Big Sky K9

I can’t recommend Sam and his team highly enough. We adopted our dog, Zoey, as a two-year-old untrained and unsocialized heeler mix. She is incredibly smart, stubborn, and highly reactive to other dogs, bikes, and skateboarders. After being severely bitten and shaken by another dog, her fearfulness and aggression escalated, making leashed walks and desensitization extremely difficult—she would go from zero to 100 in an instant when seeing her triggers, even at a distance. We enrolled Zoey in Sam’s four-week board-and-train program, and she came back to us a different dog. She’s still stubborn, of course, but she now has a solid foundation we can build on. Sam gave both Zoey and us the confidence and guidance we needed, and leashed walks are enjoyable again. Her heel and recall are excelle

We did Board and Train with Big Sky K9 while we were out of the country for 21 days. It was an amazing experience and I would highly recommend them for any training needs. Our Lincoln struggled with confidence and anxiety. Sam was amazing, from the moment we met him at drop off. I immediately felt comfortable and was impressed by the knowledge and passion he expressed. I loved getting the daily check-in videos and getting to see her progress throughout while also getting tidbits of information to work on when we return. Upon returning we got to have a learning session of our own, we got to know and understand our Lincoln and her needs even more through Sam’s perspective. We are excited to continue to use the tools we have learned and her growing confidence to progress her confidence and tr

Bigskyk9 was the key to my solution. Understanding your dog is most valuable. I struggled with iinii from the beginning. He exhibited these issues of aggression from the beginning towards people and dogs. I have gone thru 2 trainers before I found Sam. I didn't feel any of them understood what the magnitude of my concern was. My turning point came when iinii charged at a neighbor. I was at my wits end and embarrassed. I thought after ALL THIS TRAINING something is NOT working. That is when I found Bigskyk9. I was skeptical at first - only because I didn't believe in giving over your dog to another to "fix your issues." I felt it was my responsibility because they would be back with me, and if I didn't know how to handle it, how's that going to help? After a few sessions, I realized Sam w

This experience was literally life changing for us! We could not be happier with the training our three beagles received at Big Sky K-9. Our boys are 4, 5, and 10 and this was their first time getting obedience training. Two of them were reactive on leashes and behind fences. They have bit people and dogs. The other one was food aggressive. They all barked terribly and stole food. Ok, they were like the worst behaved doggies ever. Now, they don’t bark, they don’t steal food, they walk in a heal position loosely on a leash with zero reactivity. They are peaceful and calm and our entire house is less stressed. We brought them home and have continued working with them consistently and they are able to enjoy off leash walks in the mountains without chasing scents! Life changing! These guys wer

I took my 7 month old border collie puppy to BSK9 because he has a mind of his own! He took puppy classes in our home city of Billings, but he paid absolutely no attention to the instructor. He's very easily distracted and unfocused, so when I searched for board & train instruction, i checked out BSK9, which has excellent reviews. I currently have a 3 year old border collie who's well trained, and have had other BC's in the past and know it takes a special person to train them! They can be REALLY stubborn! I had a long conversation with them over the phone before I made my decision to bring him there (156 miles from home), discussing our home situation, my frustrations, my dogs temperament and personality, and what i want to focus on. After speaking with them, and interviewing another boar