Alpha K-9 Obedience - Evergreen, Colorado

Sara S. F.

We started working with Michael when I was eight months pregnant. Our sweet but reactive pitty Henry would pull and lunge at other dogs on leash, and walks were becoming increasingly stressful. While he responded to basic commands at home, all bets were off if there were any distractions (ie. dogs, wildlife, other people).

Michael first helped us understand the root of the reactivity based on Henry’s breed, past experiences, and the particular dynamics of our little family wolfpack. He then gave us the tools we needed to shift those pack dynamics, retrain Henry to respect our authority and respond to commands, and generally set him up for success.

With much practice between sessions, Henry now stays by my side in a near perfect heel on our walks, and will consistently sit and “leave it” in the face of distractions. We continue to introduce new distractions, including a session with Michael at Evergreen Lake, and work on his vocabulary of commands (here, quiet, close, wait, stay, enough, etc).

Being able to go for stress free walks with both dog and baby has been truly incredible. During a busy time of much change for all of us, I’m very grateful we chose to prioritize Henry’s behavior and work with Michael!

Christine T.

We’ve been working with Michael to help our fearful cattle dog, Fig, and the progress has been incredible. He’s really helped us understand how to take on the leadership role so Fig doesn’t feel like she has to, which was causing her so much anxiety and fear.

One of the biggest improvements has been with her reactivity. Michael taught us the "leave it" command for when other dogs walk by, and it’s been a total game changer. Before, she’d lose her mind barking at every dog she saw, but now she’s so much calmer, and those moments are way less stressful.

What we love about working with Michael is that he’s part dog behaviorist and part people trainer. He hasn’t just helped Fig—he’s taught us how to be better leaders for her. Moving away from food-based training has been a huge help too. Fig responds way better to other types of positive reinforcement, and it’s made her much more focused and engaged with us.

Since working with Michael, Fig has become a calmer, more obedient dog, and we feel so much more confident handling her. We’re still working on a few things, but we’ve already seen such a difference. If you’re struggling with a fearful or reactive dog, we’d absolutely recommend him!

Perry P.

My dog (Artie) has shown tremendous progress since I hired Michael. Make no mistake, though, Michael has trained me more so than Artie. As a behaviorist, Michael focuses on my own interaction with Artie, encouraging me to use a professional demeanor to build a relationship of mutual trust and respect between myself and Artie. At Michael’s urging, I’ve had to work to break a lot of bad habits and unlearn what I thought I knew about dogs. And because of it, Artie is blossoming.

I highly recommend Alpha K9 to anyone wishing to maximize their dog’s potential. Thank you, Michael!

Meaghan R.

Michael's approach to training really resonated with us and our puppy. My husband and I sought out his behaviorist support to help with our strong-willed lab. We learned a new philosophy of training and picked up tons of tools to improve our dog's skills as well as our own as owners. We continue to use these tools even now that we've finished training.

We appreciated Michael's graduated approach, ensuring our dog learned one skill well before advancing to the next. We also like the short bursts of training where you had time to assimilate his learning. It really worked! We learned to teach him to be gentle with our baby, stay out of the kitchen, walk perfectly on leash, and other general commands. Our dog has greatly benefited from our leadership.

We also enjoyed chatting with Michael as he shared lots of stories from his past experiences! We highly recommend working with Michael!

Elena T.

We worked with Michael over the course of about 5 months throughout a number of sessions with our German Shepherd puppy. We were first time dog owners and knew that with a breed like a GSD, we probably needed some help with the training. Michael was great as he worked with us within a week or so of taking our puppy home at just 9 weeks old. This enabled us to start with basic things like crate training, house training, no begging for food, and other basic commands. Beyond that however, Michael really connected with our dog - every time he came over for training, our dog (Luka) could not be more excited to work with him. Michael successfully helped us train him the basics, got rid of bad habits like nipping / getting into things in the yard / jumping on people, and by 6 months old our puppy already knew sit, stay, wait, come, and heel perfectly (among a host of other commands Michael worked with us on). We could not recommend Michael enough. He also was always available by phone if we had any questions or needed his advice. Overall, Michael was an absolute game changer for my husband and I and our dog Luka! Thanks again for everything Michael!

Kyle C.

We highly recommend Alpha K9. We have 2 puppies who were attacked a few times by neighbors dogs. They have not been very comfortable around other dogs and were always unsettled, even at nearly 1.5 years old. We asked Michael for assistance and he has shown us some great techniques to take back our house. He noticed one of my boys likes heavy amounts of praise and the other only needs a little praise. we love the connection to our boys without treats and the little tips he offers even while mentioning odd issues, though we are working on their confidence. We still have more work to do but we really appreciate all of the knowledge and personal expertise he offers. If you are able to commit to your pets, then Michael can likely help with any situation you are experiencing.

Melanie O.

Michael came highly recommended to us. We have a golden retriever puppy who will soon be ready to help me with patients in my psychology practice. I specifically needed a behaviorist because it was important to me to not just train Skye, but to learn how to communicate with her. Learning what she needs has helped me bring out the best in her and strengthened our bond.

In the months we've worked with Michael, I've been impressed by not only his knowledge and professionalism, but how remarkably gifted he is with dogs. Our puppy adores him and looks forward to her sessions. Each time we meet I learn something new and I see Skye reaching deeper into her potential. Everywhere we go, people compliment her excellent behavior and I'm confident it's because of our time with Michael.

Elizabeth S.

We can’t speak highly enough of Michael with Alpha K9 Obedience. He is an animal behaviorist, so it’s a different experience that a dog trainer. We noticed a significant difference with our puppy just after one visit with Michael. And each visit after that we continued to make huge improvements. This is our first puppy, and Michael made the training process much more manageable. He also gave us the tools necessary continue to work with our puppy on our own. Don’t hesitate, give Michael a call and make the investment. You won’t regret it!!!