Hi, I'm Andrew Kurtz, owner and lead trainer of Boop K9. I've had dogs my whole life. Always been a dog lover. But before I ever considered being a dog trainer I was a counselor. I have Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Sociology from The University of Toledo. I have a Master’s in School Counseling from The University of Dayton and was a licensed school counselor. I have a decade of experience working in the mental health/education world crafting behavior modification plans, coming up with effective interventions, and helping people reach their goals and create real change. I bring all those tools with me in dog training as well.
I graduated from the National K9 Master Trainer Program in 2016, completing a 6 week in person course with credentials in Advanced Obedience, Offleash Obedience, Tracking and Trailing, Scent Detection, Service Dog training, and Personal Protection training. The summer of 2016 I started my dog training business, Kurtz’s K9 Solutions. I loved it. I was staying busy and getting busier. I had the opportunity to work some really tough cases and even help a Police K9 and handler with some issues.
Then on January 9th 2017, my son was diagnosed with leukemia. He was 18 months old at the time. I won’t go through many of those details here, but it was hard. Harder than I ever imagined. The way treatment was initially explained is that the first 9 months to a year would be the most difficult, but then life would start to get back to “normal” while continuing treatment. Normal never really happened. I dropped everything when Lincoln was diagnosed, to stay home and be his primary caregiver. Our family's health insurance came through my wife's employer. I thought I’d be training dogs again eventually. Within a year maybe. That never happened. Treatment protocol for boys diagnosed with leukemia lasted 3.5 years at that time. I got close to starting training again a few times over those years, but something always came up or went wrong in treatment.
I never stopped working with dogs over the years. I helped neighbors, family, and old clients whenever the opportunity came, but I was resigned to waiting until treatment was over to officially get back to it, May 2020. As you know, 2020 wasn’t great for anybody. Covid and the pandemic came. We still had an immunocompromised child dealing with the aftereffects of long chemo treatment.
And here we are now. My son is 7 and in first grade doing great. We’re in a place now where I have the time and stability to get back to doing what I love. I started a new dog training business, BOOP K9. I’m excited to work with families to create a better life with their dogs, to work with dogs to teach them new behaviors, build confidence, and break through the barriers holding them back, and to get back into the community and help people live better lives with their dogs.
I'd be glad to help you with any and all issues including, but not limited to:
-Potty Training
-Puppy Socialization
-Play Biting
-New Dog Introduction
-Baby Prep
-Resource Guarding
-Dog Aggression
-People Aggression
-Hyperactive Dog
-Leash Pulling
-Jumping Up
-Chewing
-Excessive Barking
-Fear/Anxiety
-Fence Guarding/Charging
