Blog by K9 Pro and Steve Courtney Dog Training K9 Pro The K9 Professionals

Nosework has grown in popularity immensely over the last few years, and this is such great news for dog owners. Now it does not matter if you want to compete in the sport of nosework or just train your dog to use his or her nose effectively for fun, enrichment or mental satisfaction for your dog, and you, it can …

I have a lot of people ask me how they can become a trainer, how they can become more skilled maybe win dog sports competitions etc, most times these people do not give dog training experience and education enough time.   These days we want it all, yesterday. I see people go to every seminar, watch YouTube until they fall …

In the last half a dozen or so years I see more people spruiking to anyone that will listen how their training is “science based” or “scientifically proven”. This is a subject that seems to come up a lot when a client is telling me that they have been training elsewhere with little to no results to show after months …

While I love training puppies and their new owners, a large part of my job is working with clients who have dogs (usually around the age of 12-18 months) that cannot control themselves around other dogs.   Most commonly these dogs will come to us for training and behaviour issues ranging from general bad manners to over excitement and lack …

At some point, your dog’s behaviour has been going on so long or so often that you may just accept that it can’t be changed. You adjust to calling it normal, but at K9 Pro, we aim to create a new normal. Over stimulated, over excited, hyperactive, always on, fear aggressive, predatory aggressive, dominant and anxious dogs can all be …

Every week, I speak with someone either in a phone consult or an in person consult that is in trouble with council due to something their dog has done. They are usually in a panic because their dog will be declared menacing or dangerous and the restrictions that will be applied and the conditions they will need to meet are …

Raising a puppy can be a challenge for even experienced pet owners, but raising a puppy to develop it as a working K9 is a whole other level. K9 Pro is proud to be a sponsor of Garsova’s Puppy Development Program, designed to raise and development German Shepherd pups with the ultimate goal to be provided to a Policing Agency, …

There is a growing debate on the use of these training aids and it really is a concerning topic. People say “Prong collars e-collars – why?” and this is a great question, but it is a poor statement. Maybe twenty years ago, many people had never heard of a prong collar, I remember using them and discussing them on various …

At K9Pro we measure our success based on how our clients feel about the services we provide. We spend our days targeting success, read on to see how you can do the same. In other words, when clients are able to get the changes in their dogs’ behaviour that they need, this is how we measure our success. Everything else …

When you decide the time is right for a puppy to come into your life, you should really think long and hard and do some research before you take that big step. When people buy a new car, on average people keep the new car until its 4 – 6 years old, or there abouts. Now, consider how much research, …

In this modern world, we have much deeper relationships with our dogs, few will disagree with me on this one, but as we are so taken with our dogs, are expert trainers, masters of scientifically proven positive reinforcement training systems, why are there so many dog attacks, aggressive dogs and out of control dogs? With the internet being the encyclopedia …

We have all heard that the key to helping a dog with behaviour problems is exercise, but in many cases I disagree with this, in fact I wrote an article about it here. (“Why exercise may not be the answer to your dog problems“) Now many people will disagree with me here but considering I see a LOT of dogs …

You see a dog on the training field that is full of energy, optimism and excitement and performing the tasks exceptionally well – what a smart dog and well trained too, must be a joy to live with… Well…   not always, or more accurately not often. My Training in Drive System has been developed over many years, the goal of …

When you have a problem with your dog’s behaviour, for example aggression, separation issues, reactive or nervous behaviours then most experienced behaviourists will carry out a behaviour modification program; but to carry this program out effectively, there are often elements of obedience training that also need to be taught and trained. Very often I see clients that have a solid …

Bringing a baby into your home with or without dogs is going to be a disruptive exercise, anyone with children will agree, but if your dog/s are not ready for this then they may react in a way that will make this very challenging time, very much more challenging. At times a new mum contacts us at her wits end …