Welcome to DogSmart!

Coming to San Diego – June 1st!

Family friendly dog training & behavior consultations for all breeds & ages in the San Diego area – customized training and behavior modification where you need it most – in & around your home!

Puppies

New Puppy? What do I do now? Puppies are adorable, playful, silly, & offer us unconditional love from the minute they enter our lives. But adding a puppy to the family is not without its challenges & we are here to help!

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Basic Manners & Obedience

Has the cuteness of a jumping puppy started to fade as she’s doubled in size? Has your teenager forgotten everything she learned in Puppy Class? Have you recently adopted an adult dog who needs a little help? 

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Reactivity & Aggression

Fear, anxiety, reactivity, and aggression each have strong emotional drivers that strongly influence a dog’s behavior. Living with the resulting stress has a significant impact on our dogs’ lives and ours as well – we can help.

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Our Philosophy

Training your dog should be fun! And that means, fun at both ends of the leash 🙂 There’s no need to think about dominance, no focus on being the alpha, no use of shock or prong collars, and absolutely no fear, force, or coercion as part of training – does any of that sound like fun? We believe that building a strong foundation of learning is reliant upon trust, consistency, and two way communication. Our approach is science & evidence based, humane, and promotes the use of positive reinforcement.

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About Me

Hi! I’m John and the pretty girl sharing the view is Kaya, our 11 year old Siberian Husky who is the inspiration behind our logo and so much more. While I’ve always been a dog lover and outdoor enthusiast, Kaya’s addition to our family a decade ago completely transformed my outlook on life.

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Our Services

Puppies

New Puppy? What do I do now? Puppies are adorable, playful, silly, & offer us unconditional love from the minute they enter our lives. But adding a puppy to the family is not without its challenges & we are here to help!

learn more

Basic Manners & Obedience

Has the cuteness of a jumping puppy started to fade as she’s doubled in size? Has your teenager forgotten everything she learned in Puppy Class? Have you recently adopted an adult dog who needs a little help? 

learn more

Reactivity & Aggression

Fear, anxiety, reactivity, and aggression each have strong emotional drivers that strongly influence a dog’s behavior. Living with the resulting stress has a significant impact on our dogs’ lives and ours as well – we can help.

learn more

Did you Know?

Testimonials

Our family is very grateful to John for his coaching. Being first time dog owners and getting a young puppy, we were a bit overwhelmed with the amount of work that it added to our lives. John helped us train our puppy obedience skills, helped us understand dog's behavior, answered countless questions about feeding, training, exercising, and taking care of the dog, helped our two cats make peace with the dog. John gave us knowledge and piece of mind to get things under control and actually enjoy our puppy. Our puppy Bella adored John, was super happy to see and learn from him and amazingly was on her best behavior for 2-3 days after each lesson. John is a very talented dog trainer and great communicator for dogs and humans

Bella & Yulia…Redmond

John was amazing not only watching poe, giving her long walks, and taking tons of great pictures, but also with communication and his flexibility of coming over and walking her even though I was gonna be home soon after but he walked her so I wouldn’t have to.

Poe & Myia….Lynwood

If I could give 10 stars I would! John K is absolutely the best! I am a new dog owner of an 8 year old mix and had never used a professional service before, so had some trepidation on what to expect and how my dog, Kenai, would react. Immediately upon the "meet and greet" John put me at ease and Kenai fell in love with him.  John not only gave me reports and many wonderful pictures he helped me with training techniques, and more importantly I felt like he sincerely liked and connected with Kenai.  Thank you so much John!

Kenai & Tina….Issaquah Highlands

He knows his stuff and was so helpful for our big derpy Vader pup! Excited to have him for private sessions as Vader ages! His training is all about positivity!

Vader, Jaycee, & Kolbe…Redmond

John was amazing with our teenage dog. He was always prompt and professional. He was very responsive to our individual needs and gave us exercises to practice that were reasonable and effective. John was always accessible for urgent issues through email and text. Our dog had behavioral challenges and John was creative and competent. I would highly recommend John and Dogsmart. John really went above and beyond for us!

Bailey & Brooke…Ballard