CRT K9 Dog Behavior Specialist San Diego -

Angeline Trinidad

We have nothing but the utmost of praises to give Katie on her training program—she is truly a dog whisperer. My husband found her at the beginning of the year for our 1.5yo Doberman. At that point, we had an energetic pup who was unpredictable around strangers and didn’t know how to settle at home. It was to the point where I didn’t feel comfortable walking a 100lb dog in public for over a year! He had been overstimulated by attending a doggy daycare and admittedly didn’t get the structure, routine, and time/training with us that he needed at home.

During our first session, we learned that a lot of his behaviors were due to fear and lack of structure. She taught us both techniques on walking him, and within that session we were able to walk him without him pulling.

We ultimately put him into the 5 week board and train. I had been really hesitant on this because I’d seen feedback about dogs coming back worse, but I did like that he got weekend visits with us where we got “homework” to practice what he had learned that prior week. We went back to the basics with the crate training, feeding, and leashed walks. Week 1 was rough (I cried at drop off like a mom bringing her terrified kid to 1st day of preschool), but by Week 2 she had earned his trust and they became bffs.

It’s been almost 4 months since we completed the board and train and it has really been so transformative. My husband takes the mornings before he starts work, our pup will chill or sleep throughout the day while I’m in meetings, and I’ll get the evening walks, and he’ll chill again in the evenings. We’ve been able to take him to new places with confidence. He’s also been way more relaxed at home and will even put himself to bed in his crate on some nights. Highly recommend working with Katie!

Pics of this happy boy’s new outdoor adventures for fun ?

J Media

Mamba did train and board for 2 weeks and I couldn’t be happier with the results. She is excellent on a leash now, has a lot less reactivity and I now have a much better understanding of how to appropriately communicate with her. Thank you Katie for the amazing work 🙂

Yousra Al-Idrisi

If you have a reactive dog that pulls and lunges on a leash and want to see improvement, I strongly advise against this trainer. Katie uses outdated training methods, including slip leads and prong collars. She choked my dog with a prong collar, causing irritation and bruising. It's worth noting that prong collars are banned in certain countries due to their potential for harm. Her solution was to pull harder and use a larger collar, which only made things worse. After three sessions, my dog's reactivity turned into aggression, and she started pulling even harder on the prong collar under Katie's guidance.

I repeatedly informed Katie that my dog has a torn ACL, but she continued to push her, causing significant knee pain that lasted for days after each session. This training was a complete waste of money, and I feel I deserve a refund. Additionally, I request that my dog's photo be removed from your Instagram. It might look impressive to see you working with a Rottweiler, but it is misleading since it involved abusive 'alpha' training techniques.

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Response to reply:

I have no reason to be untruthful. During our first session, you put a prong collar on my dog and instructed me to perform two "leash pops or yanks" to correct her behavior.

On March 12th, a few days after our initial session, I expressed my concern that the prong collar was irritating my dog. Despite my concerns, we continued to use the collar.

On our third session, March 26th, you switched my dog to a larger prong collar and told me to perform one strong "yank" instead of two smaller ones. On March 29th, I informed you that my dog was still pulling despite using the larger prong collar and following your instructions to "yank harder".

On April 3rd, I texted you again about my concerns with the prong collar and mentioned that I was open to discussing other options. I never heard back from you. If you had been interested in addressing the issue, you would have responded.

Deborah Gallagher

I highly recommend Katie and her team for any type of training, whether new puppy or corrective training she is kind, trustworthy and effective in her methods.

When I first brought my 11 week old labradoodle home, I thought I was going to lose my mind trying to crate and potty train. My friend recommended board & train but I was incredibly apprehensive about that due to horror stories of dogs being abused and I didn't actually want him to be apart from him at all.

So I signed up for an evaluation with Katie and within the hour she had sold me on the 'why' I should board & train and walked me through the plan. For full transparency, when she then provided me the cost, I was shocked and had to consider this overnight. After another sleepless night and more inside potty accidents, I made the decision to go with it and I am here to tell you Katie's program is WORTH EVERY SINGLE PENNY and then some more!

It was not only effective in the basics but more so the time she spent with me at the end of each week gave me the confidence and know how to continue to train him.

Since the board & train, I have been back 3 or 4 more times for further corrective training (pulling on the leash got really bad) and as well to board Levi while I was away for work. He loves Katie and all of her trainers, friends and her dogs too. She provides an environment with her own pets to learn and play safely with each other which has ultimately led to Levi being playful and able to hold his own in dog parks with dogs of all sizes and types.

I regularly get compliments on his good behavior, playful manner and I attribute a great deal of that to Katie's programs. If you are questioning the cost of training, I'm here to tell you it does pay off and 100% worth it.

Thank you Katie and team for all the love and support you provided Levi and I over the past 10months.

Jessica Garcia

Katie Lekas, with CRT K9, has been instrumental in bringing about real change in the tough behavioral cases that land into our dog rescue.

After being a great listener by obtaining the full picture, Katie educates us on each behavior displayed, what it means, and how we can help to encourage, discourage, redirect, and distract from these behaviors on a session-by-session basis.
Katie always asks us what we expect as outcomes for each individual dog. She uses this information to help her create a realistic plan of success and works with us closely to ensure that we are able to fully understand and execute each plan in the dog's best interest.

With Katie's assistance, we have seen both adopters and dogs alike attain the tools and confidence necessary to live happy and healthy lives.
Her passion for the dogs in her charge does not go unnoticed.
We will continue to utilize and recommend CRT K9 for all behavioral issues, small to extreme. These folks have the experience to handle all such cases.

Thank you so much, Katie, for all of the hard work you have done for the dogs in our care that needed this extra guidance before finding forever homes.

Melissa Bodenmiller

Katie and her team are amazing. The first day she had our crazy, anxious, hyper, and dog aggressive Belgian Malinois listening to her and taking her instructions. She came to our home and showed my husband and I what and how to work with our dog. We then decided to do a board and train with her. She sent us video updates, messages, and what to work on over the weekends. It is a night and day difference with him. He is kennel trained, he listens and we can walk by other dogs without him lunging and trying to attack. I don't know how she was able to accomplish all this in just a few weeks. Since he is a working breed, we are working him daily but know we have the tools to do it properly (without having to do 12 mile hikes with him twice a day). She not only trained our dog, but she trained us too. We are a much happier family, we have fun time, work time, and quiet time. We are so grateful for the work Katie did with us. We highly recommend CRT. If you are in need of a trainer, look no further you found the best in San Diego!

Lauren Chew

Katie is an AMAZING dog trainer! We adopted a 3 month old husky puppy and when she was about 6 months old, we knew we needed some outside help. Our pup needed some work with leash manners and we needed some training on how to manage her outbursts of energy. As much as Katie helped train our puppy - if I'm being honest, she really helped train my husband and I as well. She gave us all the tools we needed to be consistent with our training at home in between her sessions which really set us up for success. With each session, Katie kept the focus on what our goals were for the type of dog we wanted in our family - she really gave us a unique/individualized plan and set up small achievable milestones along the way. When we first met Katie, our puppy was tugging on the leash during our walks and would get overly excited seeing other dogs and people - there was no way we could trust her off leash, which was our ultimate goal. After about 6 mos of work, we were able to take our puppy to Fiesta Island where she got to be off leash for the first time! We also met up with Katie at a couple of restaurants and it couldn't have gone smoother. There really aren't any words that can adequately convey how thankful we are for CRT K9 - I really cannot recommend Katie enough. From the first moment I met her, it was obvious to see how much she loves animals and how much they love her. She is incredibly patient, kind, and passionate about her work & it was evident in the way she conducts her training sessions and how she makes herself available for questions in between sessions. She is a PHENOMENAL dog trainer and an absolute pleasure to work with!

Sarah V

Katie has been AMAZING! We did board and train with her and were so impressed with her process. She helped our pup work through some serious anxiety issues (separation anxiety, car anxiety, crate anxiety) as well as more basic things (he's SO good on leash now, for one!). We appreciate how Katie and her team incorporated the pack of trained pups into training for our kiddo and the ongoing support when new issues arise or we need a refresher. I highly recommend CRT!