K-Nine Solutions

I have experienced my share of trainers and challenging dogs. I also had a traumatic experience with my beloved pit bull. I have another dog with special needs and her (and mostly me) being trained meant the difference between her and I being a forever family and her returning to the shelter to live out the rest of her life. I was hanging on desperately to my never give up attitude, but fading fast when I found Erik Justin and Kai. There is no doubt how knowledgeable they are and how good they are at what they do, but what is so incredible is how they love and understand dogs and they’re crazy owners. I walked in crying and scared and and walked out believing things were going to be alright. Eric told me forget about the past; we are going to do this. You really don’t expect to meet such loving, giving incredible people when you go to get your dog trained, but as for me I will never forget the day I walked into
K-​Nine Solutions. I do not think about the past anymore and I am confident there is no shelter in our future. Maya and I are now a forever family and Erik, Justin and Kai are our forever friends.

Eric and Justin and crew did a wonderful job with my dog Kodak! He needed help socializing and greeting people at the door.
He now waits patiently for greeting and walks without pulling away.
All great stuff!
Scott

Justin put our pembroke welsh corgi, Button, through excellent training sessions and successfully shaped our little rascal into an AKC star puppy! Working with him was a great experience and I would definitely recommend anyone struggling with their dog’s puppy phase to start training with k-​nine solutions!

Eric and Justin make a great team. Over the last 2 months they have patiently guided us in training our rambunctious boxer puppy. We reached out to them after realizing that not only did Bodhi need some training, but my fiancé and I needed training as well. Bodhi didn’t have any behavioral issues, but we just needed to get a good foundation of obedience In place.
In addition to one on one training, Eric and Justin also organize weekly pack walks that are avaible to any of their students, past and present. It is great to see that they have been able to help so many families get their pets on the right track. I would highly recommend K-​Nine Solutions for any level of training needed. You will not be disappointed!

Highly recommend K9 Solutions! Both Eric and Justin work so well with all types of dogs. They really made a difference after training our great, but dog sensitive pup. He is now much more calm and our relationship with our dog Chester is better than ever! Big THANKS to ERIC AND JUSTIN!!!

I could not have had a better training experience. After waiting years to get a dog, I finally decided it was the right time. I came home with a very sweet, timid, mellow dog. After a few days in her new home she started having separation anxiety and I decided I needed some professional help to nip the problem early on. Working with Eric and Justin gave me and my dog more confidence and has made her much more comfortable as an independent dog. After a month and a half of having her, she became much more confident and her true personality started coming out. The dog that I thought was very timid, was actually bossy and reactive to other dogs. Luckily I was already working with a trainer that knew me and my dog and we confronted the issue immediately. I was a wreck when I first saw this behavior, it made me nervous, which in turn made my dog nervous. After one session with Eric and Justin showing me how to respond to aggression I was able to confidently communicate to my dog. After just a week she was a different dog. We’re still continuing to work on her issues but with Eric and Justin’s help I have no doubt that she will be a rock star in no time! In addition, the weekly pack walks that they do are an invaluable experience, especially for me and my dog to practice dog interactions in a controlled setting! I would recommend these guys to anyone, whether you have a puppy or an adult dog with behavioral issues that you have been struggling with for years.

We’ve had exactly two lessons and I’m already giving these guys 5 stars. You will never meet more knowledgable, kinder people in your life. They LOVE dogs. I like people who like dogs and I love that they are after happiness and health for our family.
Both Eric and Justin are exceptionally talented at what they do and dogs gravitate toward them. They know good people when they see them and our dogs we’ve found are a better judge of character than we are.
They make training fun, friendly and they don’t make us feel bad when we have 1000 questions. They just offer us 1000 solutions.
We referred friends of ours to Eric and Justin that has problems with their great danes and in two weeks, they’ve turned the situation right around for them. What had been a very stressful, awful situation turned in to a completely wonderful one and they are so so happy with the service they received and continue to receive.
I cannot recommend these this company enough.
And in case you’re looking to do the AKC CGC and CGCA certifications, Eric does them! So this is your ones stop training shop!

I wish there were more stars to give! Eric and Justin are the best. My boyfriend and I got a 3-​year-​old hound and his nose leads him everywhere, walks into streets, on counters, pretty stressful, also hated skateboards! We needed help and guidance so our dog would settle down, know boundaries and feel safe with us. Eric and Justin are giving us all the tools we need, from one-​on-​one experience to pack walks with other dogs, I’m so excited at the progress we’ve made! We can now bring Hank (our hound) to restaurants and he sits politely next to us. I feel confident in my abilities to communicate and Hank is much more comfortable in his role as well, he no longer loses it around skateboarders on walks. They really structure a training program just for you and your dogs need. They are always a phone call away for assistance or momentary freak-​outs! We LOVE these guys, they’re both awesome to be around and we trust them with my dog wholeheartedly, so happy we found them!

Eric and Justin and absolutely amazing. I’m so happy we came to them to train our dog! They are so friendly and full of doggie knowledge. My boyfriend and I adopted a 2 year old lab/​pit mix who needed some leash and behavior help. We spent 6 weeks working with K9 Solutions and I have to say it’s been a complete 180 change for my pup. I always get compliments on how well behaved he is and I feel confident taking him out to public places knowing he won’t be a hassle. Even after the first session I was seeing a difference. We still have some work to do but Eric and Justin are always available should I need help. They even started new pack walks for their clients. Imagine 15 pups promenading around Santa Barbara, it’s so fun!
I couldn’t recommend them enough if you’re having issues with your dog. You’ll be trained just as much as your dog does! I love that they listened to our problems and always had a solution or training drill that would help. To me, the personal lessons are so much better than a group obedience class as you really get training that is tailored to your dogs needs. Stop reading and call them already!

Ok. So after many years of my daughter begging for a dog my wife and I finally caved. We wanted smart dog that wouldn’t shed and ended up with Goldendoodle puppy. A fricking puppy! Well I wanted some help to start off right. After much research I feel very lucking to have Justin and Eric helping us with our puppy.
I can’t tell you how much they have helped us with our new pup. We have learned a ton and now have a puppy (now 4 months) that is better trained than many older dogs I’ve seen. Everyone always comments on how good and mellow our puppy is. He is smart but we wouldn’t be at the point we are without their help. You’ll learn so much and your dog will be so happy to have owners that understand how to communicate to a dog.
So if you have a puppy hire them now. Best money we have spent in a long time. My wife and I are so much more relaxed as new dog owners.
What else can I say. I don’t review much on Unilocal but felt I just had to let others know that if you have a dog you’ll be so happy to hire these guys!

Eric and Justin at K-​nine solutions are hands down the best dog trainers I have ever worked with. They worked with my highly leash reactive/​aggressive dog for 1 week and the results where amazing. My dog is able to be around other dogs without any kind of issue, something I never thought was possible. I highly recommend them to anyone that needs a dog trainer no matter how small or large the issue may be.

We continue to work with Eric on an as needed basis. Its so nice to be able to call when a new obstacle with our lab presents itself or a needed refresher. He is happy to schedule a meeting or if its simple just offer some quick guidance. Our lab loves him and honestly is such a pleasure to live with that I can’t recommend Eric highly enough. Walks that use

I can’t even begin to tell everyone how extremely wonderful Eric the dog trainer is. I happen to love the fact that he is from Boston also.
If you think you can’t teach an old dog (or two older dogs) new tricks, think again. My dogs are both pretty great, but I have had a few issues with one of them for a long time and did not actually believe I would ever be able to fix this howling thing one of them does. Guess what, Eric helped me and it was totally painless, easy and not crazy expensive. It was a pleasure to work with Eric and would recommend anyone with a dog that has any kind of major or minor issue to work with him.
Eric is great with people and dogs. He does not oversell. He even checks up to make sure dogs and owners are doing well and welcomes feedback. I know that if I ever ran into any dog issues (I won’t with my guys) that I can call Eric and he will be on it. SB is lucky to have such a wonderful person working with dogs and dog owners. Boom.

Eric is an amazing dog trainer! Eric had a few sessions with some rescue dogs that where deemed dog aggressive, in one session he was able to show me that the dogs were not aggressive and explained why they may been labelled that way. He worked with the dogs and had them all playing at the end of the session.
Eric came for another session on how to stop a dog from cage fighting (in her kennel) after that day and the lesson I received she no longer was a cage fighter! Eric gave me so much knowledge on dog behavior that I have used and can work with my rescues with confidence! Eric is by far the best trainer I have hired, I have referred Eric any chance I get knowing that he will solve any problem he encounters, he has a gift and I am so happy he is sharing it!
Thank you Eric!

First off, Santa Barbara thanks Boston for letting us have Eric! I really don’t even know where to start with this post. Eric has made ours and our dog’s life so much better!
We adopted a terrier/​poodle mix from DAWG about 1 month ago. He’s such a sweet pup, but he also came to us with only 5% hearing. After about 1 week with us, he got comfortable and starting running our household! I’ve had a dog before so I figured I would be able to break him of the habits. No such luck at all. He was playful biting us constantly, biting the walls, shoes, anything he could find. We weren’t sleeping through the night and life was getting pretty crazy.
The first day Eric walked in our house our dog was acting completely different. With our dog being deaf we had to find a way to effectively communicate but not encourage the bad behavior or punish him. Eric introduced us to the «e collar» which we were very hesitant about at first. We got over that hesitation QUICK. It does not hurt our dog but is more like a «tap on the shoulder». I can’t tell you how well our dog has responded to this! And you don’t need to have a deaf dog for this collar, applies to all dogs. (we even wore the collar, you barely feel anything)
After ONE month our dog is playing only with his dog toys (for the most part), sleeping through the night, trotting happily right next to us on walks, and only gives kisses instead of bites. I can’t thank Eric enough!
Eric may be a little on the pricier side for the sessions, but they are private and worth their weight in gold. Spend the extra money now and I promise your life will be better down the road. THANK YOU Eric!

We’ve been working with Eric for more than a month to help gain some insight into our dogs’ behavior. Eric has been incredibly helpful, and showed us that what we thought was happening was actually the opposite! (What we saw as one dog inciting the other to bad behavior was actually the other way around, knowledge of which has dramatically improved our walks with the pups.)
We’re sorry he’s moving to the West Coast, but very glad we had a chance to work with Eric before he left. You folks in California are getting a great dog training resource!

Eric is one of those people that not only loves dogs but is highly skilled at turning around undesired behaviors. As an owner of an animal hospital, we see many dogs that have a variety of behavioral issues. We refer our clients to Eric because we know our clients will be in good hands. He is calm, patient and extremely knowledgeable. I can’t think of a single problem that has been brought before him that he did not make a substantive difference. Listen to what he says. He has loads of satisfied customers.

If there were 6 stars, I would give Eric all six. When it comes to dog trainers, he is personable, gentle, a good listener, patient, and professional. When I had some difficulty with my 1 year 4 month old pup Coco, all of his recommendations and suggestions for better communication between her and I were very useful. Immediately Coco responded to his calm yet assertive commands and we got the results we wanted to see.
Eric offers a return of the consultation fee if you decide not to hire him but I’m certain that won’t happen to you.
I recommend Eric to all dog loving people and will be calling on him again in the future!

This review is long overdue. I was desperate to find a dog trainer in the area and had trouble finding one who could start as quickly as I needed. I widened my search a little and came across Eric’s entry here on Unilocal.Although he only had 3 reviews at that time, his video and pictures and the 3 fairly recent (at the time) 5-​star reviews sold me.
Eric was incredibly responsive to all phone calls. He was able to meet right away as well. I know another company said that if someone can meet right away and take another client so quickly, then that’s a sign of a poor business, but I think it’s a sign of a business owner being organized enough and knowing how to arrange his schedule to accommodate new client needs.
One of the best things about Eric is his demeanor. He’s extremely nice and very calm. You could see his genuine love for dogs and after a just one session with them, I could see the dogs’ genuine love for him!
In terms of how well his techniques work — it’s amazing to watch him. As the other reviewers said, the dogs responded to his techniques almost immediately. It almost made me cry when I saw how the dogs were actually obeying someone, and they didn’t look stressed or unhappy, they looked content to sit or walk the way a «good dog» would.
We were very happy with Eric and would recommend him to anyone who needs help training their dogs.

I met Eric while I was at a dog park and had just pulled dog from a situation that can be described as «Trying to eat puppy .» We rescued our now 7 month old lab mix, Astoria, when she was 3 months old and had been picked up as a stray. We soon learned that our precious little pup had a few not so sweet behaviors. She would get very aggressive with puppies and also showed signs of serious food aggression towards other animals .
Like I said I met Eric at the park after Stori had just tried to «eat» a puppy. He explained to me that while we might not be able to fix her behavior 100%, he could help me control it. I had never used an e– collar before, but at this point I was willing to try anything so that I could take my dog into situations and not be afraid. During our first meeting at the park, I explained that Stori wore a harness that helped prevent pulling. Eric had my dog walking by his side like a perfect little lady within a few minutes just by using mild corrections with the leash. Needless to say, we no longer use a harness for our dog.
Eric came to our house for a consultation and showed us the e-​collar, he even had us try it on our own hands so we could see that the collar did not actually «shock» but provided more of a muscle contraction that didn’t hurt but was not something you wanted to continuously happen. He also brought along another dog so they we could test out dogs behaviors and see how by the use of the collar we had control over the situation. So when the food bowl was down and the visiting dog approached the bowl, Stori’s sneering and growling was met with one short surge from the collar. She instantly backed away and watched the other dog patiently from the side. We were sold.
We signed up with Eric for four lessons, which I must add are definitely on the pricey side, but he has worked with us to make it a more manageable financially. Also, you get what you pay for which is individualized attention geared specifically towards your dog and their needs. Our dog is doing Is doing incredibly well with Eric and his program.
One other thing I can say is that Eric never promised to fix our dogs behavior, however he did say that he would teach us how to control behaviors we wanted to correct without putting ourselves in a precarious situation.