We feel so lucky to have found Kaia!
As first-time puppy parents, we needed a trainer we felt we could access any time we had a question or problem in between sessions. This kind of service isn't easy to come by - what Kaia offers is unique in that she provides and welcomes the close contact. It's been so reassuring knowing that she is just a text or call away when we need her.
Kaia has a wealth of knowledge and experience working with dogs, and a special intuition into what makes Vinnie tick. She only utilizes positive reinforcement-based strategies and helped us understand the canine psychology underpinning her techniques (as well as the research supporting them). She often sent us personalized video demonstrations, along with helpful articles and other training tips to work on between our sessions. Plus, she is ever-so-patient, easy-going, and kind! Raising a puppy can be overwhelming at times, but having Kaia as our sidekick through it all made the process so much more manageable and fun. We recommend her to anyone looking for a caring and competent trainer who provides that extra measure of guidance and support!
Eric Lee & Ari Cohen, Los Angeles CA, with pup Vinnie
After supervising Kaia in dog daycare and mentoring her as she developed dog training skills, I am excited to now be to be recommending her professional services!
Kaia has demonstrated such compassion as she strives to understand what dogs experience and how to help them flourish. She bridges divides between dogs and owners by describing behavior and training techniques in comprehensible and applicable ways, always taking both specie’s needs into account. Kaia is truly made for this work and has shown her dedication through continuous research and education about best practices and effective, humane and innovative dog training and behavior modification.
Meredith Haynes, MS, CPDT-KA, CDBC
Kaia has made my life infinitely better.
She has enriched my mind, my nose, and brought me better tasting treats than I ever knew existed. I never knew my nose could be used to track treats. I even used to be known as having a "weak" sense of smell. Kaia changed all that. She taught me scent-based games that have GREATLY enriched my life as a blind dog. Now I'm excited to wake up every morning and get to work, using my nose and brain together to find a feast. Thank you, Kaia!
-Ponyo Georges, Portland, OR/Los Angeles CA, Pom-Chi mix
Working with Kaia has been a dream, a real sanity life saver.
”Kaia was amazing at helping me organize all of the overwhelming information I already had at hand about dog training and adding to it in ways that made my work with my dogs easier and more effective. She also really helped me in shaping a wonderful relationship between my four year old beagle mix and my newer shepherd mix puppy.
It is clear in talking with Kaia how much she cares and loves dogs, full stop. And that love and care fully informs her interest in the growth of puppies into excellent adult dogs. It was invaluable to have someone to talk to about any concerns I was having and to give those concerns a concise, focused approach to make life better and whole me and my brood. Kaia has made the process of having a two dog household and bringing up a very smart puppy so much less stressful and so enjoyable."
-Jen Corace, Providence RI, with pups Gladys and Frank
Working with Kaia at Dogspeed has been so wonderful for me and my new puppy, Cleo.
“Kaia holds a strong knowledge based Insight of positive reinforcement training and has taught me many ways to train with Cleo to gain trust and build a strong communicative bond. She has created and sent me videos of how to train specific topics that we discussed in our training sessions, offered me suggestions on the gear she has found most useful, is available for questions between our sessions, and sends very thoughtful and thorough recaps of our weekly phone (or video) meetings. She has also shared articles, podcasts, and videos from other trainers to give me the full understanding and scope of what we are working on. Kaia has given me support needed to do my best with this sweet new puppy creature. Thank you, Dogspeed! We appreciate you.”