I'm so glad you're here. Dog training has been a passion of mine for all of my adulthood, about 10 years. I have dreamed of being a K-9 handler since I was a little girl, I never dreamed I could be the producer of those awesome K-9s! My career started out here in Louisiana and branched out to Arkansas for a year. I realized home is in the boot, so back home I went. I have been teaching dog training for almost 4 years, while creating working relationships with my clients, sometimes even leading to friendships. I spent some time in Veterinary Medicine but still found myself gravitating towards animal behavior. Since opening Best Pals, I have become a trainer and evaluator of Therapy Dogs United and hope to expand the amount of therapy dogs in our community. I am a continued member of the International Association of Canine Professionals. My specialty is aggression and more severe reactivity. I have completed countless hours of online training and hundreds of hours of hands-on training with severe aggression cases. I am also an evaluator with AKC for S.T.A.R puppy, CGC, Community, Urban, and Trick Dog. Without the last decade of rescuing our local strays I would not have the experience I do today. I have adopted a few “fosters” in that time frame. I have 7 dogs and two cats of my own. I love bully breeds and have 3. German Shepherds are a close second on the list. But if we are being honest, if it looks like a dog and barks like a dog, I love it. While dogs are a huge part of my life, I am a mom and I have two girls, 12 and 9. When I’m not training your dog or my dogs, chasing my kiddos around, and continuing my education in animal behavior you will find me tending to my house plants or kayaking the creek!
I look forward to working with you and your furry family member!
Hi, I’m Katelyn!
My Approach
I offer a gentle balanced training approach. I believe clear communication is key to successful dog training. But, how do we deliver clear communication? We must ask ourselves our true expectations of our pet and stay consistent. I will always encourage my clients to leave out emotions and focus on what their dog needs to be successful. Oftentimes “stubborn” dogs really want to do what we are asking but the communication is blurry. We must not forget we are different species and what makes sense to us naturally, may not make sense to them. Our first lesson will be packed full with information on how to properly communicate with our pooch.
Patience and Grace w/ ourselves
You will often hear me reminding you to be patient with yourself, to give yourself grace. Dog training is a skill and doesn’t come as natural for some. So often we focus on beating ourselves up for not being on time or saying the wrong thing and tend to lose focus on what will bring us success. We are human, we will make mistakes. I will be undoing generational habits. There may be times I ask you to do the complete opposite of something you’ve done your whole life. Throughout your program and beyond, I will be by your side reminding you to be patient and graceful with yourself.
Consistency for them
Dogs thrive on consistency and predictability. They learn very similar to us but because they don’t speak English, being predictable really helps them get things right! We will learn all about the different ways to bring consistency into your best friend's life while still strengthening skills in unpredictable everyday life situations.