Instagram story viewer> @sapperk91> Posts

SapperK9

@sapperk91

946

followers

2896

following

C.E.O and Co-owner: SapperK9 Inc.
Training Director: The Liberty Leash Project, A Working and Service Dog Trainer from Manitoba, Canada.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

This is about veterans helping veterans and the difference a service dog can make in someone’s life.

The bond with a service dog goes far beyond companionship. It’s about support, trust, independence, and having a steady partner by your side. Just as important is the connection between veterans—sharing experiences, supporting one another, and helping others find resources that may make a difference.

Grateful to SteinbachOnline for helping bring attention to this mission and the important role service dogs can play in supporting veterans.

Read the article here:
https://www.steinbachonline.com/articles/veterans-helping-veterans-through-the-bond-of-a-service-dog

#VeteransHelpingVeterans #ServiceDogs #Veterans #Community #Support by @sapperk91

37

2

2 months ago

Some partnerships are about business. Others are about mission.

We’re proud to announce that Supreme Canine is partnering with Liberty Leash Project to help identify, develop, and prepare exceptional dogs for veterans and first responders living with PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, mobility challenges, and other service-related disabilities.

As a retired Army First Sergeant and combat veteran, this mission is deeply personal to me. I know firsthand the sacrifices made by those who serve and the challenges many continue to face long after the uniform comes off.

Together, we’re working to build life-changing partnerships between highly trained service dogs and the heroes who need them most.

This is bigger than dog training.

It’s about purpose.
It’s about healing.
It’s about ensuring that no veteran or first responder walks alone.

We’re honored to be part of the mission.

Know a veteran, first responder, breeder, rescue, or trainer who may want to support this mission? Tag them below or send us a message.

#LibertyLeashProject #ServiceDog #VeteranSupport #FirstResponderSupport #PTSDAwareness ServiceDogTraining VeteransHelpingVeterans K9ForHeroes WorkingDog AssistanceDog DogTraining SupremeCanine NashvilleDogTrainer MiddleTennessee VeteranOwnedBusiness CombatVeteran ServiceDoesntEndWithTheUniform NoOneWalksAlone ForgedInServiceBuiltForLegacy DogTrainer WorkingDogs K9Partnership LifeChangingDogs by @sapperk91

23

1

4 months ago

Find yourself a brother, for as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
(Proverbs 27:17)

#LibertyLeash #SapperK9 #SappersLeadTheWay #AdversityAsFuel #Brotherhood #IronSharpensIron by @sapperk91

58

4

a year ago

Nothing complicated. Just a dog that came to work. by @sapperk91

23

1

3 days ago

Behaviour modification can humble you. You can work with a dog for months or years and still have pieces of the original problem sitting there.

I’ve been working with a Border Collie with strong herding instincts, handling sensitivity and redirected aggression. When he gets highly aroused trying to reach another dog or person, stopping him has resulted in him coming back up the leash at the handler. Handling his collar or body has caused reactions too, and even transitions between obedience cues can get him cranked up enough that he growls or shows teeth.

We’ve worked on this for a long time. It’s improved considerably, but it isn’t gone.

Someone watching him today might see the teeth and think, well, that didn’t work. What they didn’t see was the dog who would have bitten me several times during an interaction he can now get through with a growl and some teeth.

That matters.

Behaviour modification isn’t always about making a problem disappear. Sometimes you can. Sometimes you improve it considerably. Sometimes you reach a point where management becomes part of the dog’s life, and the job becomes teaching the handler how to recognize trouble early, make good decisions and stop putting the dog into situations where everybody already knows how the story ends.

Genetics matter. Temperament matters. Instinct, health, experience and learning matter. Training can change an extraordinary amount, but it can’t make biology disappear because we’d prefer a cleaner ending.

That doesn’t mean giving up on difficult dogs. I’m not suggesting this dog has reached his limit either. We’re still working and he’s still improving.

But not every behavioural problem in every dog can be completely fixed. We understand that people can carry problems despite years of work. Dogs are living things too, not machines waiting for the correct adjustment.

Sometimes success is fixing the problem. Sometimes it’s improving it. Sometimes it’s managing what remains.

And sometimes you have to remember that the dog showing you his teeth today is the same dog who used to put them into you. by @sapperk91

15

0

4 days ago

The five hypothesis rule is something I use constantly.

It’s simple enough.

A dog does something and before I decide why, I come up with five different explanations that could make sense.

Five separate hypotheses.

Then I start trying to kill them.

I ask questions. I look at history. I watch what happens before the behaviour and what happens after. I change what I can change and see what comes with it. I look for the things that don’t fit.

One hypothesis falls apart.

Good. Get rid of it.

Another one starts looking weak.

Get rid of that one too.

Eventually I might be left with one that explains the behaviour better than the others. Not because I’ve decided it’s the truth, but because it survived longer than everything else and the information I have keeps pointing me back to it.

So that’s where I start working.

But sometimes all five are wrong.

That’s where I think this rule really earns its keep.

You don’t pick the least shitty explanation just because you ran out of options.

You come up with five more.

And if those five fall apart, you do it again.

There’s no rule saying the answer has to be one of the first things you thought of.

Dogs don’t owe us that convenience.

I think one of the easiest mistakes to make in this work is falling in love with your own explanation.

You see something. It reminds you of something you’ve seen before. Your brain fills in the rest and suddenly you’re no longer trying to understand the behaviour.

You’re trying to prove yourself right.

I don’t want to prove myself right.

I want to figure out what makes the most sense for the dog standing in front of me.

Those are two very different jobs. by @sapperk91

21

3

6 days ago

A snakebite isn’t an emergency you want to start planning for after it happens.

If you live, work, or travel with your dog in snake country, know the risks, know which veterinary clinics carry antivenom, know your evacuation route, and train for the possibility before you need it.

Prevention matters. Preparation matters. Time matters.

You train like you fight. by @sapperk91

8

0

10 days ago

Every so often I put up INTERMISSION and disappear for a couple days.

Nothing happened. I haven’t gone off to find myself.

Sometimes I’ve just been at it long enough.

There’s a point where another phone call, another message, another thing that needs an answer starts to feel like one thing too many.

So I step away a little.

Not because I don’t enjoy what I do. I do. But you can love something and still need to put it down once in a while.

I’ll still work some. Probably more than I should. But I’ll also pick up the acoustic guitar and lose a few hours.

I like what music does to time.

You sit down and start playing and somewhere along the way everything else gets quieter.

There’s no ambition attached to it. I’m not trying to become anything with it. I just like to play.

I think there’s something good about having a few things in your life like that. Things that don’t need to make money or lead anywhere. Things you can simply enjoy because you enjoy them.

Boxing is another one for me.

I can spend a couple hours with a heavy bag and eventually there isn’t much left except hands, feet, breath and rhythm.

The speed bag is even better. Once you find the rhythm, you stop thinking about it.

Music does that too.

For a little while, nothing is asking anything from you.

That’s really what INTERMISSION is.

I’m fortunate that I enjoy the work I do. I just don’t want the thing I love doing for a living to become the only thing I know how to love doing.

So find an hour once in a while and waste it on something you enjoy.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the music.

If listening to me play turns out to be your particular form of torture, I apologize. I’d send everyone earplugs if Instagram allowed it.

Look at it this way

eventually the music stops.

That can be your INTERMISSION. by @sapperk91

16

5

12 days ago

I’ve always loved “Bob Fudge” because of the way it ends. You spend the whole song hearing about this old cowboy life, riding across open country and living through a time that seemed like it would go on forever. Then years later he comes back through that same country in a car, and the old trail is gone.

That part has always stuck with me. You can go back to the same place, but you can’t go back to the same time. All that’s left is the memory of what it was like when you were there. There’s something about that kind of nostalgia that I really love.

Here’s my cover of “Bob Fudge” by Colter Wall. by @sapperk91

13

0

12 days ago

I think you have to be a little obsessed to become really good at dog training. I don’t mean interested. I don’t mean you love dogs and enjoy working with them. I mean obsessed. The kind where a dog follows you home without ever getting in the truck.

You finish a session and hours later you’re still thinking about it. You’re driving down the road replaying three seconds. Why did that dog hesitate? Why did he look away? Why did something work yesterday and fall apart today? You know there was something in that moment, and it bothers you because you didn’t see it clearly enough.

I think that’s what separates people who get good at this from people who take it all the way. At some point, casual interest isn’t enough. You have to be bothered by what you don’t know.

The easy dogs can make you feel like a hell of a dog trainer. Then the right dog walks through the door and makes a liar out of you. That dog finds the holes in your knowledge, and if you’re smart, you don’t resent him for it. You pay attention.

Those are the dogs I remember.

I’ve learned more from dogs that made me question myself than the ones that made me look good. There’s something valuable about a dog quietly telling you your bag of tricks isn’t as deep as you thought it was.

So you watch closer. You study more. You try something. You get it wrong. You try again. Eventually you start seeing things you used to miss.

The longer I train dogs, the less impressed I am with somebody having all the answers. I’m more interested in the trainer who still has questions.

Ego wants to be known as a great dog trainer.

Obsession wants to understand the dog.

There’s a big difference.

There is no finish line in this work. There’s another dog, another problem, another lesson, and another chance to see something you missed before.

So give me the difficult dog. Give me the unanswered question. Give me the mistake that follows me home.

I’d rather be obsessed with getting better than satisfied with being good.

Because good enough is where you stop.

Obsession is what keeps you going. by @sapperk91

10

0

14 days ago

I travelled from Manitoba to North Carolina and somewhere at the end of all those miles, I found a brother.

Gary Dawson served in the U.S. military. I served in the Canadian Armed Forces. Two countries. Two uniforms. Different roads through life.

We are both retired now, but some things do not retire with the uniform. Loyalty. Discipline. Respect. Brotherhood.

Gary is one hell of a dog trainer. He understands dogs in a way that goes deeper than technique. He reads them. He respects them. He knows when to be firm and when patience will accomplish more than force ever could.

Dogs know people, too. You can bullshit a human being. It is a hell of a lot harder to bullshit a dog.

But this is bigger than dog training.

Gary is my brother.

He is a great friend and a man I genuinely respect and look up to. I do not throw the word brother around lightly. A man earns that place with me, and Gary has earned it.

He is the kind of man whose name I would defend whether he was standing beside me or a thousand miles away. The kind of friend I would stand up for without hesitation. Not because he needs defending, but because that is what brotherhood means to me.

You stand beside your people.

One of us wore the Canadian flag. One wore the American flag. Now we are two retired soldiers working dogs, swapping stories, laughing at life, and understanding some things that never need explaining.

Gary, I respect you as a dog trainer. I respect you as a veteran. I respect you as a man.

Most of all, I am damn grateful to call you my brother.

I came from Manitoba to North Carolina and found family.

Worth every mile. by @sapperk91

31

4

15 days ago

Every time I train in North Carolina, I get reminded of one thing:

I have a lot more to learn.

And I need that reminder.

There are trainers, decoys, and business owners out here operating at levels that expose every hole in what I think I know.

Good.

Comfort creates arrogance. Being around people better than you kills it.

I pray I never lose the novice mentality. I never want to walk into a room thinking I’ve arrived. I want to stay hungry enough to ask questions, humble enough to listen, and disciplined enough to shut my mouth and learn.

The second you think you know everything, you’ve stopped growing.

I want to be around people who make me realize how far I still have to go.

That shit is a blessing.

Stay a student. by @sapperk91

30

2

15 days ago