Jennifer Lackie

Jennifer is certified in Training and Behavior and has been working with dogs for over 20 years. She is from Washington state and spent several years training dogs for one of the top board and train facilities in the state, specializing in aggression and problem behaviors.

Jennifer had the opportunity to work for multiple years with sled dogs, giving her a broader understanding of pack behavior and group training. She has also worked with wild animals, hand-raising bears and wolves while training them for use in educational programs.

Jennifer currently resides in the beautiful state of Idaho where she owns and operates iTrain as well as Adventure K-9 LLC.

Jennifer’s Training Philosophy

Hi, I’m Jennifer, founder of iTrain. I have been working with dogs for over twenty years. I have also spent several years living with different packs of dogs and have made it my goal to learn as much as possible by observing the way they interact with each other. Watching dogs interact with each other has helped me to gain a clear understanding of how they learn.

I have come to the conclusion that dogs are intelligent beings that desire peace and balance within their pack. If they are approached in a way that they understand, they are willing and have the ability to learn quickly.

Through years of keeping an open mind and consciously trying to learn as much as possible, here are some key things that I keep in mind daily when working with dogs:

• Dogs are pack animals and need interaction regularly to maintain a healthy state of being
• While dogs have varied levels of energy, they all need some form of daily physical and mental exercise

There is no one method of training that works for all dogs.

Every dog is an individual and needs to be approached on an individual basis. Dogs are bred for many reasons, therefore their natural behaviors are very different from one another. To go even deeper, within each litter of puppies you have a varying scale of personalities.

Approaching a dog based on their individual personality and genetic predisposition will allow for a dog to learn with a lower level of stress and will result in a more permanent outcome with a dog that is happy, calm and willing to learn.

While dogs are individuals, there are some things that remain the same across the board.

• Our own energy greatly affects the dogs overall state of mind and behavior
• Unless there are underlying medical issues, dogs are consistent and predictable. In order for them to understand us, we must also be consistent and predictable.

Dogs are at their calmest state when they have a clear understanding of boundaries and expectations.

In order for them to understand our expectations, we must be able to do the following:

• We must be able to tell dogs when they are acting inappropriately
• We must tell them when they are doing the right thing.
• All dogs must learn self control

My goal with iTrain is to help you understand your dog and to assist you in training your dog to respond reliably, with a wagging tail and calm state of mind.