GRADUATES

Tyr the Butterdoggo of Happiness

Tyr is one of WLK9’s foundation dogs. Tyr’s story started out in Tennessee. Where his original owner abused him before abandoning him in the wild. He spent an unknown amount of time in the wild before being rescued.

A friend of WLK9’s Head Trainer called her to do an rehabilitation evaluation on Tyr. It was unknown if he could even be adopted out due to his severe aggression. He had been mistreated so severely conversations were had about the possibility of compassionate euthanasia. He was wildly aggressive towards anyone near him except for Kari’s friend.

Once Kari evaluated him in person, it was quickly realized that Tyr had Schutzhund training, just like a Police K9! Knowing this, it was realized that Tyr could only be adopted out to a home that could truly handle a Protection trained K9. This meant that it was unlikely that a suitable home was going to be located for Tyr. Since the list of potential adopters was zeroed out, Kari and Rob volunteered to take the skinny German Shepherd home.

Once home, the long process of rehabilitation started. He had to work through Food and Resource Aggression, severe separation anxiety, fear of collars and leashes, and overall anxiety, not to include the needed medical rehabilitation as well.

Today, Tyr is a happy and healthy 3 year old German Shepherd and is a testament to WLK9s training. He is a bed and ball hog who is happiest rolling in the mud with his sister Mischka or sleeping next to his favorite humans.

Kahn is a Husky who came to us as a Rehabilitation Client. His new owners had rescued him out of an abhorrent living situation and recognized that he needed significant rehabilitation. They immediately contacted Kari and arranged a board-and-train.

On Day 1, Kari learned just how severe his Aggression happened to be. The next two weeks were spent in intensive rehabilitation, slowly working through his various issues. For the safety of Kahn and the trainers working with him, he remained muzzled for the first 9 days of his Rehabilitation Stay.

On Day 10, the muzzle was removed. Working with her Kennel Master, Rob, they worked as a team to keep both Trainer and Dog safe. After Day 10, muzzle never went back on.

Kahn is currently living the good life with his amazing owners. He is now able to safely go on walks and hikes with his humans.

You can read more about Kahn’s journey on our blog.

Kahn and Kari

Cassie showing some sass

Cassie is a German Shepherd who came to us when she was 18 months old. She went through our 8 week training program for basic obedience and small-animal aggression mitigation (she had to learn how to get along with the cat her in household!).

Cassie was full of energy and it showed in her obedience issues. Her owners frequently had to repeat commands, she was easily distracted, and she had issues staying calm. This especially showed when walking on a lead, greeting humans, and interacting with the other pets in the household.

Cassie’s owners did six 2-hour video sessions, along with regular check-ins via text/phone call. Once they had a more organized training approach her behavior began to improve immediately, especially towards the kitty (who she really just desperately wants to play with. She doesn’t understand that not everyone wants to be her friend).

While she is still her energetic, sassy self there is now much less exasperation in her household. Cassie understands when she needs to be a calm puppy and when it is okay to be a playful puppy.

Snoopy is Golden Retriever/Yellow Lab mix who came to us when he was 4 years old. His owners contacted WLK9 for basic and advanced obedience training. Snoopy is generally a very calm dog who was used to being an only child. After a new (human) addition to the family he started ignoring commands and throwing his weight around to demand pets/attention. His owners decided his training needed a little tune-up and reached out to us for help.

We observed Snoopy’s behavior via live video and then did twelve 1-hour live video training sessions with his owners. One of the things that helped in this case was bringing in a dog-walker to take Snoopy out once a day while his family was adjusting to having a new baby in the house.

After the first couple training sessions Snoopy’s behavior started to improve and we are pleased to report that they are one big happy family now!

Snoopy waiting eagerly for a treat