The Path to Behavioral Wellness
At K9 Connection, we start by understanding the world from your dog’s perspective. Our approach is grounded in animal learning science while respecting each dog’s instinctual nature.
When you bring us a behavior concern, we begin with collecting information about your dog’s environment and lifestyle. Like people, dogs need physical activity and mental stimulation to stay content, and a lack of either often leads to frustration-based behavior problems. We assess each dog’s instinctual needs based on breed, type, and temperament, then help you build a lifestyle that supports their emotional and behavioral wellness.
Our Methods: Balanced Dog Training
We take a complete, well-rounded approach to training and behavior modification. Positive reinforcement is the foundation, and we also teach you when and how to correct your dog fairly and safely. Beyond treats and training collars, we help you communicate with your dog more naturally through clear body language and calm, appropriate energy.
Most owners are comfortable with positive reinforcement. Corrections can feel less comfortable, often because of “old school” trainers who relied on excessive force.
We only use corrections in a way that is clear to the dog and considerate of their safety and wellbeing.
With any tool, we teach the dog systematically so they understand what we’re asking, how the tool relates to it, and what to do next time. This careful approach gives you reliability and an end to problem behaviors, without causing undue stress or discomfort for your dog and for you.
Learn more about the evolution of Balanced Dog Training, click here.
Training Tools
We never require specific equipment. We’ll recommend what we believe is the safest, most effective option for your dog, and the final choice is always yours. The two training collars we recommend most often are prong collars and remote training collars (e-collars).
Prong Collars
The prong collar, sometimes called a pinch collar, is one of the most misunderstood tools in dog training. It may look harsh, but it was designed with the dog’s welfare in mind. Many people assume it delivers a harsher correction. In practice, it’s close to the opposite: it lets us communicate clearly with very little physical force.
Unlike a flat buckle collar, a well-made prong collar distributes pressure evenly around the neck rather than concentrating it on the trachea and larynx, which reduces the risk of choking and gagging.
From a chiropractic standpoint, the prong collar is also preferred, even over the body harness. In his book ‘The Well Adjusted Dog‘, Dr. Daniel Kamen writes:
“Most literature suggests that this is the most effective and least dangerous of restraining collars. The prong collar distributes pressure evenly around the neck, and requires only a small amount of force…Incidence of canine upper cervical subluxations is far less with the prong collar.”
To help you gain a better understanding of our use of this tool, we have provided the following video to demonstrate our gentle approach:
Remote Training Collars (E-Collars)
The modern remote training collar is a gentle, precise tool that lets you communicate with your dog at a distance of up to half a mile.
Early “shock collars” offered a single, strong level of correction. Today’s remote collars offer 100 or more levels of stimulation. On the collars we use, most people can’t feel the stimulation until the mid-teens or twenties, while most dogs begin training below 10. In other words, many dogs train at levels their owners can’t even feel.
The stimulation doesn’t need to be painful to be effective. Pain would actually interfere with learning. It only needs to be mildly uncomfortable.
Think of it like choosing between two chairs: one hard and unpadded, the other soft and inviting. The hard chair isn’t painful or scary, but you’ll pick the comfortable one every time. The remote collar works the same way. It makes unwanted behavior a little less comfortable, motivating your dog to choose differently, and it works consistently at any distance. Paired with positive reinforcement for the right choices, the result is a dog who happily does what you ask and clearly understands what to avoid.
Because it allows such precise, mild, and non-confrontational communication, the remote collar can also be an excellent option for sensitive or fearful dogs.
Again, to help you understand our approach to this tool, here is a video demonstrating it’s use: