Underdog K9s Training & Resources

06/02/2026

Fun in the sun! ☀️💦

Someone with a pool has to adopt her! Meet Gianna and Blaze at Oakland County Animal Control & Pet Adoption Center

05/18/2026

FREE NEW ADOPTER WEBINAR TOMORROW!

This is amazing! What an incredible opportunity from K9 Turbo!!

🐾 BIG NEWS FROM K9 TURBO!

Our Foster & Adopter Training Program is now completely FREE and open to the public!

What began as a pilot program with select rescue partners has grown, and now anyone fostering or newly adopting a dog can access expert training support from day one.

Made possible by the generous sponsorship of Second Chances Animal Resources, Inc. we now offer monthly online sessions designed to help new dogs and their humans start off successfully.

🎉 FREE NEW ADOPTER WEBINAR — TOMORROW!

Just adopted? Bringing home a new dog soon?

Join our live session to learn:
✔ How to set your dog up for success
✔ Prevent common behavior challenges
✔ Understand body language & communication
✔ Smooth introductions with kids, pets & home life
✔ Ask trainers your real-life questions

👉 Save your spot now: https://turbotrainingschedule.as.me/schedule/f6c50b13/?appointmentTypeIds[]=79001724

05/04/2026

“This study offers something rare: an evidence-based, scalable, low-cost intervention model for a population that has been overlooked for too long.”

I will say it until I’m blue in the face that shelter staff is not recognized nearly enough for the mental and physical load they carry on a daily basis. The impact lasts a lifetime and it’s time we shine a light on this.

The people who care for animals in shelters and rescues experience post-traumatic stress at rates five times higher than the general workforce — and yet, almost no research has looked at how to support them.

A new pilot study published in Human-Animal Interactions by Dr. Melissa Trevathan-Minnis and colleagues set out to change that. They evaluated a 10-week virtual support group designed specifically for animal shelter and rescue workers and volunteers — and the results are striking.

What they found:
🐾 Significant reductions in grief vulnerability, perceived stress, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress
🐾 Significant improvements in overall mental health
🐾 100% of participants said they would recommend the group to a colleague

But the qualitative findings are where it really lands. Participants described what the group gave them:

- A like-minded community across geographic lines
- Validation for grief that often goes unrecognized in this work
- Tools for boundary-setting and self-care
- A renewed connection to purpose
- Permission to step back without shame

The "caring-killing paradox," disenfranchised grief, moral stress — these aren't abstract concepts for shelter and rescue workers. They're daily realities, and they're driving high rates of turnover (around 28% nationally, compared to 3.3% in the general workforce).

This study offers something rare: an evidence-based, scalable, low-cost intervention model for a population that has been overlooked for too long.

📖 Read the open-access study:

Trevathan-Minnis, M., Morris, N., Johnson Binder, A., & Pelar, C. (2026). Assessing the impact of a support group on people who work and volunteer in animal rescues and shelters: A pilot study. Human-Animal Interactions, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1079/hai.2026.0022

💬 If you work or volunteer in animal welfare — what kinds of support have meant the most to you?

02/03/2026

01/03/2026

Aggression Is Not a Training Problem

When aggression shows up, the conversation almost always moves quickly toward training plans, tools, and techniques.
What cues should we teach?
What skills should we strengthen?
What’s the fastest way to stop the behavior?

That response makes sense. Training feels actionable.

But aggression isn’t actually a training problem.

It isn’t a lack of cues.
It isn’t stubbornness.
It isn’t a dog “blowing you off.”

Aggression is information. It reflects how a dog is experiencing their environment, their relationships, and their internal state at that moment.

When we focus only on obedience, we risk missing critical pieces of the picture: emotional regulation, stress, context, overall welfare, and even pain.

Skills can sometimes change how behavior looks on the surface, but they don’t resolve fear, discomfort, or conflict on their own.

Lasting change starts when we slow down enough to understand why a behavior exists before deciding how to address it.

12/21/2025

Learn how small, low-cost changes can transform your shelter environment. This session highlights creative, resource-savvy ways to reduce stress, support animal wellbeing, and make daily operations smoother for staff and volunteers, all without stretching your budget. Join us for part one in our She...

11/25/2025

Jersey is still available for adoption at Oakland County Animal Control & Pet Adoption Center!

Jersey has been training with the kids at Children’s Village with Teacher's Pet: Dogs and Kids Learning Together. Jersey’s trainer was being released. We weren’t able to take Jersey to class on Z’s last because he was in the middle of a meet and greet. His trainer was so sad he did not get to say goodbye so he wrote him a letter -

“Dear Jersey,
I just want to say it was fun working with you and I hope you enjoy your new family and I hope your new family knows you’re a really good dog and smart. I’m really happy that you have a family and just hope your new owners give you the life you deserve.
Now that I’m going home to my family it’s time for me to do better in life and you and Superman will be my motivation to do better in life and change my life around and become a licensed plumber and work at General Motors and eventually I want to get a dog that is just like you. I’ll be a proud dog owner.
But I wish you luck, Jersey, and just hope your new owners treat you right and never give up on you. I hope your owners really give you the best life ever. I hope one day I get to see you in person again and see how big you got.
I really learned a lot from Teachers Pet and wish I could be here for the second part of the Dog Group and really help out with more dogs and save lives. At first I didn’t like dogs and didn’t really care about animals, but now I really love dogs and want to save more dog’s lives and give them homes. Everyone should be treated right and have a nice home to go to. And have a place to call home and be loved by a nice sweet family who don’t want to cause any harm to the dog. Dogs deserve to be treated right and not hurt and just want to have a good life.
I wish more people thought like me and wanted to save dogs’ lives and give them homes, so they aren’t in shelters. I know how that feels to be locked up and not have a family to go to. I know how it feels to just want a different life, but you’re stuck in a place where you can’t get out. It’s depressing and the same and that’s why I know it’s time for me to change and get my life together and be a better person.
Trainer Z

11/08/2025

Shelter dog weekend sleepover with Barney & Nutty!!! 🥰 This father daughter duo is available for adoption at A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue

Save a life (or two!) - adopt a shelter dog!

11/06/2025

Yes, taking him back will be tough, but knowing he got a good night’s sleep in a big bed is totally worth it ❤️

Koda has been a wonderful guest. He is available for adoption at Arizona Humane Society Papago Park Campus. Big thanks to for giving us this opportunity!

11/03/2025

I am lucky enough to be spending the week at the Arizona Humane Society Papago Park Campus 🤩

Check out their website and just look at their numbers https://www.azhumane.org/papago-park-campus/ It’s absolutely insane the amount of animals they intake and help! I am so freaking excited to learn and bring back inspiration for the animals at Teacher's Pet: Dogs and Kids Learning Together and Oakland County Animal Control & Pet Adoption Center!! 😍 I am so thankful for for making this happen. It’s going to be a great week.