DUKE FERGUSON
The Dog Trainers Coach
Professional Dog Trainer | NePoPo® Gold Multiplicator | Certified High Performance Coach®
Hi There!
I'm Duke Ferguson, I teach and coach dog trainers and canine professionals like you, including veterinarians, government agencies and celebrities, a unique system and lifestyle that no other trainer and coach in the industry provides.
Much more than just dog training, I am in to transformation, growth and changing lives!
helping you and your dog unleash your full potential in life so you can go through the struggles of life, joyfully, successfully with heart and soul
Certified High Performance Coach® NePoPo® Gold multiplicator & master coach.
Duke Ferguson aka Uncle Duke is the owner, CEO and certified master trainer of Unleashed Potential K9 Academy.
Having almost 4 decades of experience in the industry, Duke works with dog trainers and other canine professionals including government agencies and celebrities who want to be the best version of themselves personally, professionally physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Duke offers more than just dog training, he goes way beyond dogs and dog behaviour for an extraordinary transformation in humans and dogs.
Through the combination of CHPC® personal and professional development coaching and NePoPo® dog training, Duke helps many successful trainers and top industry professionals achieve their goals and dreams consistently and successfully over the long term while maintaining positive relationships and work-life balance.
In fall and winter months, Duke travels around the world leading workshops, shadow programs and masterminds and guest speaking and in the summer, he likes to spend his time in beautiful Prince Edward Island Canada with student trainers and clients that come for school and the Island transformational experience.
4 words that sum up Duke. Hunting, Fishing, Dogs and God.
During his free time, you'll most likely find him fishing on a beach, in a kyack or boat in the ocean with a dog, enjoying friends family and dogs and sport fishing on one of PEI's many river systems or hunting ducks and geese.
A Boy and His Dog
How it all began...
Duke was born with a passion for the outdoors and animals; He's been close with dogs ever since the age of 2 and knew at a very young age that he wanted to work with animals. At 2 years old he was always in the neighbour's dog house with the dog, when he was 3 years old Duke was gifted his very first dog and at 12 years old, he began training gun dogs for hunting and retrieving. After almost 4 decades of working daily with dogs, Duke feels blessed and grateful to have helped hundreds of thousands of people and dogs over the years and many pro dog trainers achieve their dreams.
Training and Certifications
Duke graduated college to become a Fish & Wildlife Technician and Conservation Officer in Nova Scotia where he had the privilege to work with the departments K9 Unit. This experience solidified his desire and passion to work with dogs, animals and people at all levels. Duke did not know at the time that he could make a living training dogs as a professional dog trainer but that would soon change when he was told by an animal behaviourist. "Clicker train it or kill it", with a dog he was struggling with. Duke knew right away that this all-positive, death before discomfort mindset and approach was a very bad thing and was causing many people to euthanize their pet dogs for no good reason, instead of trying to train them with an open, loving, growth mindset.
Upset by the death before discomfort mindset from people of influence, Duke went on a life mission to help owners and dogs live better together and to save more lives, he sold everything he owned and went all in creating what is now the Unleashed Potential® dog training & life coaching brand federally trademarked in Canada and USA.
Duke is a graduate of Animal Behavior College in California where he studied canine behavior and training. After that, he graduated from Canada West Canine Centre in British Columbia, where he studied all levels of obedience, kennel management, temperament testing, behaviour problems, personal protection, attack dog training, police dog training, tracking, and detection training. Completing two levels of the training offered by this school: Obedience & Kennel Management as well as Certified Master Trainer.
Duke has the belief that 'mastery' is a lifelong process that takes dedication, commitment and passion.
Duke deep in the woods with wolves in British Columbia, Canada
Duke's journey of mastery took him to Colorado and then Las Vegas to the No Limitations School for Dog Trainers; now called Sit means Sit, where he worked with Dave Skoletsky & Fred Hassen certifying in the specialized and humane use of remote training collars. But that was not the end of attending different dog training schools.
For almost 4 decades, Duke has continuously and actively kept up to date studying and applying many dog training methods, animal behaviour and psychology applications from some of the best dog trainers and schools around the world from Canada, USA and Europe and he continues to do so.
With unstoppable drive and passion, consistently show up, learn and growing, Duke has acomplished many other breakthrourgs that made him the first person in Canada or PEI to acomplish. Duke trained the first bed bug detector dogs in Atlantic Canada, he's the first NePoPo@ Gold student and NePoPo® Gold Mulitiplicator in Canada, First Canadian certified in the use of the K9 BSD (Behaviour Shaping Device) passive alert training for scent detection dogs. Duke trained the first civillian SAR dog on PEI and won the K9 SAR games when hosted on the island. Unleashed Potential is the first and only certified professional dog trainer school in Atlantic Canada registered with the Government as a privete training school. Duke is currently the first and possibly only professional dog trainer who is also certified as high performance coach and somatic breath work coach facilitating 9D sessions.
often called "Uncle Duke" he is known as "THE DOG TRAINERS COACH"
Canada's first NePoPo® Gold certified Trainer
In 2015, Duke attended Bart Bellon's NePoPo® School for dog trainers in Belgium. For three weeks, he studied and trained one-on-one with Bart and Michael Bellon. After passing all tests, Duke became The first Canadian certified as a NePoPo® Gold trainer.
Duke is a NePoPo® Gold Multiplicator and welcomes students to the Island each year for training in NePoPo® and giving mind-blowing experiences that will last a lifetime.
Duke is a proud member of the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP). In 2015, Duke was a guest speaker at their annual conference where he delivered a two hour presentation on his signature dog training topic "The Art of Attention"
Duke has also served as secretary of the the IACP Legislative Committee.
CHPC® - Certified High Performance Coaching®
For most of my career, I've been obsessing about how to take people to the next level in their dog training experience and move them forward in life successfully towards their goals.
Over the years, I've had the blessing of working with some of the world's best dog trainers, animal trainers, celebrity trainers, veterinarians, police k9 handlers, and top executives and government officials. As a trainer and coach, I've noticed that some people are more successful than others.
Everyone wants to be successful, but what I've learned is that not everyone has the right mindset, not everyone determines their priorities or defines what's actually meaningful to them like the relationship they desire with their dog and others in life. Often, they don't practice enough, and they don't apply their homework. These things are needed to propel growth and have success in dog training, behaviour modification and enhancing the trust and relationship between you and your dog.
I've noticed that people struggle with training their dogs, and they also struggle with mindset and priorities in their daily lives and so do dog trainers which causes them, to struggle to connect with clients and motivate them the way they deserve to get the best results overall.
I know how it feels because I've been there too, which is why I became a Certified High-Performance Coach®. I wanted to improve the balance in my daily life, how I show up and live fully alive and in doing so, I totally fell in love with the power of CHPC and the science behind it.
The power of coaching has changed my life time and time again as a client so much that I went on to become a Certified High-Performance coach. I combine dog training and personal development life coaching to help people not only with their dogs but their entire lives, so they can become the best trainers, coaches and handlers they can be.
The definition of high performance is "reaching and sustaining long-term success while also maintaining well-being and positive relationships."
To reach a goal, people sometimes compromise their health and relationships. I know, because I have made all the mistakes in the past and have learned form them.
With the right mindset, habits and daily practices, you can achieve the results you dream of and that's what I do best.
Training the dog is easy when you have the right tools, the right daily mindset and the right training approach, consistent focus and commitment, good timing, clear communication and the appropriate amount of motivation. It's easier than you think, and you can shape the extraordinary relationship and quality of life you desire. Having a coach in your corner is what makes that happen.
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