Foundation Dog®
A Product of Top Tier K9®, LLC
Foundation Dogs are ready to be finished for your specific needs as a Police K9, Military K9, Virus detection Dog, Service Dog or Personal/Family protection Dog
Top Tier K9 owns the US trademark for Foundation Dog® and is the only legal producer of Foundation Dogs®. Anyone attempting to use the term Foundation Dog® is violating US patent and Trademark laws. Top Tier K9 reserves all rights to our trademarks, patents and industry innovations Top Tier K9: the Gold Standard in the Dog Training Industry
Update 12/1/2025: US Patent and Trademark Office awards Top Tier K9, LLC "incontestable" ownership of the trademark "Foundation Dog"
Foundation Dog training is a proven process in producing high quality and consistent working dogs. A Foundation Dog begins his journey as a puppy, between the ages of 8-12 weeks old. Through a projectized approach to training, the dog begins learning tracking, scent detection, protection and advanced obedience elements that are functional in nature, but projectized to exploit the innate abilities of a working line puppy with age appropriate training and testing processes.
Every 4 weeks of development results in a phase gate test of the puppy for advancement to the next tier of training. Each tier builds on the functional aspects of the previous phase. Increasing the puppies ability to perform functional tasks as well as manage his own load under ever increasing exposure (some call it "socialization" but it is truly "exposure" to new pressures that creates new conflict that the dog learns to manage with effective training methods. (conflict resolution). A Foundation Dog learns how to learn and it learns how to track, find specific odor, protect, and perform advanced obedience tasks.
A certified Tier 3 dog is ready to be finished (Tier 4/Top Tier K9) in whatever mission the owner needs the dog to perform. Military/Police K9 work, service dogs, protection dogs, special scent detection dogs (Foundation Dogs were the first in the world to hunt for and indicate on the COVID-19 virus). the olfactory system of a dog is 10,000 times greater than they eyesight of a human. Foundation Dog training sharpens the communication between the dog and the handler to exploit that fact.
Top Tier K9 has a word-class dog trainer program to teach dog trainers how to effectively train Foundation Dogs and finish those dogs as Top Tier K9 for their customers. Visit Top Tier K9 to learn more about our programs
1/12/2024 - It was 3 years ago today we built the rapid response program for virus detection dogs. Able to deploy to major points of entry in less than 3 weeks after discovering a new virus.
A replicable process of training amazing K9 that stand at the ready to add the specific virus to their scent portfolio in less than 2 weeks. No new viruses this month? No worries, a certified Foundation Dog® can be finished as a service dog, a protection dog, a police/military K9, a bomb dog, a cadaver dog, even a mineral detection dog...yep, gold, lithium, silver and more in a matter of weeks. We deploy our dogs in a multitude of vertical markets.
Top Tier K9® -Corporate provides the trainer and handler training programs, and the quality assurance programs. A replicable and scalable training, distribution and support network for traditional and new uses of the most amazing creatures God put on this earth: Foundation Dogs!
Our world-class Academy for Dog trainers helps us continue to train and certify master dog trainers to scale to demand, our Virtual Reality Dog training Center helps us get the youth involved as well as help us train end users on working around the dogs. Our Top Tier K9 AI System makes the education for trainers, handlers, and owners "state-of-the-art".
Our 300+ certified trainers will even train your pets while we prepare for the next man-made challenge. (https://www.toptierk9.com/certified-locations Top Tier K9 Certified Locations page)
Share this information with your businesses and communities. We have a program management training and support system (www.toptierteams.com : Top Tier Teams website) to help you integrate the power of these dogs into your non-traditional needs (like bomb/virus detection at the entry points of your manufacturing hubs, scent detection of your high-risk inventory against theft)
Consider a Foundation Dog as an upgradable platform. When you need a new odor added to the scent portfolio, we can do that in just 2 weeks time. A retiring police K9 can be instantly turned into a diabetic alert dog..a service dog that also protects so she can have a comfortable job in retirement serving someone with disabilities. (as long as she started her life as a Foundation Dog)
Top Tier K9® and Foundation Dog® are registered trademarks of Top Tier K9, LLC