I left yesterday morning at 6am to head up to my client in Ottawa Canada to bring back Chiko, I went through the Adirondack Mountains. What a beautiful part of this country, it is by the Olympic training area which means lots of athletic ladies running and biking all over the place. I am meeting with a realtor so look at log cabins next week.



I am pretty sure this is a ski lift. How do I know this...I looked for a menu at the bottom and did not find one, so it is not a restaurant in the sky.





At the Canadian Border, Customs decided to have my van searched. another great thing about having trained dogs is that they can do a rock solid downstay while my van is searched.



Chiko does a downstay back in Ottawa while his family plays toss with a ball. I also brought Max and Uma with me to help out with training.



Place command during mealtime is a new concept for Chiko, which will help eliminate and prevent most of his prior bad behaviors.



Aaron who is only 10 can walk Chiko down the street with lots of human and dog distractions



Might as well work on the other family dog while I am there, Apple is not good with other dogs and is very reactive..so I gave the family a quick lesson and within 5 minutes things got better.

        

Its picture day....lots of pictures from the last few days....I am heading to Canada in the morning for a quick 36 hours to deliver Chiko who is at the end of his 6 week board and train..He came to me with INTENSIVE aggression issues with both dogs and people. As of today, he plays with me kids, my trainers, strangers that come onto the property and all of the dogs on the property. He swims like a champion listens to all of his commands and smiles 24/7.



Romy and Chiko play fetch in the play yard. Chiko loves to play with the kids. Romy has to stand on top of the chair in order to any sort of distance with the rubber barbell that is one of Chiko's favorite toys



that is a 12lb bowling ball with that has been turned into a dog toy...builds up strength in the dogs necks and jaws



Do you all remember Harley? On my follow up visit today we worked on off leash work at a beach with Max and Uma. I started my day today in the ocean with Harley.



my last client was at night back in the ocean with a loch ness husky named Inga, oh yeah she is only 10 months old and is fully off leash trained. How about that for Solid K9 Training.



late night walk on the beach is a nice way to end the training day with dogs..



Sadie just came in for a 2 week board and train, She is a current rescue who has a new home and has come to us for a nice little training program.



Bernard is doing great with all of the distractions that Clover and Romy can pass out. They are both great at distracting dogs. Using little twigs to get Bernard to break his downstay and he does not. They spent 10 minutes working him and he did not budge. This is huge since he lives with 2 children under 3 years old and needs to be bombproof against little kids



Mocha, Zoey and Dante take a break from training.



Play is such an important part of my training system.

        

another great testimonial came in today

                                                     

As an international swimsuit model, I spend a lot of my time on location away from my home in NYC.  It has often been challenging finding care for my animals while i am away shooting. Until i found Jeff Gellman.

 We discovered Jeff through a neighbor in New York. He had his van parked on the street and we were intrigued as he loaded dogs into it to be transported to his home in Rhode island.

We spoke to him briefly on the street about a few issues we were having with our Irish wolfhound Hemingway and he was so open and giving with his knowledge, advising us on possible causes and courses of action we might take.  I was to find out that this is one of Jeff’s great traits. His generosity. We even called him a few times and he was always available to lend an ear and talk us through ideas.

We sent Hemi to Jeff for 2 weeks.  When he returned he was transformed!  Hemingway looked at us listening, attentive to our instructions.  It made such a difference to be able to walk down the street, and if we bumped into to someone we knew, to simply ask him to sit down (where once he would be tugging this way and that and the duration of our conversation would be determined by our tolerance and arm strength!).  Now he sits by our side easily, awaiting the next command.

 Jeff spent time with me teaching Hemi's new skills and coaching me on assertiveness... very important when dealing with an 118 pound Wolfhound!  I enjoyed spending time with him and we had plenty of laughs too. Jeff is very easy to work with and has a no-nonsense attitude that encourages you to be lovingly firm with your dog.

 I now travel knowing that Hemi is safe in a loving environment.

It is also so convenient to have Jeff personally drive down to pick him up and drop him off. This part of the service is invaluable to busy New Yorkers with hectic schedules. It is fantastic for the dogs to get away from an urban concrete environment and be free to play in a backyard with many other dogs. I know how important it is for Hemi's personal growth to socialize with other dogs. It is truly like Doggy Summer Camp at Jeffs property. 

 And if you get to missing your dogs like I do, Jeff is wonderful at posting daily pictures of each dog with their new found friends.  I appreciate his attentiveness to this as it curbs the heart pangs of missing Hemi while i am away working.

 Jeff truly cares. His energy and enthusiasm is infectious. He makes it his personal endeavor to change your dog and, perhaps more importantly, the way you interact with your dog. His philosophy is that of encouraging a loving, firm and pro-active relationship between you and your dog. 

 Hemi is always returned to us happy, healthy and more attentive. 

 

Thank You Jeff!

        

One of my facebook friends runs a rescue and is in the running for a $5,000.00 award from Pepsi and they do wonderful hands on work.

Click on this LINK to go to the webpage and vote from them.


I am not sure why but Romy wore her flannel PJ's today, it was funny to see since she usually is dressed to get dirty.



Dante is going home tomorrow, Dante came to us since there was this annoying habit of biting kids on the face..I think we got over this problem.





Dante in the PLACE command, Dante loves to work with us on all of the commands.



Clover rides Stephanie around the pool as dogs swim around.



Shong Shing working on his Downstay along with Dante



Jake loves swimming in the pool, it is a great way for him to release some of his energy that he has. No matter how far and long we walk him , he loves to hang out in the swimming pool.




Remy is happiest in the water, he is up for adoption and is great with dogs and people.



tonights 3.5 mile walk consisted of 9 dogs, we have such a great time



11 dogs working on distraction training on Blackstone Blvd in Providence, there is lots of dogs running around, joggers, walkers, frisbees, tons of cars and trucks..

        

Follow the story of the 7 dogs killed on American Airlines by clicking HERE .

As upsetting as this is lets keep in mind that over 15,000 dogs are killed every day in our local animal shelters, and this is not an accident. It is a premeditated slaughter of adoptable animals that would be able to get placed in homes if our local animal shelters had a real program to effectively place the dogs. If the Directors of the shelters would stop using the temperment test that they currently used and is flawed and encourages shelters to kill dogs.



Luna and Mocha play in the pool, Luna is a board and train dog with us for 6 weeks of intensive training. Mocha is a board and play client. I don't know of any other boarding facility on the East Coast that has an inground swimming pool that the dogs can play in all day.



Clover and Romy spend hours a day swimming in the pool. The dogs love having them around and the girls build up such great confidence as well.



Hanging out in the pool area watching the bricks grow.



I bring some of my pack to Tiverton to work with Lilly on her off leash recall at the beach.



Rocco the dalmation who is spending the day with us since he has a decent dog/dog aggression issue and needs to be exposed to lots of dogs in an off leashed scene.



Rocco did a great, having an aggressive dog on the property off leash is quite risky , but it has to be done this way. dogs off leash so that Rocco can learn to properly great dogs, and be corrected for not doing the right thing.



I use Uma for my soicalization dog for young puppies, this is a 10 week old GSD who at the start of the hour was running away screaming from UMA and all she was doing was chasing a ball. within about 15 minutes the puppy was comfortable enough to approach UMA and go nose to nose with her and say hello.



If you look under the swing set you can see the puppy, this is how close that he would get to UMA.

        

If you have not joined my FACEBOOK page yet, you should. you will find out what is happening with Solid K9 Training before anyone else does. Click on the facebook link and you will be on the page and then Like it.



Jonathan plays with kids in the pool and trains dogs at the same time. Both dogs and kids love having Jonathan around.



WTF the packaging said it floats, both dogs are figuring out how to get a refund on this one.




Shong Shing is doing a great job swimming, we are all so proud of him. He is coming out of his shell and doing great.



I went to Harleys today to check up on training, if you recall he came to me an extremely aggressive dog and he has returned to his home after 2 weeks a lovable well trained dog that can run off leash on the beach and be a dog



8 dogs on a typical 3.5 mile end of the day walk. and that is with just one arm. Pack leader training at its finest.



Gillary  went home today and I am giving his owner some training instructions





During free time, dogs love to hang out in the play yard and rest and play.  Remy is the white dog on the left and is up for adoption



Bernard takes it all in, he often just will hang out and observe all of the dogs.




Harley loves being a trained dog.

        

Romy and Clover love playing in the dogs play yard. Not only do dogs learn how to properly play with each other but they also learn proper dog/kid skills and the kids are the teachers.





Romy is quite upset at the behavior that this dog is exhibiting.





Romy tries to explain that it is really rude to go before a lady



seems like Romy effectively communicated with Mocha as to who is the pack leader, she made it to the top of the climbing tower



Shong Shing enjoys swimming and will be a great swimmer by the time he is done with his board and train program



Dante, was sent to us because he has this annoying habit of biting childrens faces. Of course he is working on his downstay with Clover and Romy as distractions. It is important that dogs do not react to the surrounding chaos. So Clover and Romy run around Dante in order for him to not be reactive

        

One of many things that make me unique in the world of dog training is that I take on dogs that NO ONE can handle. One of the many success stories that I have is Chiko, who came down from Ottawa Canada 5 weeks ago and is going back home next week.




This is a typical case that I deal with on a daily basis. Not only did we get rid of the negative issues that my client requested, we accomplished 100% of the goals and then some, Chiko has unleashed his true spirit and he is a social and friendly dog with humans and dogs. He is a dog that I would feel comfortable taking anywhere.



Today we did some busy street training, dozens of people walking by, hundreds of cars, trucks and buses and Chiko did not break his downstay 1 time.



another rock solid downstay in a local bookstore, kids running around lots of activity. Not a peep out of him. He is such a good dog to be out in public. His owners where never able to even walk him down the street without him lunging.

        

I have been on Facebook for a while, but I just made a new page for Solid K9 Training. I would like everyone to join that page. You can go to.Solid K9 Training Facebook Page and choose to LIKE the page.



Marlo is jumping at the chance to play in the play yard



Clover and Romy dry off in the sun along with Luna





Roca wants to be like one of the kids and dries off on the warm stones.



All of these dogs have had aggression issues in the past, all of them have learned to live in a dog pack with dogs and humans.



Dante does grooming table and vet table training



Dante does treadmill training and loves the work. Dante is doing well after just a few days with us.



Clover runs around Shong Shing and as always does the best distractions training.





Chiko who came to me an aggressive & angry dog down from Canada, is going home next week has been transformed and loves being with us.

        

While the Clintons where in Rhinebeck, NY celebrating Chelseas wedding, my staff was busy training dogs.

Missy is done with her training and went back to the Charlestown Shelter and will hopefully get adopted very shortly.



Missy hangs out with a volunteer at the Charlestown Animal Shelter



Harley who went home yesterday hangs out in the kids play room in a downtsay



Harley back home after a wonderful 2 weeks of board and train....he is doing incredible, a total transformation