I began working with dogs 39 years ago, when I volunteered helping train police man-trailing bloodhounds. Today, my passion is training dogs for human scent detection, protection work, and advanced / competition obedience for Sirius K9 Academy, a business that I started over 25 years ago in Yorba Linda, CA. I specialize in working-line German & Czech Shepherds, as well as Rottweilers, Doberman Pin
chers, Belgian Malinois, and Dutch Shepherds. I am available for Board and Train (Basic / Intermediate / Advanced Obedience, Remote Collar Off Leash Work, and Distraction / Socialization / Environmental Work) in Orange County, CA and in Flagstaff, AZ. I also teach many obedience classes as well as protection training in Orange County, CA and obedience classes in Flagstaff, AZ. I am a graduate from the Tom Rose School of Dog Training located in St. Louis, MO, the most prestigious school of its kind in the United States. I obtained my Master Dog Trainer certification in 1990 after a one year stay at the school, specializing in training police and narcotics detection dogs. Louis, I also enjoyed competing in Schutzhund trials, and I even certified as a DVG-agitator, being one of only a few women at the time in the entire U.S. to attain this certification. I volunteered my time training dogs for Support Dogs, Inc., an organization devoted to helping the physically handicapped, as well as trained and handled dogs for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program at local schools while attending School. My favorite past time however while in St. Louis, was training and handling K9s to find narcotics inside homes and businesses for Scentry Consulting, Inc. During the past 35 years, I have instructed thousands of classes, have done countless private lessons, and I have boarded and trained over two hundred client dogs at my home. I have taught hundreds of seminars in K9 obedience, protection, remote collar training, K9 safety classes, decoy training, and narcotics and explosive K9 detection work. I have also presented numerous K9 demonstrations for local schools, for local TV shows, and have done several demos at the Orange County Pet Expo for thousands of spectators. I am an Expert Witness and consultant for several insurance agencies, attorneys, as well as for a city in Orange County, CA. I am an evaluator for several local animal shelters, and I work with many rescue organizations. I use Balanced Training methods. This means that I use a training collar (which is appropriate for the dog's breed, temperament, personality, and age) to reinforce all of their new formal obedience commands and to correct negative behavior, as well as toy / tug play and treats to motivate and reward them (as well as A LOT of praise.) I also like to start fresh with brand new commands (preferably in another language) with all the dogs that I work with so that they have formal (working) commands for when they are in public, as well as informal (non-working) commands in English for around the house. This always works out really well for both my clients and their dogs. My client's dogs are so well trained, that many movie and TV producers contact me regularly for dogs to be in their movies and on TV. One of my client dogs was even in many episodes on a TV show and several of my client's dogs were chosen to be on a popular band's album cover. I am extremely proud of all of my clients and love working with them and helping their dogs attain their full potential. More About Me
My experience also includes being an instructor at Pro-Train in San Diego, where I assisted in educating students from around the world to become professional dog trainers. I was also the lead trainer and a handler for one of the largest security K9 companies in Southern California. Local Police Agencies used my K9 Kilo and myself on major incidents when they needed a K9 team. My dog Kilo and I were also one of only three K9 teams in California requested and used for a violent union strike lock-out in Ohio. I retired as the Training Director for the Orange County Working Dog Association (OCWDA) in 2004 where I was the Founder and Training Director for several years and instructed over one hundred handlers in protection K9 training, area and building searches, and advanced obedience. I have written many articles which are posted on my website (siriusk9training.com) and on the Sirius K9 Academy FB page (https://www.facebook.com/SiriusK9Academy/ ) and I also have been featured in several newspaper and magazine articles, including "Training Secrets for the German Shepherd" Article: "Pack Facts" page 87 - 93 Vol 16, and even a magazine in Japan regarding my experience and knowledge in training dogs. I worked as a Veterinary Technician at a large veterinary hospital in Oklahoma for several years before becoming a professional dog trainer. I have competed in many K9 trials and have always been in the top three at every competition that I have entered with dogs that I raised from a puppy and trained myself. I currently have one dog named Torro. He is a 8 year old, 103 lb, bi-color German Shepherd male (from 100% East DDR Working Lines) which I have trained for Search and Rescue work as well as many other things. I am Czechoslovakian and speak it fluently. I have an extensive background in security and law enforcement. Besides training and working with Torro, I enjoy hiking in the mountains, paddle-boarding & kayaking with him, nature and animal photography as well as astrophotography (I have a page, YouTube page, and a website just for my love of photography. My photography FB page is https://www.facebook.com/caroline.haldeman.1216571329740?mibextid=ZbWKwL) You will see links to my other photography sites there. I also enjoy competitive swimming, as well as competing in triathlons, doing obstacle courses, and mud runs. I am currently pursuing a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine.
