Essex County K9 Services

Decent place, I decided to go local seeing as I just moved to Essex, ON. The environment is definitely not the most welcoming and the dog trainers are far beyond from professional". Most the time class doesn't start on time. No one even acknowledges you with a smile. Some younger trainers are busy kissing each other

Great training and experienced. The staff are very knowledgeable and patient with the handlers. I've had class training and private training. They taught me how to properly communicate with my shepherd. Definitely will continue training with them. I've tried other trainers that weren't really experienced or rough with prong collar training. Thankful to have found them!

Good pricing for 6 week courses, instructors informative and helpful. Classes are limited but room is very echoey so it is hard to focus with all the noise.Also limited parking but theres a municipal lot across the road.

The training worked for our high energy pup. Great explanations. They give you the tools and explanations and you have to put in the work which you should be doing with your dog. As Ferns says the course is to give you the tools. Training doesn't begin and end in that room. You have to do the work and it's the lifetime of your pup not just an 8 week course.

My husband and I weren’t impressed with this location whatsoever. Our dog knew his tricks going into class and we more so signed him up for socialization purposes. We figured the trainers might give us tips on a few of his problems areas such as pulling on his walks. When we arrived Fern spent the whole first class talking. I couldn’t even tell you what about but she ranted for a full hour then told us next week we’d learn. All training techniques were what we already knew - their tips were “just stick to what we tell you and it’ll work!” Fern and her husband had a weird training dynamic. She’d tell stories and he’d have his German Shepherd on leash walking the bars in back - he’d yell to correct her and she’d yell back. Quite awkward having your trainers bickering as you came for dog training.The facility has more dog trainers there, I found some of the trainers were still training their own dogs. The model dogs would bark and growl and lunge from their high up shelves at some of the reactive or even calm dogs in my class. It scared a lot of the puppies.Overall, wouldn’t recommend this place. Maybe my dog was too well trained for it but I wasn’t impressed with their work. I also felt Fern had favourites - as in people and dog breeds - my family wasn’t a favourite and I think that’s because our dog was already trained and well behaved. She couldn’t spend more time with us and take more of our money like she did with friends of ours - doing private lessons and in group lessons when the dog didn’t need any of it.Our puppy got socialization with other dogs - good and bad - but if you want to socialize your dog I’d suggest going elsewhere to a spot your dog can also get trained at.The trainers were also very aggressive snapping and pulling on their leashes with their dogs. For people that claim they don’t abuse or hit their dogs I think pulling and slamming down on a leash when they wear a prong collar is also harm but I’m not a professional so what do I know! Go elsewhere.

Fern and Dave know how to train YOU on how to train your dog. They provide you with the knowledge to handle your dog and become successful dog owners. They also tell you the rationale as to why or how their training works so you can understand from a dog's perspective.We are still working on our pup but their training has made a HUGE difference so far.I can't speak highly enough of their work to date, as we have only completed a single 6 week session. We started the next training session and it is simply awesome!I Highly highly recommend.Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Taking my 3 month old energetic puppy to get trained here was the best decision I made as a new doggy owner. The trainers in this place are absolutely amazing and helped me understand and communicate with my dog in much better way. I love all the challenges and stresses they put them through so they can become confident in themselves and my commands . In 6 weeks my puppy is doing amazing and can't wait for the next training level.

I have trained many dogs over the years but I feel K9 is by far the most professional and on point with their training. They spend the time required to train the pet owner to handle and understand their pet. Each command is broken down so you understand exactly how to issue the command and your dog knows what to expect. You are trained to issue the command once and the dog is trained to respond.I have been to 3 classes so far and each class has had at least 4 experienced handlers with their dog's participating in the training. They demonstrate the command and assist while you are practicing.

I’m not typically one to write a negative review, but I wish I’d known before we went. Fern seems to have a good understanding of canine obedience; however, the classes were not very engaging as the majority of our time was spent sitting and listening to her explain why / how and not up and moving very much at all. The first class was over 95 minutes long and the only time we got up was to work on “sit” for a total of 4 minutes. The following classes were more active, but we still sat and listened for more than half the time. I am a retired teacher and I currently own a gym and training business and I would not run a lesson / session like that. If needed, I would send something like that out with an email and a YouTube video attachment rather than have my clients sit (never mind with a bunch of puppies) for well over an hour.The space was limited so when we did get up to work the dogs, we would often only get 2-3 turns completed.I attended obedience classes at another facility with my 3 previous dogs and it was much more engaging and active. It was also a lot more effective. We will be taking our pup there and getting another round of obedience training in for her.

Good place if it is important that a 5 month old puppy can walk across tables and balance on crates. (They can't by the way. They are too distracted by the other dogs on the same table because they are puppies). That was week 4 of the 8 week course. Walking on tables is supposed to increase self esteem. The poor dogs were so confused. The woman beside me said she had found her notes from a puppy training course she had gone to years before and was going to start using that training method. No wonder people were dropping out. What a waste of money.