HIGHLAND PARK – Buddy the Bernese Mountain dog had chewed through so many socks and toys that he required an intervention. Enter, Lakeshore K9’s boarding school program.
“Our basic obedience program provided his family with tools to control unwanted behaviors such as chewing and eating inappropriate items, ” said Elizabeth Aaron, operations manager/owner. She added that Buddy’s family was thrilled with his progress and continued with future training sessions at Lakeshore K9.
In addition to Lakeshore K9 Glenview, Elizabeth and her husband, Jordan Aaron, lead dog trainer/owner, recently opened Lakeshore K9 Highland Park. To celebrate the new location, Lakeshore K9 Highland Park will host an open house on Sunday, January 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Elizabeth said it will be a fun family experience complete with games for children, raffles, trainer demos and tours. She added that it’s often difficult to provide tours, as it’s distractive to the dogs during the day, so she’s really looking forward to the opportunity.
Some of the raffle items will include:
- Five days of day training
- Five days of daycare
- One Boundary Plus pet containment system from Invisible Fence
- A gift basket
- Daycare package specials
“Dog training for real life” is the Lakeshore K9 motto. Jordan explained what their training entails:“Our programs are developed so the trainer can teach the dog and once the dog has been trained, we spend a lot of time with the owners, making sure that they’re comfortable reinforcing and continuing the dogs training post their program,” he said.
Lakeshore K9’s programs teach everything from potty training for puppies to basic and advanced obedience. Some of the new classes will include: nose work which offers “good mental stimulation and physical exercise,” a canine good citizen (CGC) class and a fun agility class.
The dogs that have gone through training programs are eligible to use Lakeshore K9’s other services such as boarding and daycare. Bathing is offered, but haircuts are not included. The Highland Park location can board up to about 50 dogs.
Boarding options include:
- Standard crates
- Suites with individual rooms
- Dog runs that are about 4 by 4 1/2 feet
- A crate free option where dogs are not caged
The Aarons pride themselves that every dog in daycare and boarding services has already completed a training program at Lakeshore K9. “This makes us unique, because we already know the dogs’ behaviors and all of the dogs understand basic obedience that we’ve taught,” said Elizabeth Aaron. “
Her husband added, “A lot of facilities like ours will take any dog for boarding and any dog for daycare as long as they can pass an assessment. But we ultimately do require any new dog to go through one of our training programs before they’re eligible to utilize our other services.”
The Aarons live in the Western suburbs but hope to move to the North Shore. In the meantime, they’re looking forward to seeing their clients and meeting new clients at the Sunday, January 28 open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1570 Old Skokie Road, Highland Park.
“I love taking care of the dogs, but it’s also the relationships that you build with the clients and you get to know the families which completes the picture,” said Elizabeth Aaron.
Liz and Jordan Aaron at the new Lakeshore K9 Highland Park dog training and boarding facility. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER/JWC MEDIA
Lakeshore K-9 Highland Park is located at 1570 Old Skokie Road, Highland Park, south of Williams Ski & Patio For more information call: 224/ 432-5396.
