Welcome To Canine Solutions

Emily has worked with dogs professionally since 2008 in a variety of positions in kennels and veterinary offices. She first became a Certified Professional Dog Trainer in 2011, and in 2022 she became one of less than 700 dog trainers to become a Certified Behavior Consultant Canine. Emily works confidently with all breeds and their owners from all walks of life with all types of behavioral support needs. She is particularly fond of pit bulls and enjoys working to prevent behavioral needs in puppies, as well as helping dogs burn energy through scent detection.

Emily lives with her husband and Office Manager, Christian, and their 3 daughters. They adopted their Husky mix, Deja, in August 2022, who has quickly acquired a host of trained abilities. Emily and Christian have both achieved their black belts in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and run a private jiu-jitsu club called Spring Hill Jiu Jitsu.

Emily also enjoys gardening and has devoted what little time she has left during the week to developing their two-acre lot into a permaculture food forest. She grows a variety of fruit trees, annual and perennial foods as well as maintains a flock of egg layers and three honeybee hives.

Karen has a Master’s degree and is a certified training partner/graduate of the prestigious Karen Pryor Academy. She’s also a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) and an AKC Canine Good Citizen, STAR Puppy, and Trick Dog evaluator. She’s a graduate of Dr. Susan Friedman’s rigorous Living and Learning with Animals (applied behavior analysis) course and is in the process of earning her Fear Free Trainer certification.

Karen has over 10 years of experience as a fear- and force-free trainer/instructor. Having had dogs of her own who exhibit fearful, anxious, reactive, aggressive, and nervous hyperactive/impulsive behavior, she loves helping pet parents of dogs with big feelings. She has taught many classes through the years, along with several workshops. In addition, Karen was named a Sniff Spot 2023 Top Trainer in Missouri.

Karen is the pet parent of Zephyr, a sweet, smart, but highly anxious Golden Retriever. Karen adopted Zephyr in 2022 and is helping him learn that the big wide world is generally safe and full of interesting, enjoyable things.

Since joining Canine Solutions in 2021, Katie is happy to realize her childhood dream of working with animals. Katie began her journey in dog training in 2021 and obtained her Certified Professional Dog Trainer certificate in 2022. She loves the opportunity to continue to study animal behavior, help clients, and practice her training skills with her cats.

Katie grew up in De Soto and Olathe, KS, graduated from Olathe Northwest in 2014, and received her Bachelor of Liberal Arts from the University of Kansas in 2018. She always loved growing up around animals — dogs, cats, bunnies, ducks, fish, guinea pigs — and began looking for a job in animal rescue in 2020. Due to the limited number of jobs in animal rescue at the time, she began researching other animal career options. Katie began working for Canine Solutions and fell in love with helping animals through behavior modification. Katie still has an interest in the rescue sector and helps support their work, most recently in adopting her cats, Tikki and Penelo.

When at home, Katie enjoys spending time playing board games with her husband, building cat furniture, and making new food recipes. She hopes to adopt more animals in the future!

Christian is the voice on the other end of the phone line. If you’ve scheduled a service at the DogSchool, then you’ve most likely talked to Christian. He keeps the DogSchool running by scheduling new and returning clients, returning voicemails, and handling back-of-house operations such as payroll and developing new class offerings.

Christian also is licensed as a Realtor in the state of Kansas. It was his expertise that secured the DogSchool’s current home! Not only can he answer your service-related questions, but he can also help you buy or sell your next home in Johnson County or surrounding areas.

Having essentially two full-time careers doesn’t leave a lot of extra time but nevertheless, Christian still manages to make time for his favorite form of stress relief: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. A BJJ black belt, Christian teaches evening classes at both Spring Hill Jiu Jitsu, in Spring Hill, KS; and at Brazil Academy in Lenexa, KS. He’s always available to answer student questions, coach them through a new technique, or referee in the many tournaments that are held locally throughout the year!