DeShaun Haakenson

Hey everyone! My name is DeShaun and I help struggling dog owners in the Seattle area! 

I spent 5 years in the Navy lusting after the job that the military dog handlers had who got to train dogs all day, but ultimately being away from my family for so long was too difficult. Then I realized I could combine my love for helping people and dogs at the same time if I re-entered civilian life as a professional dog trainer.

When coming home I trained dogs for a while with a local company but I saw huge issues with the company I worked with. I was uncomfortable with the harsh methods they used and they didn’t provide long-term support for their clients so we saw a lot of dogs regress in training over time. 

Enter Mango Dogs. These days my clients get a 100% personalized program created specifically for them. I can use more subtle techniques and still get my client's awesome results, and all of the Mango Dogs locations provide extensive ongoing support (phone, email, and group classes) to our clients.

I’m married to my incredible wife, have an 8-year-old son, and my awesome dog Freya. 

As balanced trainers, we are able to take the great aspects from each style of training and utilize it where needed.

We use food, treats, praise, toys to encourage our dogs and our clients dogs to do the things that we want them to do. This type of motivation is particularly important when training fearful dogs and dogs with anxiety.

• Positive methods are easy and fun for anyone to implement
• Positive methods keep the dog being trained happy and engaged
  

Where things fall apart...

• Positive based methods are un-reliable when the distraction is very high
• Many of our clients do not want to have to carry around treats for the rest of their dogs life

Positive only training works well... until it doesn't

Our training works in the real world. At your front door. On your walks, at the park, anywhere!

Using Corrections And E-collars

But all is not lost. We can also use corrections to keep your dog accountable and make them more reliable. Corrective techniques are incredible when looking to STOP bad behaviors.

We are e-collar specialists, we can streamline the process for you and make sure that you are using the tool humanely.

We use food, toys praise wherever we can, and correction whenever we must.

E-collar training is an essential part of training hard to train dogs off leash, we routinely train beagles, huskies, even wolf hybrids off leash. It's versatile because it can be used to stop many bad behaviours, and can be used while on leash, off leash, in the house, in the yard, or at the park. 

The e-collars we use have 3 modes. Tone, Vibration, and Pulse Correction. The pulse correction feels like a Tens Unit that chiropractors and physiotherapy clinics use as a muscle stimulator. This pulse correction is adjustable from 1-100 levels which makes it a versatile tool that can be used on dogs of all sensitivity levels.

In you want to learn more about our tools, and techniques, please watch our video HERE.