Ella's K9 Academy builds real-world obedience and calm, confident behavior through positive, science-based methods — from eight-week-old puppies to dogs working through reactivity.
Ella — the academy's namesake, and a role model for what patient, consistent training looks like.
Every dog starts somewhere different. These four tracks cover the full range — pick a starting point, or Andrew will recommend one during your consult.
Socialization, crate and potty routines, bite inhibition, and the first building blocks of focus and impulse control — set during the window that matters most.
Reliable sit, stay, come, and loose-leash walking, practiced in real conditions: on trails, at cafés, around other dogs — not just in a quiet living room.
One-on-one work for leash reactivity, fear, resource guarding, or over-arousal, with a plan built around your dog's specific triggers and thresholds.
Distance commands, distraction-proofing, and off-leash reliability for dogs ready to take their training into the field, the trail, or the backyard.
No dominance theory — just clear communication and consistency.
Dogs learn fastest when the right choice is obviously worth making. Sessions are built around what motivates your dog specifically.
Training happens where you actually need it — your home, your street, your dog park — not just in a training studio.
Andrew coaches you, not just the dog. You leave every session able to run it yourself during the week.
Andrew has spent the last five-plus years working with dogs most trainers turn away — reactive dogs, dogs with a bite history, dogs who've been labeled "too much." His focus is reactivity and aggression: reading what's actually driving the behavior, and building a plan around that dog rather than a script.
No two dogs learn the same way, so no two training plans look the same. Andrew draws from a range of tools and methods and matches them to the dog in front of him — what gets one dog through a breakthrough might be the wrong move for the next.
The academy is named after Ella, Andrew's own dog — living proof of what patient, dog-specific training can look like.
Andrew · 5+ years · reactivity & aggression specialist
Ella isn't the only one who keeps Andrew honest. Odie and Leo are part of daily life at the academy too — proof that different dogs really do need different approaches.
Odie — purebred Siberian husky. Stubborn, vocal, and food-motivated to a fault.
Leo — greyhound. Quiet, sensitive, and motivated by calm more than treats.
Regular in-home and on-site sessions run within about 50 miles of Seattle. Outside that radius isn't a hard stop — reach out with your location and Andrew will let you know what's possible.
Tell Andrew a bit about your dog and what you're working on. Most consults get a reply within a couple of business days.
(208) 994-2391 ellask9academy@gmail.com