About ValkyrieK9 & FIST K9

FIST K9 Detection is first a commercial detection company and second a dog school, and the second half is the part that matters to a pet owner. The same handlers who sweep schools, industrial sites and event venues for narcotics, explosives and firearms also sell training to civilian owners in the Canandaigua area.

The pet training offered

The published training menu is basic obedience – sit, stay, come, heel, place and down, described as suitable for puppies and adult dogs – along with puppy training built around foundational obedience, socialization and confidence, behavior modification programs, tracking, patrol and personal protection training, and advanced detection training. Elsewhere the site sums the same list up as obedience, behavior modification, off-leash training, detection, tracking and personal protection.

Who runs it

The site names two owners. Brandon Clark is co-owner and head trainer, a US Army combat veteran who served with the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and deployed to Iraq for 14 months from March 2007, then worked roughly eight and a half years as a federal correctional officer. He entered the professional K9 industry in 2020 by completing the Patrol/Detector Dog Trainer's Course at American K9 Interdiction, and the site lists his subsequent work as narcotics, explosives and firearms detection, tracking, obedience, patrol and personal-protection dogs, and puppy development, across industrial and critical-infrastructure sites, rehabilitation facilities, festivals, amusement parks and large events.

The second handler

Kristie Clark is listed as co-owner and a trained K9 handler who learned handling directly from Brandon: K9 handling, obedience, canine behavior, handling technique, and the care and management of working dogs. The site describes the business as family operated and says she shares the training, handling and care of the company's dogs.

What to expect from the fit

This is the region's specialist for protection work and for scent and detection, and it is one of only two schools in the hub that publish either. The trade-off is that it is a working-dog operation first: there is no published class schedule, no published price list and no address on the site, and contact is by form or phone. An owner looking for a weekly group class will be better served elsewhere in the hub; an owner who wants protection, tracking or detection work has no closer option.