Ok. I screwed up. About 15 years ago I met Brian and he trained us and a very rambunctious Black Lab mix. This dog was out of control, living on the streets and absolutely no manners. He is now a very fond memory of a wonderful pet and companion. We lost him to cancer about 4 years ago. The Way I messed up is with our current 7.7 pound 15 month old Pomeranian. We attempted to train him using Lucky Dog training in Keller. We tried obedience, manners and zen classes. As he completed each of these classes our goal was to get him into agility. We were assured he was ready for agility based on the instructor's recommendations. Our first Agility teacher was patient and very good with our little man. Our second agility instructor was very good at agility course work but was terrible at teaching him or us behavior techniques. Mind you the techniques we learned in the previous classes only worked minimally at best. It all came to a head when we were given very strict instructions as to not come to class early, remove him from the training area when he was not in the ring; all in a text message. No phone call until the decision was made to remove him from the program. The excuse was that the trainer was busy. If they had enough time to send a text, a phone call would have been quicker and we might have been able to come to a compromise. We had no clue that this was coming. We had concerns but no way given help to deal with our dog. After a call from the owner it was decided our dog was no longer welcome. In Desperation, I called Brian and explained the situation. He was overwhelming willing to help. In the approximately 6 weeks since the occurrence at Luck Dog, Brian has our little man in line and he is much easier to take in public. I venture to say he will be a wonderful dog in short order. Brian accomplished more in six weeks than Lucky Dog training was able to accomplish in five months. You cannot go wrong with using this man. read more

After getting our Goldendoodle, we could tell he was much more energetic than our last who had passed. We knew we wanted to get him into training but were in the middle of a move. We called Brian when he was 8 months old and I only wish we had started sooner. After 6 sessions, we could walk our puppy without him pulling and he would sit immediately if we stopped walking. We are now a few weeks into off leash training and are looking so forward to having a dog that will listen off leash. Brian is fantastic with our dog and does a great job teaching us how to train him as well! read more

Bryan is an amazing trainer and human! Louie is our 4th dog trained by Bryan and he is doing amazing! So well behaved and responsive! read more

K-9 Connection - Dog Training - First trip to the Home Depot! - Pet Training Near Me

I feel like THE SMARTEST dog mom for hiring K9 Connection to teach us how to "speak dog"! I saw Brian's info on the back of his SUV and pocketed the number so I could research him and other trainers in the area...his google reviews are amazing. Comparatively to other trainers he has the most experience, the most 5 star ratings on google, and he comes to the owner which (I was surprised to find out) a lot of the local trainers do not. I was nervous initially about spending the money to hopefully get our 3 year old lab to sit, stay, come, walk on a leash without ripping my arm off and QUIT JUMPING ON PEOPLE Holy smokes, Brian Cunningham and his skill set are WORTH. EVERY. PENNY. You only think you love your dog now...hire Brian if you want to know how to blissfully coexist with your canine. It is night and day and we're only on the 6th out of 9 lessons! Brian is firm with his corrections for our 60 lb lab, but there is absolutely nothing untoward about his approach to us or our dog. Infact it's wonderful how he does not use food to reward Rip when he obeys a command, but praises him in the sweetest "grampa" voice, and Rip's tail can't control itself Rip really enjoys the gold star treatment from Brian. Also, I had no idea how much I was contributing to our dog's bad behavior! Haha so I'm pretty sure Brian trained US as much as he trained Rip . Brian is organized, punctual, courteous, and just an all around good and considerate person. I'd hire him again for the next dog we get but we don't need to! He's taught us all we need to know for any dog we decide to add to our family. Thanks Brian! read more

K-9 Connection - Dog Training - Pet Training Near Me

I have read some of the other reviews on here, mostly from people observing the training and not clients themselves. I wanted to share our experience to better inform the public. Our dog Rudy is a sweet boy who loves to cuddle, play with cat toys, run around the yard, and go on evening walks. He is caring, loves kids, shares his bed with our house cat, and protects the house from invading opossums. He is a mixed breed adopted from a local animal shelter. Although he gets along well with human interaction, even kids, he has his reservations when it comes to other dogs. We no longer frequent dog parks due to aggressive behavior towards other dogs. We have tried various training methods, but all have seemed to fall short. That's why we decided it was time to invest in professional dog training. Brian from K-9 Connection really has helped get our boy to keep his calm around other dogs and gave us tools and resources to approach various situations with confidence. We continue to work with Brian as we train Rudy and already saw return-on-investment on day one. Using methods that imitate a dog's natural pack environment, Rudy learned his place in our "pack". Therefore, he has become a better listener, respects our authority, and trusts us to protect him from situations he feels are threatening towards him. The result is an obedient, loving, playful dog that isn't in fight-or-flight mode anymore. Using behavioral science derived from dog psychology, Brian's methods do in fact hold value. Our continued success story with our boy Rudy is living testament that corrective training and positive reinforcement are effective dog training practices. read more

I chose Brian base on reviews and videos i seen while researching a trainer for our 4month old puppy. I wish i was giving a better review but sadly that's not the case because of the following: 1.) while our dog stayed with Brian he was allowed to sleep in a bed with his daughter and was called by peter by his grandsons who could not pronounce our puppys name. (magnar is our puppys name) 2.) Two Saturdays of NO call no show 3.) when i messaged Brian that i would like to cancel he responded in a very unprofessional manner and when my husband contacted Brian, Brian called him an idiot and retarded and told him he better make sure what we say about him is true because he will not hesitate to sue us. Needless to say, Brian was very rude and unprofessional. read more

I am super sad that I am I writing this review. Unfortunately, after talking it over basically non-stop for the last week to everyone I encounter, I am sitting down to write it and share our unfortunate experience. My husband and I bought a little mini Aussie puppy in January. After weeks of research on the breed and training we need to do we brought him home at 8 weeks old; with the understanding that we would need to put hard work into training our pup so that he would be a good family dog. We have an almost 3 year old little boy who is head over heels in love with our pup. A few months into having our pup at home (he was just at 6 months old) we realized we needed some professional help with training. While our pup was sweet as cake, he did not mind, and this was a problem when he would play with our son in the back yard and accidentally knock him over. Aussie's are a herding breed, so we expected this behavior, just needed some help with how to break it in a productive manner. That is when we brought Brian in. With his super kind personality and 30+ years of experience, we felt like we had made the right decision. We opted for the 14 week off leash program, where our pup went to Brian for 2 weeks and we had 12 weeks of follow up to teach us as well. When we got our pup back Brian told me how he was bit by our pup when he used a q-tip to put up his butt to make him poop and that he was the most hard headed dog he has ever trained. Being new to owning our own dog, we did not think much of it other than, wow amazing that we managed to buy such a difficult pup. Over the next 2-3 weeks we observed our dog be extremely aggressive towards his kennel, me when I tried to put him in his kennel, and he bit our son in the face 3 times, the third drawing blood and prompting us to take him back to the breeder we bought him from because we just didn't know what else to do. Each time this happened I called Brian, and he told me to shake pennies in our pups face to scare him, and to continue to keep the pinch collar and leash on him at all times. After the second bite I began to reach out to the breeder because I felt like something was off and this was not the same dog we had sent to live with Brian. After talking with her, we realized we never should have let our pup out of the home for 2 weeks at such a young age for such a strict program. The methods that Brian uses are much too utilitarian for our liking and from what we have observed have made our dog mean. When I called Brian to see what we could arrange for a partial refund (he did keep him for 2 weeks in his home so we did not expect 100%) because we only used 3 weeks of a 14 week program and had to take or dog back to the breeder, we were denied any possibility of a refund. Brian made it very clear that while he would transfer the training to another dog, which we don't need, he would not refund us. Not even if our dog was hit by a car 3 weeks into a program would he have refunded us, is what he told me. Verbatim. While it may be shame on us, which make absolutely no mistake, we hold ourselves ultimately responsible for whatever happened to our dog in the 2 weeks he was not in our care; it is also a shame that someone would run a business in such a heartless manner. A pro-rated refund should be standard procedure for someone who has extreme circumstances, such as a pet death or the need to re-home the dog for safety of a child. When I mentioned the issues we had with some of the training methods, and how our dog was not mean or aggressive prior to his 2 weeks in home with Brian, Brian told me that our dog was nothing but a pleasure to work with, never showed any signs of aggression, and was a smart and well behaved dog. This is exactly opposite of what he told me upon returning our pup to us after the 2 weeks. He also went on a rant about how stupid, selfish, and evil breeders are. He said any aggression in our dog is the result of bad breeding, not training, and that we should get our dog back from the breeder, sell him for more than we bought him for, and include his training with the dog to be transferred to the new owners. Draw whatever conclusions you would like from my review, and please know that we understand that our mistake was using this trainer, and we firmly hold ourselves accountable for this. Don't make the same mistake we have, it is not fair to you, your dog, or your family. read more

We have a super sweet but very very busy Cairn terrier puppy - true to breed. I was looking for a dog trainer who would connect with her and also teach me how to handle her, and Brian at K9 Connection delivered that and so much more! We saw results after the very first session and our girl loves him. Each week she learns a new obedience skill and after just a few weeks she was obeying these skills perfectly. I just can't say enough good things about Brian. His rates are very reasonable for the quick and lasting results you will get, and my puppy and I continue to learn and grow together as a team. I have never met anyone that can handle a dog the way he does - it's like he can read her busy little mind! I would give Brian at K9 Connection 10 stars if I could, he is the absolute best! read more

Brian has trained 2 of my dogs. Excellent both times. My latest schnauzer pup already sits, heals, lays down, stops NGOs on my command with or without a leash. Great experience! read more