Heritage K9

15/01/2025

What these dogs do is so important and can be very difficult, like it was referenced it’s someone’s home so that means burnt food, household items, dead animals and potentially odor that these dogs are trained to find.

Amazing work everyone is doing and we are cheering for all of you ❤️

24/12/2024

We had so much fun working with the AZTF1 teams in Riverside on Sunday. Super fun day at our CATF6 training site!!!

30/10/2024

Another Successful Nosework Workshop at SDF!

Thank you to everyone who came out to play with us last weekend. This site offers truly unique training opportunities and a chance to train like the Big Dogs! The weather was perfect and the venue outstanding as always. It was great to see everyone so positive, enthusiastic and supportive of each other. That’s what it’s all about.

We had challenging searches for stretching the higher level teams which we could split into shorter searches for those who building search duration and complexity.
All teams got to work all the hides successfully, with flexible coaching. We even introduced some drive building drills for those looking to overcome distractions and add more focus into their searches. We can ALL get caught up just pushing to the next challenge and forget to keep searching fun- even when increasing difficulty. We definitely saw some doggies smiling while searching-handlers too!

Woof!

21/10/2024

SDIT Bodhi went with his handler (our assistant trainer JJ) and her boyfriend to Monterey Bay this past week! This was Bodhi’s first time at a non pet friendly hotel which meant he had to really step up and be very on point. JJ & Bodhi have been working hard to prepare themselves for this trip and Bodhi handled it like a pro!

Now SDIT Bodhi has gone to several hotels in the past and has always been spot on but they have been pet friendly so if he somehow messed up it wouldn’t be such a big deal. We have been preparing Bodhi diligently making sure his obedience was on point (heeling, sit stays, down stays, tasking in tighter spaces, focused heeling, tucking/making himself smaller to not take up as much space since he is larger and much more). JJ was unsure of how he would handle this but again he handled it like a pro and her anxiety was all for nothing!

The room itself was a panoramic view and so to a dog’s eyes it looked like one hell of a crazy drop off. JJ did have to do a bit of confidence building with high value treats for Bodhi to feel comfortable and understand he was safe and was not going to fall into the ocean. Once he became more comfortable he really enjoyed the view and spent his free time watching the ocean life around us. The hotel also had several hot tubs and this was SDIT Bodhi’s first time being exposed to one so JJ did a lot of training around it and working on his downstay while she was in the tub with a lot of praise and occasional treats. A service dog is not allowed into pools or hot tubs but they are allowed to be around them which is exactly what JJ did. She also brought his place mat to help bridge his training and by the end of the stay he was falling asleep while they enjoyed a soak. This was one of the things JJ had been concerned about leading up to the trip but he was spot on!

Now one of the biggest part a of being a trainer and handler is to know when your dog has had enough. JJ wanted to take Bodhi to the Monterey Bay Aquarium when they visited but she was seeing signs that he was not ready to handle that insane of a venue and decided it was best to keep him in his variocage in the truck (with plenty of water, fans, temp monitor and several chews on a thick bed). She made the correct call, they had several groups of school children running around and a lot of the exhibitions were very dark. Bodhi easily could have tripped a child or ran face first into one which was something JJ wanted to avoid.

Other than deciding to not take him in the Aquarium Bodhi attended every meal and stop with JJ and her boyfriend and handled perfectly. Automatically heeling and sitting each time she stopped, tasked on the first ask (and was heavily rewarded for it), was able to tuck and minimize himself in crowded spaces (not always easy to do when you are a huge 90 lbs GSD) and was in general on his best behavior. He was given many breaks and opportunities to be a dog when it was appropriate.

We are very proud of Bodhi and happy to have him as our demo dog for our service dog program. He really stepped up and is becoming one hell of a partner for JJ and one of our biggest success stories. Service dog training is not easy and we’ve put hundreds of hours of training into him and it is amazing to see it all come together. The key has been not rushing him and pushing him into situations he isn’t ready for and not removing the “in training” status too early even though sometimes it feels like it is taking forever and that you are going too slow but at the end of the day everything needs to be taken at Bodhi’s pace.

Interested in working with us? Want to learn more about our programs?
Website: https://www.heritagek9llc.com/
Email: [email protected]

15/09/2024

We have an upcoming Nosework Workshop with Melissa Casanova & Sonja! You can get the full details on our sign up genius link. Thank you all and we can’t wait to see you and work with you & your pup! ❤️

11/09/2024

We will never forget.

26/08/2024

Do you love dogs? We do! And today, on , we want to brag about our incredible USAID - US Agency for International Development urban search & rescue dogs. After disasters like earthquakes, these highly trained and talented canines from Virginia Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue & Los Angeles County Fire Department deploy with us to look for survivors trapped in rubble.

23/08/2024

❤️❤️❤️❤️

02/07/2024

Here’s some extra tips:

- Double check your dog’s microchip information! Did you know that you need to register the chip with your information? This is a great time to make sure your information is up to date!

- Collars trackers can be very useful! Each dog in our care wears one when they are with us just in case!

- White noise is your friend! The TV, radio, white noise machines etc can help with the noise.

- Possibly keep your dog on leash and or supervise any outdoor time while fireworks are going off. We also suggest double checking fencing and gates to make sure everything is safe and that your dog cannot bolt.

- Freeze frozen stuffables to give to your dog as a distraction. Lickmats are also wonderful and you can also freeze your pup’s food in a bowl or slow feed bowl so you can feed during that time and hopefully keep them entertained and calm.

Our plan at Heritage K9 will be to work the dogs in our care, get them tired and fulfilled, give them frozen items to focus on, keeping our TV’s on to drown out the noise and we will be doing supervised bathroom breaks in the front yard. We don’t really get many fireworks this way but it is always good to be prepared. Happy Fourth!

30/06/2024

Great idea. Simple and it could save your dog’s life 👍

Someone passed this onto us and we thought it was a great idea to share.
With the 4th of July right around the corner we tend to get several calls about dogs getting out, and owners frantically trying to find them. We ask that you make sure your dogs have their collars on, updated contact information on their licenses, or do something similar to the picture below !
We can not scan for microchips. We do not have a scanner, and if the vets offices are closed, we will have to transport any found dogs that are unclaimed to Lake County Dog Shelter.
We love our community fur babies and want to make sure they are safe! 🐾💕

29/06/2024

Here's a repost of our fast facts on heat injury. There's a lot of bad info going around out there right now. Everything we state in this list is backed by scientific evidence and lessons learned in the field. Feel free to share!

24/05/2024

You can catch us at the Smart Dog Conference this year!
Interested in working with us? Contact us here:
Website: https://www.heritagek9llc.com/
Email: [email protected]

Meet Sonja Heritage, a veteran in FEMA Disaster Search canine training, with over 25 years of expertise, owning Heritage K9 LLC and mentoring handlers worldwide.

Don't miss out on this opportunity! 🐾✨

20/05/2024

Happy Rescue Dog Day! We have been so very privileged to work with a bunch of different rescue dogs (some from other rescues, some from shelters and unfortunately picking up dumped dogs here in the desert). Today we will be posting some of those dogs and their stories because it is so very important to talk about this!

Chance: We were driving home from a training with the van full of dogs, it was pouring rain and miserable and we saw this emaciated GSD trying to chase after a motorcycle. Of course we immediately stopped and we had to physically lift this dog into the van because he could not walk anymore. We were absolutely HORRIFIED!!! Eventually we found out that the owner of this dog did not want him and was allowing him to starve to death in a barn, they thought they did not need to feed the dog everyday. We couldn’t just take him (which we wanted to do!) but told them we would happily take him and find him a good home. We left them a card and we both cried on the way home. Thankfully they reached out to us a few days later and we raced to pick him up. We ended up feeding this dog lots of small meals nearly all day long and working hard to get him healthy. We were able to work with an amazing rescue (Halfway To Home!) who was able to take Chance from us when they had room and adopted him out. He is now living a wonderful life with a family who loves and adores him.

Puppies: We were headed home and saw four young puppies attempting to drink out of the aquaduct near our home. Of course we stopped and come over and fed them and out from the bushes comes two more. Each puppy was starving and they were quite feral. We spent weeks feeding them and attempting to catch them and eventually we were able to work with another local rescue who helped us trap them and get them the attention and care they needed.

Bodhi: Alright, buckle up for this story. Bodhi was found off of the highway by a Good Samaritan who knew that if he could catch the dog we could help the dog. Bodhi was very emaciated, dehydrated, covered in foxtails and other burrs (some went down to his skin) and had clearly been dumped and left for dead which unfortunately happens a lot out here. We checked for a chip, posted online, filed a police report (because we wanted this neglect to be documented) and did try and find the “owner”. We never did and well he almost immediately settled in. It took us weeks of hard work to get him feeling better (so much grooming!) and fed him around the clock for him to gain weight. During all this we found out he is horribly allergic to beef and pork and has severe GI upset, so bad we rushed him to the emergency vet. We also fell in love with him. He very quickly took to JJ (me!) and we’ve been inseparable since. Bodhi has become a skilled service dog in training and successful manages JJ’s hypoglycemia and PTSD. He is currently learning her hearing alerts and is finishing up his training. We are so proud of him and love him dearly. It will be our two year anniversary with Bodhi in June 🥹❤️

To all of you who rescue or are involved in this line of work, we appreciate you and we know how hard it is right now, these babies need us ❤️

Interested in working with us?
Website: https://www.heritagek9llc.com/
Email: [email protected]