About Us

Bastian saved our sanity and our dog. Under Bastian’s brilliant guidance our dog was transformed from one who could only be exercised at dawn or at night to avoid meeting people (every passer-by was a potential bite victim) to walking down Broadway, Newmarket, on a busy Saturday, through the station, and sitting quietly at cafes without any sign of wanting to lunge, bite or bark at any of the hundreds of people there. Had we not experienced it we would not have believed it possible. That was six months ago. The lessons learned by us and our dog have prevailed. Without hesitation we have already recommended Bastian to everyone who has asked us where our dog learned his manners. Background: our dog was a hyper-reactive rescue from the Auckland council’s Silverdale Animal Shelter. We called him Pax (Peace) in the hope he would grow into his name. Before Bastian he’d had two lots of training with other trainers with limited success. He would still lunge, snarl, air-nip and bite at young/old, male/female, with/without warning, with/without provocation. Not only were exercise times limited by his behaviour, we couldn’t use house-sitters, no kennel we approached north of Hamilton would take him, we couldn’t go away as a family someone always had to stay with the dog. Owning him closed our life down for two and half years. It was a stressful time. We couldn’t understand why a dog with such deep-rooted issues had been re-homed in the first place. Eventually we made the heart-breaking decision to book him on a one-way trip to the vet. As a last resort we invested in a tailored package with Bastian – a short board and train followed by seven one-hour lessons in various scenarios. We have never regretted a cent. We were dubious about using a pinch collar or an e-collar but once we’d been taught how to use these things properly and seeing the result we are converts. Our dog is never in distress; he simply pays attention to us and responds appropriately. We now have a handsome, obedient, docile, family dog with the softest eyes. He finally lives up to his name and is living his best life thanks entirely to TheK9Way.

Bastian has a unique and special understanding of dogs. Bastian is kind and knowledgeable about what a dog and its owner needs. There is a saying that goes, “A happy wife , a happy life!”…… In my case living on a rural property and working with children and horses on a daily basis……my saying is, “A happy, confident, trusting and obedient dog makes for a happy life”. Bastian has helped me achieve this with my 10 month old, Sharpei called Hope in an amazingly short time. Best value for money, I have ever spent.
Thank you Bastian from both of us.

Bastian is an expert in K9 behaviour. His assessment over the phone, analysis upon meeting and detailed explanations and remedies…both specific and anecdotal have proven to be perfect.
Having said that…you will only achieve the results you need if you put the time and effort required….as Bastian can advise on. A True Dog Whisperer.

With all of our dogs possessive / aggressive problems we were quite worn out and desperate for help by the time we contacted TheK9Way. A few months later and we (and our dog) live a totally different life and we can’t praise TheK9Way enough – they work miracles!

Our experience with Bastian was absolutely awesome. His approach is excellent and thanks to Bastian we had our first night in ages without one of our dogs Hooch sleeping on the bed. I have train walked both of our dogs individually twice today and I couldn’t believe that these were our dogs, in fact I had to keep checking that there was a dog on the end of the lead. That in itself is mind blowing, considering that Bastian only came yesterday. Bastian you are a miracle worker and we can’t thank you enough for teaching/showing us the correct way to communicate with our dogs. We will definitely recommend your services without any hesitation at all. Again our sincere thanks.

16 years after last owning pups, we once again became pup owners by adopting 2 dogs from the pound. Almost instantly, following a couple of sessions with Bastian, our lives and those of the dogs, we’re made so much more easy. The house now has routines and boundaries and the dogs are happier for it!! We would without hesitation recommend any dog owner who wants to understand or change the behaviours of themselves and their pets to engage with the services that Bastian has to offer. Working with Bastian was easy, fun, informative and seriously life changing for our family. Many thanks, John, John, Minnie and Dusty

We contacted Bastian to help with a recent addition to the house of an SPCA dog. Xena was an older dog set in her ways and was definitely used to being in charge. At home a lovely timid pet, on a walk a crazy ninja. Bastian immediately got down to the point which was what we were doing about it how were we communicating our instructions to Xena, it quickly became apparent that we could improve our methods.
Out to see the problem and sure enough Xena tried to perform but Bastian quickly moved to interrupt her behaviour and calmly demonstrated to Xena the required behaviour.
We have continued working with Xena and have made steady progress without stress or confrontation and we are very pleased with the progress. Ready to socialise in a group and continue improving. Thanks Bastian!

WOW….GIZMO IS A DIFFERENT DOG – Thank you soooo much Bastian for teaching us the skills WE needed to be taught to make our gorgeous little dog Gizmo (Bichon Frise x Sidney Silkie – 4 yrs. old) into a more relaxed and responsive dog. We originally called Bastian for help when Gizmo became very aggressive over his food and went as far as to attack a member of our family – we contemplated having him put down, but on the advice from our vet sought a Dog Whisperer – and we found TheK9Way, yay!
Bastian has taught us things that are actually very basic and common sense, but unfortunately the average dog owners like us just don’t naturally put into action. We discovered that Gizmo had numerous issues from separation anxiety, aggression over food, excitement when new people visited, issues going for walks, not being respectful of our space, coming on command only when it suited him etc. Bastian covered ALL of these issues with us in the short time we were with him & WOW… Gizmo is now so much more relaxed, respectful and enjoyable to have around. The interesting thing is that we thought HE had all these issues but in fact it was US that were causing these issues with Gizmo by the way we interacted with him – that has now all changed thanks to Bastian!
Thank you Bastian, we definitely would recommend you to all dog owners – Bastian is NZ’s Cesar Milan! 🙂

Bastian helped us understand how our new pup sees the world which will help us on our journey. Being new to owning a dog, this information was priceless. He had wonderful skills and tips to teach us, and my son learnt how to act towards the pup. The follow up has been even more impressive, and knowing that I can email him to ask for help and reassurance – with amazing advice every time, is giving me more confidence in training my pup. Cannot recommend TheK9Way enough!

I have to say we were very impressed with you and your guidance and have told heaps of people with dogs of how wonderful you are. We are amazed at the difference with Mack and his obedience. Guy Fawkes was still a challenge but way better than usual. Thanks again for your help.

Thank you Bastian for your help in making us realise what we were doing wrong with our dog. Within the first 24 hours we were seeing changes in her behaviour for the better and almost 2 weeks on I have a different dog! She is now calm, relaxed, doesn’t follow me from room to room and is listening to commands. We went out last night for a good amount of time and I will admit I was pretty nervous about how she would react – she didn’t care! We came home and she was fast asleep, she stood up and looked and then went back to bed – all without so much as a whimper or a bark!! Now I can say that she is MY baby and not the other way around. Thanks again Bastian.

We have had Duggie since Boxing Day last year and we thought we could train him ourselves. He isn’t too bad a dog however there are a few issues that we needed to (for lack of a better term) teeth out! We learnt that Duggie wasn’t listening to us because he didn’t respect us. We were also not aware that he was suffering from separation anxiety. Most of the times when we left him at home we would be fine however every so often another side of him arose and most of his room would be destroyed – toys and his bed would have the stuffing pulled out, newspaper ripped to shreds, even the door was chewed and clawed at. Bastian changed our entire perception on how to communicate with Duggie. We never knew we were egging on his behaviour with our reactions to his actions, good OR bad. We have noticed changes already just from learning to reward him with our attention when he is ACTUALLY good. So far we have seen great results! This has definitely been a learning curve for us as well as Duggie. We would highly recommend Bastian to others. Thanks so much Bastian for your help!

From the minute Bastian appeared at my fount door he starting working. He instantly knew what was going on with our dog. We have had many problems with Muffin most of them related to leadership and lack of a few rules. Now the table have turned, we are working together and Muffin is doing really well. We saw improvements from the first few hours of Bastians visit. Muffin now walks really well on a lead, looks at me for direction and is a lot less scared of other people, dog and sounds. Looking forward to working with Bastian by email and phone over the next year to polish off a few little things. Thank you for helping our family! It’s great to finally have a lovely calm and relaxed dog.

What a difference one session with Bastian has made! We only spent an hour with Bastian and have already seen positive changes in our dog that we’ve always wanted but never been able to initiate on our own. Thank you Bastian for the common sense advice, guidance, tips and techniques you shared with us today. It all made perfect sense and Koko has be very responsive to our new approach as owners. The key issues we wanted addressed (i.e. tension and pulling on the leash, the constant barking, getting over excited at the sight of another dog) were explained to us through the eyes of the dog and what we as owners need to do to address these behaviours. We are already reaping the benefits from our session and enjoying the learning and training experience. The session with Bastian is a great investment and we highly recommend him. He’s an awesome dog trainer!

6 weeks ago we rescued Poppy, a gorgeous little 1yr old Staffy. As to be expected, rescued dogs can come with their fair share of issues, especially with Poppy, as she’d been mistreated. From nipping when over excited, to being very needy, chewing everything, pulling on the lead, timid and shaking in many situations and lacking obedience, we knew we had a big job on our hands, and would need some strong, consistent professional advice and assistance. Since we’ve enlisted Bastian’s help, we have already noticed some significant changes to Poppy’s behaviour both inside and outside the house. Bastian is consistent and supportive in his methods and we are constantly learning from the advice and direction he provides us. We have been ignoring her and only initiating contact on our terms, which has made for a calm and less needy dog. Poppy’s developed great behavioral patterns now and is very obedient; she’s much happier and understands her position in the house hold. Bastian has really helped us understand dog psychology. It was hard following his instructions and often felt mean about ignoring Poppy when we came home and when we were leaving the house, but we have seen such a huge difference in Poppy’s behavior, our house is now a lot calmer now she knows who’s boss. Much appreciation to Bastian and we strongly recommend him to anyone that is having difficulties with their pets. His very simple, calm and non-threatening way of teaching us had immediate effects. Bastian stayed with us for four hours working through and resolving all sorts of issues. We will have a follow up visit in a few weeks to reinforce and remind us of our actions. Could not recommend highly enough! Kindly Dave & Lucy

We bought ourselves a 6 month old Miniature Black Poodle – a very determined wee dog!!! After two weeks I decided to call in the reinforcements to teach me how to deal with her. Bastian came to our home and immediately sussed out where I was going wrong and how to deal with Millie. That night she was a dream, but the next day she was back at square one – I battled for two days to try and put into practice what I had been taught – then it hit home – Bastian had said my mantra should be “Stay calm and relaxed” and I wasn’t!! I took a few deep breaths, relaxed and changed my focus – what a difference. That weekend I truly enjoyed my wee girl – we still have a way to go, but she is just a puppy and tests me regularly to make sure all the boundaries are still there. As I type this Millie is lying peacefully at my feet – who would have thought that would happen two weeks ago. Thank you Bastian – I highly recommend you call TheK9Way if you have any behavioral problems with your puppy or dog.

An absolute MUST for any dog owner regardless of the problem or age of the dog. Bastian spent time getting to know our unique issues and gave us the skills to overcome these. We now have a much calmer household. The days of attention seeking and counter cruising are over. We couldn’t have afforded not to do this especially with children in the house. Can’t recommend Bastian highly enough. THANK YOU!

Over the past few months, my dog Dodge had developed a serious fear of children. Bastian has helped me to realise that Dodge should be looking to me as his pack leader for guidance if he’s feeling scared or unsure of himself and currently, that’s not happening! So I’m going back to basics & working with Dodge’s natural dog-instincts to reconfirm his place in our pack, and show him that he can trust me to make good decisions on his behalf. Even though it has only been a couple of days, Dodge has already managed to stay focused on me during our walk while there have been kids around which is a huge step forward. And he is also generally much more chilled & relaxed around the house & when we’re out – which has been lovely! After searching for a long time and not having any luck, I’m so happy to have finally found someone like Bastian who truly understands the psychology of the dog especially when it comes to working on deeper issues that might not be fixed through training alone. Thank you Bastian. I highly recommend TheK9Way!

My dog had serious separation anxiety and alpha issues so Bastian helped us find ways to re-educate him on his status in the pack. A month later, he waits for us to go through doors, is starting to come when called and no longer pulls on the lead. He’s more comfortable being left alone for short periods of time and is calm and relaxed on our return. A huge improvement!

We have four British Bulldogs all wanting to be number one, Bastian has helped us with techniques to show the dogs that we are in fact the leader of the pack. We would open the back door and they fight to get in or out. Now we can open the door with out one dog trying to get in. Bastian has shown our family how to communicate with the dogs without a word. The changes were almost instant once we put the techniques to work. Thank you very much for your help. TheK9Way comes highly recommended.

I run B.A.R.K. and foster dogs for various rescue organizations. Therefore I am faced with numerous dog types, ages and varied experiences/backgrounds. Bastian is consistent and supportive in his methods and I am constantly learning from the advice and direction he provides me. Fostering can be difficult and having the professional support from Bastian provides strength and encouragement when the going gets tough. Thank you Bastian, you have a gift and I am lucky to share in it.

We have peace, we have quiet, we have dogs who are chilled out. We have dogs who bark once or twice if someone comes to the door and then they stop. Phew! Bastian has been a lifesaver! We were all at our wits end, after moving into a new house and having dropped the ball of being good leaders. Our dogs literally ran the house. His very simple and relaxed way of teaching us had immediate effects. Bastian stayed with us for nearly four hours going through all sorts of situations. Walks, knocks at the door, driving in the car etc. for me, my son and husband. So we are all on the same page. We will have a follow up visit in a few weeks to reinforce and remind us of our actions. Could not recommend TheK9Way highly enough.

My children and I really appreciate the patience and knowledge shared with us in terms of understanding our new addition (puppy) to the family. Bastian, you’re the man!! The understanding of how the dog sees the world was enlightening, and the small techniques you gave us made huge differences with our beautiful Gabby. Thank you once again for all your help.

Thank you Bastian, your demostration and control of my unruly dog in 20 minutes allowed me to understand that very simple changes allowed for a relaxed happy dog. The one on one is time efficient and allowed for me to talk about issues in depth. I do feel empowered with my favorite companion and I know that my puppy is thankful too.