I'm the owner and lead trainer of Pack Perfect K9, Marie Richert. Although I had plenty of exposure to dogs and all sorts of other animals growing up in rural Vermont, my real K9 education began at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona while I was living in Tucson. Even though I had always owned dogs, I learned that I basically knew nothing about them! Volunteering in shelters will give you the absolute best training you can ever receive, the dogs will always teach you more than any classroom, book or online program ever will. In addition, that particular shelter was very challenging due to it's overcrowding and structural limitations, which led to a lot of over-excited behavior, reactivity, fights, and just general chaos. Combined with the extreme desert heat most of the year, that gave all of us volunteers a tremendous challenge to get all the dogs out every day. I was mentored by the greatest core group of walkers and trainers, many who had been there for 15 years. I took full advantage and for about a year was there nearly every day on average of three hours.
I was exposed to countless dogs with all sorts of different personalities and issues. I learned not one thing works for all dogs, their personalities are as multi faceted as humans are. I was trained with the Canine College program offered there, a positive reinforcement based program that took some of the more difficult dogs and focusing one on one in training them in order to get them adopted.
I moved to Reno and immediately started volunteering with the SPCA of Northern Nevada. A much nicer and less crowded facility, I was able to focus more one on one with dogs that might be long term residents, return adoptions, or with aggression issues.
I was the opener and sole trainer for All American K9 Training beginning in November of 2016. An Arizona off leash based company, they trained me in the use of prong and low-level E-collar training, enabling me to help a greater population of dogs by adding clear and concise communication to them. The company's one or two week Board and Train was very popular and I had a full schedule in my time there.
Pack Perfect K9 came from the desire to incorporate all that I had learned in past years with a company big enough to have a consistent pack of dogs for socialization, but small enough to remain home based and have long term and close relationships with my clients. I value communication with all of my clients and believe that true success happens best with consistent maintenance, and I'm always here to consult anyone to make their own pack as perfect as it can be.
