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NorthWest K9 Training Director Moc Klinkam with her former competition dog Titus SchH3. (Photo copyright 2003 Stephanie Rabinowitz)
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Who we are.
NorthWest K9 is your resource for "Training That Works!"TM
I'm Moc Klinkam, Training Director at NorthWest K9. My job is to teach you how to train your dog. At NorthWest K9, our custom, one-on-one private training lessons are tailored specifically for you and your dog. You are assured of customized, highly individualized lessons with your own personal training coach and a training plan that is designed to build your
handling mastery and bring your dog to the level of reliable obedience that is the hallmark of accomplished teamwork. I offer a variety of custom team training at NorthWest K9's Enumclaw, Washington training facility for dogs of any breed and their owners, with evaluating and training the German Shepherd Dog my specialty.
NorthWest K9's indoor Training Center, and the 5-acre residential training
facility, the Bar K Ranch, are conveniently
located at the edge of the beautiful Cascade foothills in Enumclaw,
less than an hour's drive from the major metropolitan cities of Seattle, Bellevue, and Tacoma, Washington.
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What we do.
At NorthWest K9, you can select from a wide range of personalized training options, intensity levels, scheduling, and pricing to suit your unique training and handling experience, performance goals, schedule availability and budget.
Custom training gives you the opportunity to quickly learn training and handling
skills during private, one-on-one team training lessons with your trainer and coach, without the
distractions and frustrations of the "group class" format typically offered elsewhere. Many of our
more active, higher drive dogs are prematurely labeled a "problem dog" or worse yet, a "bad dog"
after unsatisfactory experiences in a group class setting, when the only problem was
the owner did not receive the proper instruction for applying appropriate
behavioral modification and training strategies that were specifically tailored to successfully resolve
the problematic behaviors that are unique to their particular puppy or dog.
I've been providing only private team training for over ten years, pioneering the training model
that applies a highly customized approach to each unique dog and their handler and consistently generates success.
I'm thrilled to see that more and more dog trainers have recently begun to follow my lead. In time,
perhaps all enlightened trainers will be offering their students the option of private training lessons in lieu of outdated and often ineffective "production line" beginning obedience group class offerings. (Please see my article, "Group Class or Private Lesson? Making the Best Choice for You and Your Dog".)
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Mica enjoying a sunny day at NorthWest K9's Bar K Ranch.
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Handler training in focus skills development
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Your customized team training at NorthWest K9 teaches you how to:
- Read your dog and understand its behaviors.
- Teach your dog how to learn.
- Apply positive operant conditioning strategies to create and keep focus.
- Communicate clearly and consistently with voice command and body presence and positioning.
- Properly use the collar and leash for effective handling.
- Use well-timed praise and reward to accelerate behavioral modification and learning.
- Pre-empt and resolve behavioral problems with focused obedience skills.
- Incrementally develop your dog's obedience skills by increasing distance, duration, and distraction.
- Know when and how to apply appropriate correction.
- Continue your team training plan at home to bring you and your dog to more advanced levels of skills-based
performance.
- Have a reliably obedient dog at home and out in public in the "real world," anywhere and any time.
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| How we do it.
My emphasis is on teaching you the leadership skills that empower you to
set your dog up for success. When you learn and understand
the key strategies that ensure your dog's successful learning and reliable behaviors, you and your dog are
equipped to achieve progressively more advanced lifetime learning and performance.
Training at NorthWest K9 emphasizes teaching you how to apply positive behavioral shaping to teach
your dog how to learn. This creates the enthusiastic, energetic and willing dog that wants to continue
learning. We then apply the specific training strategies that are best-suited for you and your dog. I teach
you how to incrementally introduce duration, distance, and distraction while developing your advanced
handling skills and your dog's behavioral skills at home and when out and about in public or in formal competition.
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Advanced obedience training under distraction
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Advanced obedience: long sit at a distance with distraction
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NorthWest K9 is primarily in the people training business. That's because my
emphasis is on handler training.
I believe strongly in teaching you how to effectively and successfully manage your dog's behavior,
not only at home, but out and about in public with other people, dogs, animals, and all the other
"real world" environmental distractions that fill our daily lives. At NorthWest K9, you and your dog
receive total focus and attention from your own personal trainer who teaches
you the techniques, skills, and strategies so that you can confidently continue your dog's training,
management, and performance wherever, whenever, for a lifetime of team success.
You'll find additional information about my team training philosophy and my emphasis on success-oriented teaching
and learning in the library of Common Sense Training Articles authored by me.
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| Why choose NorthWest K9?
Perhaps you have an untrained puppy or dog that you want to be reliably obedient anywhere and any time. Or maybe
you are frustrated with your dog's behavioral problems. Perhaps you share the experience of many of the
dog owners who come to us for help, and you're discouraged by your dog's lack of progress in a "one size fits all"
group class setting. Regardless of your dog's past training history or current status, NorthWest K9 is your
solution for Training that Works. NorthWest K9 is the only specialist in the region evaluating and training the
German Shepherd Dog, Australian Cattle Dog, and other higher drive herding and working breeds. With several
years experience training and placing dogs in service careers for
Police K9, Search and Rescue, Detection, and other working disciplines,
NorthWest K9 Training Director Moc Klinkam is uniquely qualified to provide custom training for dogs of all breeds, with all manner of behavioral challenges.
When you and your dog come to NorthWest K9 for training,
you can count on a customized, carefully planned
strategy for addressing and resolving the behavioral and training issues and challenges that are unique to
your dog and your relationship with your dog. My approach to total team training ensures that your
team training plan and strategies are matched to your needs and your requirements, assuring that your
and your dog's skills development and training are specifically tailored for team success.
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Beginning traffic sureness and socialization
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Beginning footstep tracking
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Private team training lessons allow
beginning students and their dog to work with their personal trainer uninterrupted and
free of distraction by other students or dogs. NorthWest K9 is not a public training facility. Your
private training session is never interrupted by "drop-in" visitors, ensuring that you and your dog experience
the utmost of privacy and security during your team training. All dog and handler teams
new to training are required to first participate in a private, one-on-one
Team Evaluation prior to enrolling in private training. At the
group training seminars available to our more advanced students, handlers take turns
bringing their dog into the seminar classroom one at a time to ensure that each participating team
receives the individualized attention and training that meet their unique needs and requirements.
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| Total team training teaches you to be a more confident handler.
You'll learn the skills to successfully create your dog's enthusiastic and reliable responsiveness, and maintain
that joyful exuberance as you quickly progress through more advanced learning and training.
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Advanced obedience training for sport competition
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Intermediate obedience training -- the long down at a distance
| Select from a variety of training programs and pricing.
NorthWest K9 also customizes how you train. You have the freedom
to choose the NorthWest K9 training program best suited for you and your dog.
NorthWest K9 offers a
variety of custom training plans and programs, including the private Team Evaluation;
private team lessons including self-paced "a la carte" lessons,
multi-lesson discount training packages, and Distance Learning
telephone consultations. You can also take advantage of the Common Sense Training library of general training articles, with advanced training articles available only to NorthWest K9 students.
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| Customized lesson plans match your training goals.
NorthWest K9 specializes in customizing what you
train. Whether you are seeking help with
basic puppy manners, focus building, beginning to advanced obedience, wilderness and urban tracking,
or highly-tailored management strategies to address a specific behavioral problem, your NorthWest
K9 personal trainer will customize your training plan to focus on the
specific training disciplines
that match the skills development and performance training you want.
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The well-mannered puppy
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Environmental conditioning -- variable surface agility
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Experience confidence in your well-trained dog.
Please select
from the program links below to visit the various training program pages and learn more about the custom team
training opportunities available for you and your dog, including:
- Introductory Team Evaluation;
- Private Team Training Lessons tailored for you and your dog, available with single, "a la carte" enrollment or in cost-saving discount lesson packages; and
- Distance Learning telephone consultation with online interactive learning on MyDogTrainer.com.
Once you have identified the NorthWest K9 training program that best meets your team training and performance objectives,
you may submit your Training Enrollment Request and
share information about your dog, specific behavioral problems, and your training goals, and
to initiate your enrollment process. I will personally contact you and let you know how NorthWest K9 can help you and your dog
and assist you in completing your training enrollment and schedule.
I look forward to hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to create your customized training program
and lesson plan with Training That Works! TM
-- Moc Klinkam, NorthWest K9 Training Director
For your convenience, you may pay your Team Training tuition online with your credit/debit card.
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Student Information Center