family!...

04/21/2024

Sunday duration work with the pack....

04/16/2024

New student Bliss 🥰🐶 Welcome to 2K9 Family pretty girl!...

04/14/2024

Sunday workflow! Nala, Louie, Bailey, Ollie, and Negáo working together. Way to go team!! 🙌🐶🙂...

04/10/2024

Our patient, Nala, stopped in with her dog trainer 2K9 Dog Training LLC! We love to see her flourishing with training! Great job Nala and Pete!

04/08/2024

🐾 New Student 🐾

Welcome to 2K9, Logan and family! 🙂 This happy go lucky pup will be joining us next month for our All ⭐ Star Board and Train to work on his General On-Off Leash Obedience Around Real-World Distractions, Leash Manners, & Building Impulse Control. We can't wait to get started with you guys! Welcome!!! 🐶💚...

04/06/2024

First day of school and we can already tell Roman is going to be a ⭐ student! 🥰🐶...

04/05/2024

Friday Calm Social ✌🐶💚...