North Star Family K-9

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

We’re honored to announce that North Star Family K9 is a supporting sponsor of the Minnesota Lacrosse Hall of Fame! 🥍🐾

For NSFK9 owner Hank Marotske, this partnership is deeply personal. Hank has been part of Minnesota’s lacrosse community since 1997 and coaching since 1999. He helped establish four of the state’s earliest high school programs and founded Minnesota Elite, Minnesota’s first club team focused on helping high school players pursue college opportunities.

Hank founded NSFK9 in 2022 after caring for a fellow lacrosse coach’s dog and discovering how much he enjoyed helping dogs and their owners. After training more than 150 dogs from his home, he expanded into NSFK9’s Minneapolis facility in October 2025.

The connection continues throughout our team and clientele. Many of the families we serve are former players, fellow coaches and members of the Minnesota lacrosse community. Our training director played youth and high school lacrosse, and one of our senior trainers played at both the high school and college levels. General Manager Jamie also comes from a lacrosse family: her husband is a coach and former teammate of Hank’s, and their sons play middle school and high school lacrosse in Hopkins.

Lacrosse and dog training share many of the same foundations: relationships, communication, trust, consistency and helping others reach their potential. We’re proud to support the Lacrosse Hall of Fame and the community that has been part of Hank’s life for nearly three decades.

We’re also donating a gift certificate valued at more than $4,000 to the Hall of Fame’s online silent auction, running September 14–27!

To receive the online bidding form featuring all silent-auction items, leave your name and email address in the comments below.

Learn more at www.mnlacrossehof.org.

09/05/2026

Wayzata, we’re coming your way! 🐾🚂

North Star Family K-9 will be at James J Hill Days next weekend, September 12–13, at Panoway on Wayzata Bay!

Stop by the NSFK9 booth to meet our trainers, talk dogs and get answers to your training questions. You’ll also have a chance to see real dogs practicing real-world skills during our live training demonstrations.

🐕 NSFK9 booth: 9 AM–2 PM Saturday and Sunday
🎓 Training demonstrations: 9–10:30 AM both days
🏁 Dachshund Races: Saturday at noon
🏅 Doggy Olympics: Sunday from noon–2 PM

James J. Hill Days is one of Lake Minnetonka’s biggest community celebrations, featuring live music, food, shopping, a carnival and plenty of family-friendly fun. Come for the dogs, stay for the festivities—and be sure to stop by and say hi!

📍 Downtown Wayzata
📅 September 11–13
🐾 Find us Saturday and Sunday

09/02/2026

🎓 Dolly graduated! 🎓

At just 6 months old, this sweet Bernese Mountain Dog put in some seriously big puppy work!

Dolly’s training focused on:

🐾 Leash skills
🐾 Building an “off switch”
🐾 Impulse control

But Dolly wasn’t the only student—her humans learned right alongside her, building the skills and confidence they’ll need to keep her progress going at home.

Congratulations, Dolly and family! We’re so proud of the whole team. 💕🎓

09/02/2026

Buddy is putting in the work! 🐾

This strong boy is working on reactivity, separation anxiety, emotional regulation, and calmer leash skills. Because of his size and strength, anything Buddy decides to investigate can quickly turn a walk into quite the adventure!

He’s already making great progress in his ability to notice something interesting, disengage, and reconnect with his handler instead of pulling toward it.

The goal is for Buddy and his owners to enjoy calmer, safer, and more relaxing walks together—and he’s well on his way.

He’s also keeping his options open for a future career in modeling. 😂📸

09/02/2026

Meet Luna! 🐾

This fun, spunky girl recently started her Board & Train—and she brought plenty of personality and energy with her!

Luna tends to pull on leash and react when the world around her gets exciting. During her stay, we’ll be helping her develop stronger impulse control, better emotional regulation, calmer leash skills, and more neutrality around distractions.

She’s already off to a great start, and we can’t wait to watch her confidence and self-control grow! 💙

09/02/2026

Meet Samson—better known as Sammy! 🐾

Sammy is a one-year-old St. Bernadoodle who recently started a four-week Board & Train with Trainer Erica. He has a big personality, plenty of strength, and a lot to learn!

His family hopes to bring him along to baseball games, spend time with their grandchildren, and join them on all kinds of adventures. Erica is helping Sammy build the manners, impulse control, and neutrality he’ll need to become a calm, confident family companion—even when life gets exciting.

He has already overcome some big hurdles, including learning to spend time calmly in his crate and walk more politely on leash. There’s still plenty of work ahead, but Sammy and Erica are off to a great start!

We can’t wait to share more of his progress over the next few weeks. 💙

09/02/2026

🎓 Ginkgo graduated today! 🎓

This handsome, fluffy boy is a five-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog with the goofiest personality—and easily some of the best hair at North Star. 🐾

Ginkgo came to us needing help with puppy mouthiness, confidence building, and emotional regulation. Throughout his stay, we focused on:

🐶 Tethering and learning how to settle
🐶 Place work
🐶 Leash skills and handler engagement
🐶 Field trips to build confidence in new environments
🐶 Creating more structure and clarity in his everyday life

With the help of some new tools, plenty of encouragement, and a whole lot of practice, Ginkgo discovered that training can be fun—and that the world isn’t quite as scary as it sometimes seems.

He’s heading home with stronger foundations, growing confidence, and a family ready to keep building on everything he learned.

Congratulations, Ginkgo! We can’t wait to watch this big, goofy boy continue to grow. 💙🎓

09/01/2026

Arthur took on Home Depot—and the entire Halloween display—with a big smile! 🎃🐾

From skeletons and moving decorations to carts, boxes and plenty of everyday distractions, Arthur practiced staying calm, checking in with his handler and settling on all kinds of new surfaces.

Real-world outings help turn skills learned inside the facility into confidence and reliability wherever life takes them. Arthur understood the assignment! 💙