My name is Kaitlin, or Kai for short!
I'm the owner and sole trainer at Kai's K9's located west of Atlanta, GA. As a kid, I was known as the “animal whisperer” in my family–-always caring for, reading, or watching documentaries about them. In fact, my first training experiment was when I was just 6 years old. I taught my family's crazy chocolate lab, Millie, to jump through hula-hoops! I was als
o the only one in our family who could calm her down when she was off the rails (that dog needed a little more training than knowing how to jump through hula-hoops). Being able to truly understand animals, dogs in particular, requires a 6th sense. Having a natural connection with another species doesn’t come easily for most people, but it's second nature to me. I approach training each dog with a similar structure, but no two dogs will be trained exactly the same way, because no two dogs are the same. It all depends on what your pet is receptive to, and figuring out the why behind what they do. My professional experience with dogs spans over a decade, ranging from grooming, to specializing in handling aggressive, reactive dogs, to sitting in during surgeries as an assistant veterinarian technician, to managing a locally-owned dog daycare in the heart of Atlanta. Looking back on these experiences, I've realized one common denominator they all share: I would always go out of my way to work with the misunderstood dogs. The ones no one wanted to deal with. The ones no one could seem to calm down, get to listen, or even go near without being afraid. No one asked me to take on these dogs, I simply wanted to. They just needed someone to understand. I'd shadow the worker who loved them as well. The one who also saw something special in them that no one else did. Over these years, within my roles, I studied closely under local trainers who specialize in dog behavior and aggression, as well as advanced training for service work. The last couple of years I’ve studied and researched dog behavior and psychology on my own, and feel confident in myself to take the plunge into starting my own training service.
Training and working with dogs in any step of life really is my biggest passion-–being able to help a family understand their dog and form a bond they never thought they could have is life-changing. A confident dog is a happy dog. A happy dog is a happy home.
