The Holistic Approach
OUR MISSION
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Improve the quality of life for your dog and family through dog training services.
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Provide training plans that are realistic and achievable for clients to implement.
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Use the most humane approach for your specific dog for their mental and physical well-being in the short AND long term.
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Provide programs that can produce dogs that are resilient, confident, and reliable in whatever situation life gives them.
The Holistic Approach
#1) Self-Control
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The top component of training!
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Enables reliability around distractions
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Always coming when called, demonstrating manners in society, learning an off-switch, and more
#2) Training
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Teaching cues to your dog
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Involves positive reinforcement with a structured, progressive communication system and plan for following-through
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Use canine innate drives, instincts, and dog-specific interests to make training enjoyable and fun!
#3) Enrichment
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Meeting your dog's physical, mental and emotional needs
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Essential for quality animal welfare
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Enrichment comes before training in importance!
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The starting point for a solid bond and creating a mindset primed for learning
#4) Teamwork
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Learning a correct working definition of leadership
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Understanding your role and influence in your dog's behavior
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MDK9 takes a "parental" style approach
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Dogs are companions deserving respect, patience, and fair, kind leadership
#5) Health
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The foundational component of working with dogs!
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We strictly honor the Do No Harm principle
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A partnership with a quality trusted vet and good nutrition
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A safe, healthy and happy dog is one that is able to learn
Deep Bond Building
Do you have a dog you can trust?
Do you want a dog that can make good choices?
Do you want freedom for your dog and yourself?
Does your life revolve around managing your dog?
Do you want a loyal family pet, but seem to micromanage a ball of furry chaos?
This is our specialty!
We are well aware of the effects that living with difficult dogs has on the human half. We prioritize the health and happiness of families, both human and dog.
Good teamwork is an essential part of leadership. Owners will learn how to foster collaboration and trust with their canine teammate and establish clear communication channels.
What if this was YOUR dog?
It can be!
Sit
Your dog sits and remains sitting until you give the okay
Come
A dog that comes when called even with distractions like people, dogs, or animals are around
Heel
Pleasant outings and walks that are enjoyable on a loose leash
Place
Your dog waits calmly in place no matter what
Down
Your dog lies down and stays while you have a conversation
Foundational Obedience
Canine Manners
Any canine good citizen should have good manners and important life skills for successful living with humans.
We define good manners as:
Politely greeting a human
Demonstrating impulse control
Giving attention and focus to their owner
React appropriately to distractions
Dog/dog etiquette, greetings, and neutrality
Experiences minimized stress when going to the vet
These skills take a strategic, structured training plan and partnership with a knowledgeable and experienced trainer to facilitate safe socialization, gradual exposure, and continued practice.
All dogs must learn these to successfully live in a human environment, and with the right support and program dogs with behavior challenges can overcome and learn these too!
Life Skills & Housebreaking
Housebreaking is MORE than just potty training!
Our dogs live in human homes and human society and therefore MUST learn basic skills such as:
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"Leave it"
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"Off"
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Potty training
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Confinement/crate training
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Curb chewing, mouthing, barking & counter surfing
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Understanding boundaries
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Not door dashing
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Respecting any human-only areas
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Accepting brushing, nail trimming, and baths
Management Methods
Much of dog training is actually management.
Until our dogs are reliably trained, we must implement management methods to ensure they are learning intended skills, prevent practicing bad behavior, and promote safety during training.
We train dogs for the future! By teaching a dog to wear a muzzle, relax in a crate, or be confined at home and in vehicles, it will help reduce stress and anxiety such as when at the vet or in an emergency health situation if these tools must be used for human and canine safety.
Management is also part of general good "puppy-proofing" in a home until our dogs have a foundation of manners, housebreaking routine, and understand what is expected of them.
Problem-solving with management until a dog can exhibit good behavior reduces practicing unwanted habits, improves safety, and allows for a successful training program with faster results.