Our Approach

At 4QK9, we strongly emphasize starting your training journey inside of your home, even if your goals involve being out and about.

• We believe it is important to create a solid foundation of trust and a consistent communication system with dogs to provide clarity and minimize confusion.

• Dogs are constantly absorbing information, so training is always happening, not just once per week at a training session. For this reason, we like to look at the whole picture of life with your dog.

• We believe dogs should be treated as individuals and training styles should be adapted for each dog and handler, to optimize long term results. 

• Building a strong, mutual relationship with your dog is one of the most important ways to start seeing changes, so we start there.

• We design an individualized training program for each dog based on:

  • Client goals/needs 

  • Client lifestyle 

  • Dog motivation and temperament

  • Relationship building

• We utilize the ‘Four Quadrants of Operant Conditioning’ as a component of our training. This method adds and subtracts motivations to encourage/discourage behaviors. In this context, “positive” means to add, and “negative” means to take away. 

  • Owners and dogs can benefit greatly from understanding each of the quadrants and how they impact the dogs behavior. 

• We love observing the progress our clients make while improving their relationships with their dogs in everyday situations. Each dog has its challenges, but our goal is to set dogs up for success and teach them fair expectations. We strive to find the perfect balance of providing mental/physical outlets, and teaching dogs to settle and relax on command. It is never too early or too late to start training!