What is North Star K9 Training Association?

North Star K9 Training Association brings you some of the best K9 trainers in search and rescue. We carefully screen our training instructors for not only their ability to produce results in their training sessions, but also for their ability to train using positive training techniques. North Star's director, assistant director and board is comprised of volunteer search and rescue members. Because we have walked in your shoes we understand the needs of the SAR K9 handler.

Our goals are simple but powerful. We recognize that SAR personnel spend a great deal of their own money to equip and train themselves and their canines. There are many organizations who are formed for the purpose of making a profit on search and rescue volunteers. We are NOT one of those organizations. While we believe that trainers deserve to have their expenses met, our primary goal is to raise funds to keep SAR K9 training as low as possible, many times free.

Although we do not promote ourselves as police K9 trainers, we do offer taining from which the police K9 could benefit. Basically, all tracking and/or trailing dogs are trained with the same goals in mind. We welcome police and security personnel to our tracking and trailing, Area Search and Human Remains Detection training sessions.

North Star isn't just a field training organization. We also offer you the table top training that will improve your knowledge base to perform your duties in field operations. Some of the classes that we have taught in the past are: Scent and Scent Theory, Responsibilities of the K9 Flanker, K9 First Aid Preparedness in the Field, Navigation, GPS, Map Reading and much, much more.

North Star K9 Training Association, Ltd. offers free trailing training in IN, OH and KY. We have the knowledge to start with the puppy all the way to the advanced K9. We train the components necessary to run a successful trail. Our trainers accompany you on the trail assisting you in reading your dog and offering suggestions to improve drive, focus and motivation.

We do not offer certification of dogs. It is not our mission. We do take certification of a SAR dog very seriously. Certification places the stamp of approval on a K9 who may be in a life or death mission. We believe that certification is serious business. North Star will offer recommendations to those oganizations whose certifications have proven to stand up in court and whose certifications reflect a high standard acceptable to the general SAR community.