Overview
The making of QK9C was not an overnight success. Hammond and Lyda have spent countless hours promoting their craft on the training and sport fields winning numerous awards for their dog's performances. Considered to be a “smaller” company, a title Hammond and Lyda are proud to have. Being bigger is not always better; you tend to lose touch of your customer the bigger you get. Seeing this and having witnessed it them selves, Hammond and Lyda chose to stay small and keep the one on one relationship with each handler. But don't let the small stature fool you, QK9C has trained dogs for some of the biggest private security companies in the market today, and doing it with better the 98% pass rate. A giant feat that none of the bigger kennels can claim to have achieved.
Matt Hammond started training dogs in 1993 with a local police department in Junction City , OR as their “decoy”. Hammond continued to train and help with working dogs in the Army and in November of 1996 attending the Department of Defense Military Working Dog School at Lack land Air force Base. Hammond graduated top of his class and went on to excel as a handler for the Army. Hammond trained in his off time with some of the world best European trainers and took this new found knowledge back with him and implemented it into the Military Working Dog Program. During his career as a military handler, Hammond preformed security details for various heads of state, foreign heads of state, and the President of the United States . Hammond was selected as 1 of 43 handlers to respect the Military and work at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , Utah . In the summer of 2002 Hammond was selected and deployed with the Special Forces to Afghanistan . Hammonds work with SF help pilot and implement a new Special Forces K-9 Program. A program that he is still very active in. In 2003 Hammond returned to the Middle East as one of the first dog teams to move into Iraq . Hammond stayed in the heavily occupied combat zone for 10 months before his working dog was killed. Hammond stayed in Iraq and helped create and organize the Iraqi Army Military Working Dog program acting as the Chief instructor for the inaugural class. In October of 2003 Hammond redeployed and chose to separate from the Army and pursue personal ventures in the K-9 Community. To date Hammond is still called on by the Army to overlook training and programs.
Jerry Lyda first started training dogs in his youth on his family farm in Spartanburg , SC Lyda helped his father train and handle working bird hunting dogs, a discipline still seen by most professional trainers to be the most difficult task to train. Lyda became active in Obedience training in the early 70's training dogs for AKC obedience trials and local events. In 1992 Lyda was introduced to the sport of Schutzhund a German protection based test for breeding rights. Lyda found his calling and excelled in the sport achieving awards and most every trial he attended. In 1999 Lyda and his German shepherd dog Bentley won the national team obedience championships beating out all dogs from the USA and Canada . His winning score has yet to be surpassed. Jerry remains active in Schutzhund.
Hammond and Lyda met in 2002 while Hammond was home from The Olympics. Hammond was conducting a local K-9 Demonstration for a community event when Lyda approached him and asked if he would like to join the local Schutzhund club. Hammond did and began to forge the creation of Quality K-9 Concepts.
In 2005 Hammond and Lyda launched their services division assisting local business and parents to combat drug abuse. They have conducted thousands of searches in our local community and around the state. They have access to a number of handlers that help them in this effort. They also have the ability to conduct searches abroad if needed.
Today Hammond and Lyda have been joined by Jerry's son Jay Lyda. Jay is QK9C's main decoy and helps with obedience classes and protection class. Jay is already considered on of the better decoys in the south and continues to improve everyday.
In closing you can see that QK9C is a costumer based, family ran company with the costumer in mind. We strive to stay below market prices and offer the best buying experience we can to our customers. When you purchase a dog from QK9C you become part of the family.
Thank you for considering Quality K-9 Concepts for you working dogs needs. |
