Modern K9

Modern K9 *Teacher By Day; Dog Trainer By Night!
*Balanced Dog Trainer (CDT-C)
*Living peacefully together👤🦮
(2)

12/27/2025

I saw a similar statement posted by and it summarizes a lot of what I have experienced lately with dog ownership.

Most people are in love with the idea of having a dog. But their idea is warped.

They are in love with the idea of having a companion. They are in love with love. The idea of having endless affection. But they are not in love with the idea of giving back to the dog what the dog truly needs.

The way that we fulfill a dog is not through snuggles, a roof over their head and two meals per day. There is so much more that dogs need and deserve. And many dog owners I encounter just don’t want to do the hard parts.

Make no mistake-owning a dog is not easy and if you think it is, you’re likely doing it wrong.

12/24/2025

Still pondering the similarities….

12/23/2025

We have adopted a new family member, Spike.

He is a 3-year old bearded dragon (lizard).
He is incredibly chill and sweet. We take him out of his tank daily so it is important that I take small steps to exposing my three dogs to his presence.

Out of my 3 dogs, my doberman Lincoln, I trust the least. But it’s not his fault. Having a high prey drive is part of his genetics. It’s going to take an enormous amount of training to make it extremely clear to him that Spike is off limits.

However, my expectations are realistic. I do not anticipate they will become friends and hang out together nor do I ever intend to allow them to free roam at the same time. It is just not fair for me expect that of my doberman. My other two dogs, however I can see that being a possibility, but I am still going extremely slowly.

For my Doberman, my main goal is to make sure that he can still take direction from me when the lizard is around. I also want to make sure that he has enough impulse control to resist his inherent desires should the situation arise.

While I don’t anticipate putting them in any scenarios where accidents could happen – you just never know. And I don’t want either of us to be caught off guard.

I want to be proactive so that if an accident does occurred, Lincoln and I are prepared.

12/22/2025

Cruz is a fearful dog-which means there’s always going to be something that concerns him – therefore it’s important that I teach him the safest way to respond.

When I first started fostering Cruz, he had a habit of taking off whenever he was scared. While he felt that running away was best, it was a dangerous habit, especially outdoors.

Over the last couple of months that I’ve been fostering Cruz, I have been building up our relationship to help him see that I am his safe space when scary things come along.

This training is less about working through the trigger and more about showing him this predictable picture that I will never force him to interact with what he’s scared of.

So while it is not difficult to see that he is concerned with that bike, it is also clear to see that he understands this routine where he can immediately give space but then needs to come find me.

So instead of waiting for real life situations to occur, I am intentionally setting up scenarios that allows both of us the opportunity to practice this routine.

12/20/2025

Just like toddlers-more interested in the box than what was in it.
Just make sure that you supervise, and if your dog is the type of dog to swallow what they shred, then it would be safe to say not to do this activity with them.

12/20/2025

We often see people using higher surfaces to “build a dog’s confidence”.
But there are different aspects when it comes to confidence – body confidence, confidence around triggers, confidence in new environments or confidence around strangers.

So it’s not that jumping on high surfaces will improve all of these areas. It typically helps the dog understand what their body is capable of doing. So I like to use this strategy as a way to build body confidence.

It also helps to build clarity when communicating with your dog-for example, in this video I used the cue “place.”
This is a cue I use to signal to the dog to get on the surface I am pointing at.

This helps to build clarity in what I’m asking them to do because it’s predictable. When there are unfamiliar surfaces I need for them to get on, like the scale at the vet’s office, we can do so without conflict.

However, in order to create that predictability and clarity, it must be practiced on multiple different surfaces. So while I don’t need Cruz to get on this particular surface in the video, I use it as a way to strengthen our communication.

12/18/2025

Training is happening whether you like it or not.

It’s up to you if you would like control over how your dog perceives the world.

12/18/2025

As many of us would like to say we were amazing trainers from the start – that just isn’t true. We all start somewhere at the bottom.

We all started at a place where we wished we knew more, understood more. And then eventually we did.

Understanding dogs is a never ending journey. Every single dog I work with teaches me something new. What I know now is leaps and bounds greater than what I knew five years ago. And it just keeps getting better.

So if you are at a place where you wish you knew more – Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep searching. You can get there!

#

12/17/2025

If Loose Leash Walking is something you struggle with, look in the comments for the training videos from my You Tube channel.

It’s not that being relaxed by the doorway will solve all of your leash issues but it can definitely be hindering your progress.
If your dog doesn’t view the doorway as a place to relax, then teaching your dog to not pull on walks may be much harder to achieve.

The majority of dogs I work with struggle with loose leash walking because their energy is not right. They view the outside world as either a super exciting place or a super scary one which causes them to go over threshold quickly making it nearly impossible for them to follow through with obedience skills.

12/16/2025

Two monies on their side.

Actually 3🤭

12/16/2025

There is one dog in this mix that keeps me on my toes. All. The. Time.

There is ALWAYS something to work on.
And I LOVE him for it. He has taught me so much!

Thank you buddy for keeping me humble and never letting me get too comfortable.

Address

Indian Land, SC
29707

Website

https://youtube.com/@ModernK9_Carolinas

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