Valiant Canine Training, LLC

06/07/2025

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Professional training isn’t about sending your dog away and expecting miracles. It’s about giving your dog a clear, consistent foundation built by professionals who understand behavior, drive, thresholds, and timing. It’s about creating success early so that owners can step into a management plan that’s already working — not flounder trying to build one from scratch.

We strongly believe in the value of removing the dog from the home environment initially. When both the dog and the owner are untrained, it becomes confusing and overwhelming for everyone involved. Giving the dog a chance to reset — away from the patterns and pressures that contributed to the problem — affords them easier learning scenarios and allows them to receive a clear education. Then, once they have a better understanding, the handler is brought into a more structured, successful system that benefits both.

Daily effort, commitment and consistency matter in the transition home but when you choose the right dog trainers, their professional guidance, structure, and support ensures success.

Real, lasting change comes from working together: dog, trainer, and handler. And that’s not just effective — it’s empowering.

Photo of our beloved Pote on a hike. We are located in Massachusetts, but we highly recommend Maine Dog Training if you are located in Maine!)

03/07/2025

The pups are off to a strong start this morning! 🎉 We’ve got owner lessons on the schedule today, and we’re getting everyone geared up and ready to roll! Here’s a little snippet of Mace showing off his heeling skills in the driveway, nice work, buddy! 😁👏🏼

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

01/07/2025

As much as they’d love it to be playtime 24/7, structured downtime is a huge part of training!

Learning to settle, whether that’s chilling on “place” or relaxing in a down stay at your feet, helps build impulse control and helps dogs navigate real life situations with confidence and ease. Whether you’re at the park, out in public, or simply relaxing at home, having a dog that can turn off and settle calmly is an incredibly valuable skill.

Kino and Daphne are holding their place and Mace is crushing his down stay like the pro he is! 😄

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

01/07/2025

Daphne and Mace are back for week 3 of day training, and we’re off to a great start! The mosquito guys finally came out yesterday (hallelujah!), so we’re soaking up this beautiful weather and we’ll get to enjoy more outdoor sessions together!! 🥰

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

30/06/2025

Archie had another post program lesson today, but this time, we switched things up to give his sister, Zoey, a hand too!!

Archie’s owners have done an incredible job applying everything they learned during his training to Zoey as well! Although they’ve made great progress on their own, Zoey’s been having a tough time with settling work and holding her down/place stays. But today? She made tremendous strides!

Archie was a rockstar, and Zoey really started to catch on during our session. This sweet photo is from their Mom tonight, and it’s so clear how committed they are to helping Zoey grow just like Archie has. This is Zoey settling on place alongside Archie!

When you have multiple dogs in the home, especially when one or more are working through behavioral challenges, it’s so important to get everyone on the same page. Dogs are incredibly social animals, and one dog’s stress, reactivity, or impulsivity can easily rub off on the other. Getting consistency across the board prevents setbacks and creates a more balanced, peaceful household for everyone (two legged and four legged!)😄

I truly have THE BEST owners around. Always seeing their dedication in action makes my heart so full!!! You guys are ROCKING it!!! 🔥

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

30/06/2025

Whew! It’s been a busy one over here with consultations, lessons, and getting consultation overviews done.. but let’s rewind to last Thursday’s awesome owner lessons!

Daphne and her owner crushed lessons one and two as we combined them together! We dove into verbal markers, engagement, leash pressure, recall, and even got started on heeling, and they absolutely nailed it! Andrea is such a natural, and it’s so cool to watch her and Daphne working together as a team!

Mace and his owner jumped right into lesson two, focusing on leash handling and getting started on the painter’s bench. I put a big emphasis on leash mechanics because they can be a little tricky at first, but they totally rocked it, even working Mace on his flat collar!!!

Fantastic job, teams!! I am also proud of all the hard work you’re putting in! 🎉

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

27/06/2025

I have a handful of videos and photos from this week’s training and owner lessons coming your way, but first, everyone say a big hello to Dexter!! Isn’t he the cutest?! Dexter is a young mixed breed pup who’s rounding out our August crew, and he was recently a foster to adopt through the amazing Fur Eternity Rescue!!! 🤗💕

Dexter will be coming for our Unlimited Potential Board & Train program, and we’re so excited to have him on board! I actually met his wonderful new parents a few months back, and now that he’s a part of their family, they’re ready to help him grow into the best version of himself. They’ve already done a beautiful job with him!! 👏🏼

We’ll be focusing on jumping, heeling skills, and giving him some great public exposure, so he can confidently enjoy all the fun life has to offer, including music filled outings in town that they’d love to take him on!!

He’s got incredible owners who are eager to learn and support him every step of the way, and I’m thrilled to be part of the journey. Let’s go, Dexter! 🎉🎉🎉

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

25/06/2025

Hopping into this video to share some heel progression work! Before starting this, it’s important that your dog has a solid understanding of leash pressure, that’s the foundation we build everything else on.

These two are on Day 5 of their day training program, and we’ve been taking things one step at a time, literally! I start by marking and rewarding just a single step for following my left leg, reinforcing them for staying in position. As they begin to understand, we gradually add more steps. The training aid you’ll see in the video helps reinforce a nice, tight heel position and allows us to work on turns.

Once they’re confident and consisent, we’ll start adding in figure 8s around chairs before transitioning the work outside to generalize it to a new environment. I love taking my time with this!

If your dog struggles to take even one or two steps with you without pulling, it’s a sign to go back to the basics. A dog can’t be expected to stop pulling if they haven’t been taught how to respond to leash pressure in the first place. Remember, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

I’ve absolutely loved seeing how far these two have come already, so proud of their progress! 😁

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

24/06/2025

There’s just something special about getting to use one of my own dogs to assist with client dogs! I wish I could still use Piper, but at 10.5 y/o and dealing with mobility issues, she’s fully enjoying the retired life these days. Luckily, Kino has been stepping up and doing an awesome job learning the ropes as my helper! 🥹

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

24/06/2025

✨ AVAILABILITY UPDATE ✨

UPDATE June 27th, 2025: AUGUST SPOT HAS BEEN FILLED. NOW BOOKING SEPTEMBER 2025!!

Summer is in full swing here in Northern Michigan, and with so many families heading up to their cottages and summer homes, I’ve been receiving a lot of training inquiries over the last week!

While I truly wish I could accommodate every dog, the quality of training I provide to the dogs currently in my care is always my top priority. As a one woman operation, and with skilled dog trainers being few and far between in this area, I truly appreciate your patience and understanding.

That said, I do have a few openings for in-person consultations this Friday, June 27th.

Currently, I’m booking into the beginning of August, with one spot remaining for either a Board & Train or Day Training program. I will also be out of the office from July 25th through August 6th for an out of state dog training conference, which is why my availability is so limited.

To officially reserve a training spot, a consultation, non-refundable deposit, and signed contract are required.

I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who puts their trust in me and the training I provide, it means the world. Thank you!! ❤️

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan

24/06/2025

Day 4 of day training for these two, and they didn’t waste a second jumping right into play this morning! 😂 We’ve went over all their training so far to check on their progress, and they’re doing awesome! 🥹

🌐 www.valiantcaninetraining.com
☎️ (810) 705-0437
📧 [email protected]
📍Mackinaw City/Cheboygan, Michigan