Julie K. Locke

History
Julie began her dog trainer career at PetSmart in 2008. She trained over 800 dogs and their parents in two years. She also did an internship with the late Lee Mannix who studied with and was endorsed by UK expert behaviorist John Roberson and received her CPDT-KA (Certified Pet Dog Trainer) in 2010. Encouraged by Lee, she started her own business to help pet parents learn how to heighten communication, promote harmony, obedience, and enrichment with their dogs. She then decided to study scent work, and did so for 6 years under the late Ron Gaunt who was a co-founder of the NACSW (National Association of Canine Scent Work). Over the last 14 years, she has attended and continues to attend dog training seminars to include reactivity, aggression, separation issues, impulse control, nutrition, and enrichment. She recently completed, in 2021, the Master Aggression course with the famed Michael Shikahio CDBC. This course along with Michael's mentoring program will provide her with the tools to provide more support, insight, prevention, and management of aggressive behaviors.

Training Philosophy
Julie is a time-honored hands-on trainer who specializes in training and boarding socially awkward dogs who need help developing alternative behaviors to aggression, fear, shyness, and reactivity. She believes in improving the relationship with your dog, as well as more environmental enrichment, foundation training, and then moving into more target behavior modification. She trains you, not your dog. She explains their behaviors and what they respond to and she customizes your training to the dog and the goal.

Services
New Vistas K9 offers a variety of services, including:

• Board and Train Program: 28 days, includes private lessons at home, daily activity log, and videos. Investment: Adult dogs: $3,000, Puppies: $3,500.
• Aggression / Reactive Dogs Training Program: 6 Week Program, 6 Sessions, 2 1/2 hour sessions. Investment: Phase 1: $1,550, Phase 2: $1,305 (only if you sign up in before the end of Phase 1) or $1,550 otherwise.
• House Manners Program: 5 Week Program, 5 Sessions, 1 ½ hour to 2 hours sessions. Investment: $1,150.
• Community Manners Program: 5 Week Program, 5 Sessions, 1 ½ - 2 hour sessions. Investment: $1,150.
• Evaluations: For basic obedience and aggression/reactive training.
• Personalized Dog Photo Shoots: On location at Angel Oaks - $125, Off location - $200.

Certifications
Julie is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA).

Specializations
Julie specializes in training and boarding socially awkward dogs who need help developing alternative behaviors to aggression, fear, shyness, and reactivity. She also has experience with puppy training, socialization, potty training, crate training, leash training, and obedience training.

Training Methods
Julie uses positive reinforcement methods. She believes in building a strong relationship with the dog and using rewards to motivate them. She also uses desensitization and counter-conditioning techniques to help dogs overcome their fears and anxieties.

Customer Reviews

Farron Hyte: We just finished a 5 week program with Julie for our dog Kermie. He was already a sweet soul, but Julie gave us so much insight on how to better provide enrichment and training for him! Julie has helped him improve so much on leash walking, becoming more confident, and overall just perfecting his behavior. Not to mention Julie is just an incredible and inspiring woman to have around. She truly cares about every dog she meets, and has become a dear friend! I couldn't recommend her highly enough!!

Christina Passmore: Cannot recommend Julie enough! I found her after reading so many wonderful reviews and she did not disappoint. My 4 year old husky mix was in serious need of 1/leash training, 2/general manners, and 3/we had some issues with aggression. After 6 weeks of training with Julie and working independently using the tools Julie gave me, I can happily say we have met our goals. I can go on walks and not be pulled the entire time which makes the walk enjoyable. She also learned 'place' so I can send her there while we are cooking or eating. My 12 year old Pom is even benefitting from learning things from Julie. If you hire Julie and put in the work you can have a well trained dog!

Andrea Handy: I've been working with Julie since January on training my 2 (now 5) month old puppy. She has been a HUGE help, coach and friend through this time. She truly cares about my dog as much as I do. When I was particularly having a tough time, thinking I was failing at training, she worked specifically with me to help me over the hurdle I was facing! Carly has boarded with her and Julie kept me up to date daily with photos and reports of how she was doing. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking to be a better dog parent!!! Thank you so much, Julie!

darin tiedemann: I appreciate your guidance more every day, Julie. Because of your help, we have the ability to have our dogs off-leash on our land and know they are safe because they have excellent recall! They can romp and explore, but they always know their limits and come barreling back to us when called. They truly are a joy, and we have you to thank for that.

Lauren King: I asked Julie to help train my 6 yr old cattle dog who came from a neglectful household. She was incredibly knowledgeable and introduced us to training techniques that we still use today. At the end of our training he was crate trained, leash trained, and was trusted around strangers.

Valerie Ford: Julie has been working with my 2 mini Aussies and I since September and their attitudes have done a total 180! In September they were so reactive and over-bonded - now they regularly come with me to stores and are so friendly with every dog they meet. They're confident and adventurous, playing games and going places we never even thought we could've done 6 months ago.
The difference between Julie and other trainers is that she trains you, not your dog. She explains their behaviors and what they respond to and she customizes your training to the dog and the goal. We've loved her and hope to start nose work soon!!

Gregory Russo (Greg): Julie was so wonderful to work with and incredibly helpful. Having only had adult dogs in the past she was able to help with some puppy-specific training on top of the socialization and obedience my Rottweiler so desperately needed. I feel better prepared now to best handle and train my dog thanks to her. I really appreciate her time and patience working with us and would happily recommend her to others as well!

Christy Wink: I love this little dachshund-chihuahua-terrier-mutt man, but by the tender age of 6 months he was already a hot bundle of nerves. His reactivity issues were so bad we couldn't even take a walk around the block.
Thank goodness for Miss Julie, who was able to swoop in and start making a difference from day 1. She turned much of that fear and anxiety into positive experiences, not just with her training and behavioral modification techniques for our Trevor, but by equipping us with the tools to read the situation and make the necessary adjustments to control trigger situations as best as possible. Make no mistake - this is human training as much as it is dog training.
Julie is gentle soul with an endless skill set, and has an incredible way with animals. Trevor was a nervous wreck on her first visit, but was following her around like a little duckling by the last few sessions. The proof was in the pudding, though, where on our last session we successfully wandered Lowe's without any breakdowns. Trevor even managed a few cautious ankle sniffs.
Training a reactive dog isn't an event with an end date - it's an ongoing process. But I can say Trevor is on the right path, and I look forward to all the future successes thanks to Julie's guidance.

Brianna Minor: Julie was and still is an amazing person to work with. Amazing with animals and an amazing person to talk to as well. She always goes above and beyond for each animal she works with. Julie is amazing!

Makayla Tey: Julie truly cares so much about us and our dog. She went above and beyond with helping our dog who lacks confidence and has issues with meeting new people. She taught us how to help him be comfortable in his space and how to introduce him to new people. Even after we brought our dog home, Julie checks in on him to see how he's doing.