Family K9 Dog Training

Family K9 Dog Training Montreal & Vaudreuil’s dog trainer for 30 years! Family K9 Dog Training offers private in home training @ your home or board and train services as well.

Training guaranteed for the life of your dog! Celebrating over 25 years of helping owners and their K9 companions. Serving all of Montreal and surrounding areas. Custom training programs available for all your needs.

06/06/2026

Ten years apart. Same family and same location. Same process.

The first clips are Artemis in her first week of training. The second are Angel, the family's previous Shiloh Shepherd, whom I trained a decade ago in the exact same location.

Different dogs. Different personalities. Different ways of processing information.

What hasn't changed is the foundation.

Dogs learn best when communication is clear, expectations are understandable, and accountability is consistent. The principles remain the same from dog to dog. What changes are the nuances—the details that help each individual dog understand and succeed.

Just as important, though, is the relationship. Good training shouldn't suppress engagement, affection, or joy. It should create more of it. When a dog clearly understands what's expected, uncertainty disappears and genuine connection has room to grow.

The goal has never been a dog that simply follows commands. The goal is a dog that is engaged, confident, responsive, and happy to work alongside their person.

Ten years apart, two different Shiloh Shepherds, and the same result: a dog that understands the conversation and enjoys being part of it.

People often ask what progress looks like with a dog that has a history of serious aggression.It usually doesn't look dr...
06/04/2026

People often ask what progress looks like with a dog that has a history of serious aggression.
It usually doesn't look dramatic.

This photo represents more than a dog's progress.
It represents an owner's progress too.
When this client first contacted me, I wasn't sure I was going to take the case. She was overwhelmed, frustrated, and understandably desperate for change. Her expectations didn't yet match the reality of what this kind of rehabilitation requires.
After our first lesson, I told her that if she felt the process wasn't what she expected, I would gladly refund her and part ways.
Instead, she stayed.
More importantly, she got to work.
She listened. She adjusted. She became more consistent. She learned to see the dog in front of her instead of the dog she wished she had.
Today, was a milestone. Instead of trying to resist going out for a walk, instead of trying to scurry back home and instead of reacting to dogs and bikes and pretty much everything - he walked calmly to a park he couldn’t get to in over a year and lay quietly at her feet.
His owner got emotional.
Not because the work is finished.
But because for the first time in a long time, she could see a path forward.
The dog deserves credit for the progress he's making.
His owner deserves credit too.
Neither of them got here by accident.

Today this dog and his owner got a glimpse of what is possible.

06/01/2026

First lesson with this 5-month-old Shiloh Shepherd puppy Artemis.

No impressive training footage.
Just getting to know each other.
Play, engagement, guidance, and plenty of downtime.
She's goofy, immature, and still figuring out the world.
That's exactly what a 5-month-old puppy should be.

05/30/2026

People often misunderstand what early learning looks like in difficult dogs.
This dog exploded at my entrance to the home. Minutes later, he was walking with a stranger and genuinely trying to work through new information.
Not shut down. Not defeated. Thinking.
That distinction matters.
A dog that has lived in chronic reactivity will often look very different when the noise starts coming down and clarity starts coming up.
Watch the progression carefully.
The eyes soften first. Then the movement. Then the dog begins to carry himself differently.

I had a lesson today - lesson #3 with a owner and dog who are making really nice progress. The dog has been kicked out...
05/27/2026

I had a lesson today - lesson #3 with a owner and dog who are making really nice progress. The dog has been kicked out of another training school for attacking a dog. Two weeks ago this dog came after me simply for standing about 10 feet away from him.

His owner hadn’t been able to walk him. He would either try to flee back home and hide, or become reactive to whatever was around him. He had already been removed from an obedience class for attacking another dog.

We worked in the neighbourhood while people moved around us and UPS trucks delivered packages nearby. Dogs walked by and yelling teenagers were around as well. The dog stayed present, thoughtful, and accountable. His owner talked about finally being able to walk him past people and dogs again without everything turning into chaos.
That alone was a good day.
But what stayed with me happened afterward.
As I was getting into my truck, an older gentleman from across the street came over and introduced himself. He told me he was visiting from west of Toronto and had spent the last 25 years volunteering in animal shelters. He said he had overheard much of the lesson and enjoyed listening to the way I explained things. Then he said something I won’t forget:
“You’re a master of your craft.”
What meant the most wasn’t even the compliment itself.
It was the moment.
Two strangers standing beside a truck after a training session, talking honestly about dogs, behaviour, people, and communication. No performance. No marketing. Just genuine human connection over meaningful work.
He also told me he’d ride a unicycle while taking some of the dogs out from the shelter. On the back of his shirt it read “Adopt this dog!”

After 32 years of doing this, those moments still matter.

05/23/2026

Most people would probably find this video boring.
Good.
A dog like Hershey used to experience the world very differently.
Hershey lived as a street dog in Lebanon before being adopted and relocated to Bancroft, Ontario — a quiet rural town, not exactly an overwhelming environment by most standards. But early on, even seeing people in the distance could push him into panic. On walks, his only goal was escape and getting home. At one point he slipped out of his harness trying to flee after spotting people further up the sidewalk.
This clip is around two minutes long, edited down from roughly 15 minutes sitting outside Tim Hortons.
No obedience.
No management routine.
No constant feedback. No “look at me.”
No food.
No corrections.
Just a dog existing in an environment that used to overwhelm him.
People come and go. Doors open and close. Movement happens around him. And none of it means anything important anymore.
That’s the shift.
A lot of fearful dogs live in a state where the world feels loaded with significance. Every person, sound, movement, or change in the environment gets pulled into a distorted picture frame. The dog isn’t observing calmly — they’re scanning, anticipating, preparing.
Part of rehabilitation is replacing that corrupt image of the world with a more accurate one.
Not through avoidance.
Not through endless reassurance.
Not through keeping the dog busy every second.
But through enough clear, honest experience that the environment stops feeling emotionally charged.
There are two moments in this clip where I touch him affectionately. Neither had anything to do with influencing his behaviour around people. No strategic timing. No reinforcement event. Just interaction.
The important part of this video is what isn’t happening.
No stress. No escalation. No attempt to flee. No emotional spiralling.
Just a dog calmly taking in the world and realizing he doesn’t need to do anything about it.

05/14/2026

POV: the scary thing becomes the best part of the walk 😂🐾

Using a dogs natural curiosity, drive to play and self discovery we can reshape their view of things.

My daughter heard Hooligan snoring today and assumed he was on the couch in the living room.Instead, she found him aslee...
05/12/2026

My daughter heard Hooligan snoring today and assumed he was on the couch in the living room.
Instead, she found him asleep in the bike room beside the trainer where I rode last night.

The couch was only a few feet away. Softer. Warmer. More comfortable.

But dogs are drawn to what has meaning to them, and a lot of this dog’s life has been tied to a bicycle. Winter trail runs through the snow, long road rides together, hours spent quietly beside me while I train indoors.

Comfort matters. But purpose and routine matter more.

05/06/2026

80 KM ride with my dog Hooligan last weekend. This is a prime example of why we train our dogs. Very often good training will look like there’s nothing going on in as much as everything just flows easily.
It takes a lot of work to get to the point where it truly looks like nothing‘s going on.
We also train to be prepared for those unexpected moments just like that loose dog that was starting to approach us on the trail.
When you’re out in the world with your dog, you can’t control the environment so your training has to take into account that level of preparedness to deal with all the “What ifs“.
At the end of the day, what training does for both of us and our dog is giving us a common ground, clarity, and then understanding of how we function as a team.
It’s a foundation for life together, lived well with togetherness, purpose, and intent.


80 km tomorrow.He’s done longer days than this—always in the trailer.We’re heading down the waterfront trail in Cornwall...
05/02/2026

80 km tomorrow.
He’s done longer days than this—always in the trailer.
We’re heading down the waterfront trail in Cornwall and out toward Upper Canada Village.
He’s fit, trained, and knows how to settle in, watch the world go by, and wait his turn.
We’ll stop, he’ll get out, stretch, and enjoy the day.
In the winter, he runs with me on the fat bike—cooler weather, grass and snow, where it actually makes sense.
This isn’t about mileage.
It’s a trainer and his dog spending a good day together—managed properly.

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Saint-Lazare, QC

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Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

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+15149905959

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