About Us

Our Philosophy, Methods, Programs, Trainers and Training Locations

OUR PHILOSOPHY: By creating a nurturing and mutually reinforcing relationship between you and your canine, both you and your dog will be healthier and happier!

MY BEST FRIEND OBEDIENCE was founded over 25 years ago by Karen Taylor. Karen, Katie, Michelle and Kelly are CPDT-KA, a credential that is evidence of their demonstrated skills in humane, science-based dog training methods through independent testing. Katie is also CDBC thru IAABC. You should want nothing less for you and your dog. Kalei attended Karen Pryor Academy and Michele has achieved many AKC titles with her dogs, Betsy is a credentialed NACSW instructor, Michelle Veenstra is a fit dog instructor!

We work with all breeds, sizes, and ages of dogs and puppies. We utilize the most effective and scientifically based techniques in dog training and behavior modification in order to help you and your dog. While we work with ALL puppies and dogs, and help you with basic obedience, we have been known as the “DIFFICULT DOG SPECIALISTS” since before anyone wanted to do it. We have been training since the internet was “born” and before many dog trainers were born too! BUT, we didn’t stop with our learning back then, quite the opposite, we are continually reeducating and becoming better for YOUR BENEFIT!

OUR METHODS: Our positive reinforcement and clicker/marker based training techniques use praise, food, play, and other motivational tools, and cover a wide variety of kind and humane methods for working with your dog. Our focus is training YOU, so that you can successfully work with, and train, your dog. We don’t recommend corrective collars like choke chains, pinch/prong collars or shock/e-collars - we recommend helpful, pain free equipment to help get you through the training process, that doesn’t hurt your dog mentally or physically. **** SEE BELOW***

OUR PROGRAM:  Our foundation GROUP classes consist of Puppy, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. Puppy issues such as social skills, barking, potty training, nipping, jumping, and chewing are all covered, as are the obedience training basics of sit, down, stay, come, heel, and leave-it - just to name a few!  We gear up to prepare for AKC Star puppy, CGC, and CGC-A

It doesn’t stop there. We offer Specialty classes. These include: FOCUS - for dogs who are easily distracted. GROWLY - for reactive dogs. RECALL - teaching dogs to come when called. Urban dog/Lifeskills classes geared toward basic skills that dogs and people need for Therapy, Emotional support and Service dog work, or general “doggy on the town” manners! We have AKC compatible training like Fun Agility (prep for agility training), Rally obedience (prep for AKC Rally titles), TRICKS (prep for AKC Tricks titles), and Rally FrEe (Rally obedience with elements of Freestyle, think “dancing with dogs”)!

Private BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION - for dogs with issues such as fear, aggression, house soiling, guarding, separation anxiety and other problem behaviors.

Take a look at our group classes and private training options to see which is right for you and your dog. We will help you have the dog you want and the dog you deserve.

We rent space at the following locations: Tarzana Park in Tarzana, Pawparazzi Daycare in Chatsworth (including on-board training), Seabridge or Westport at Mandalay Bay Park in Oxnard, Or Ventura Pet Barn in Ventura.

Note: PAWParazzi has daycare for young pups as well as dogs who may not be integrate-able into daycare but are crate trained, friendly with humans and that it includes enrichment activities. This is where we do Board and Train sessions.

Make sure you ask for US by name:

MY BEST FRIEND OBEDIENCE

If you have questions, please call (818) 996-3647

Karen Taylor, CPDT-KA

Our owner and primary behavior counselor is Karen Reardon Taylor, CPDT-KA (formerly Sumner). Karen has been a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) thru CCPDT since 2003 and a AKC CGC Evaluator since 1998.
Read more about Karen here.

Michelle Veenstra, ABCDT, CPDT-KA

Retired from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) after over 33 years of service, Michelle Veenstra has been training dogs for almost 30 years. She wanted to continue her love for teaching, so she combined it with her love for dogs and became a certified dog trainer through the Animal Behavior College (ABC). She is also one of our AKC Approved Evaluators.
Read more about Michelle here! 

Michele Goyette

Michele has had Australian Shepards for the last 20 years and competed in agility, rally, and freestyle dancing. Additionally, several of her dogs are currently working as therapy dogs at assisted living facilities and children reading programs.
Read more about Michele here!

Kalei Mayer

Kalei’s love of animals spans back for as long as she can remember. She was very fortunate to have had early exposure to the world of positive training and modern behavioral science via world-renowned trainer (and essentially, stepmother), Shawna Karrasch. 
Read more about Kalei here!

Betsy Carey, PNWI

Betsy’s Nose Work journey began in 2011 when she adopted Rhys, a Pembroke Corgi.  By pure luck, she signed up for a class conducted by Chris and Laura Busch, a class she still attends. Betsy has been privileged to work with three dogs to date:  Rhys, Pooka (terrier mix) and Binne (black and grey mix).   Betsy enjoys working different instructors; she believes that training is a life-long journey ...
Read more about Betsy here! 

Karen Wessinger

Karen grew up in Orange County, and always loved animals. Family friends, Shetland Sheepdog breeders, would take her and her Afghan Hound to handling class and practice matches. Later she got a horse and trained him with a “progressive” trainer who used kinder methods, not popular at the time.

Once on her own, she had pet parrots, (Conures) who were potty trained and did fun tricks for everyone! Finally, with a rental that permitted it, she moved to the San Fernando Valley, and got a dog!
Read more about Karen here!

Katie McGuire

Katie McGuire has been training dogs professionally for over 15 years, but her training career and education began long before that. 

Her childhood consisted of as many animal activities as she could find!  She spent her youth caring for and training horses, competing in gymkhana events and jumping competitions, volunteering for a local animal rescue, housing and training multiple foster dogs, and helping them find new forever homes. She also spent time training her own dogs in multiple activities like tricks, agility, obedience, sheep herding, etc.

Read more about Katie

Kelly Gordon

Kelly has always had a love for dogs ever since she was a little girl. Jesse, American Cocker Spaniel, was Kelly’s very first dog when she was a baby and was so playful with both her and her brother. When Kelly moved to the United States her parents wouldn’t fly Jesse and thought it best to leave her with her uncle. Although she was heartbroken, Kelly’s family soon fell in love with the Australian Shepherd and obtained two within a few years of one another. Matisse and Lucy were wonderfully smart dogs and always wanted to please everyone, Lucy even figured out how to open the front door for Kelly when she came home from school. Kelly was much too young to know anything about dog training and her mom did most of the work, but she still knew her dogs were smart and wanted to learn more about it. She began a job with Eclectus parrots and green-wing macaws, training them to speak in order to use them in therapy for autistic children before her first job working with dogs.

When Kelly was 22, her two Aussies were seniors and passed away within a month of one another due to cancer and old age. Kelly had just begun working at PetSmart, assisting customers with pet care questions and handling dogs in the hotel. She vowed that she would do right by her next dog and enroll in positive training classes. About a month after their loss, Kelly’s family obtained a new Aussie, Cody, who became her partner in crime (and training!). As soon as he was allowed to venture into the world, he was taking clicker training classes at PetSmart with Katie McGuire and he and Kelly absolutely fell in love with it. They took everything from basic obedience to advanced obedience and as many tricks classes as they could. Kelly knew then and there that she wanted to train dogs and help people build that strong, trusting bond between them and their best friend.

Kelly has been clicker training for about six years and has gotten very much involved in the competition obedience world. She took agility classes with Cody and taugh him new things all the time. Kelly owns a dog sitting and walking business (The Clicker Sitter) which she has more than ten years of experience with dogs, cats, birds and amphibians. She is a member of APDT and  CCPDT-KA (Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers - Knowledge assessed) and looks forward to continued learning and application of modern dog training with her best friend Rooney.

SHAYLIN AMBROSE

AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator 

Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed 2021 ​

Fear Free Certified Professional – Trainer 2022​

Shaylin has been training dogs since 2013 but has always been a lover of animals.  Growing up, her family had rats, hamsters, a corn snake, a turtle, cats, & dogs including Dalmatians and German Shepherds.  She spent every summer as a child at Moorpark College’s Exotic Animal Training & Management program’s summer camp.  In high school, when she was too old to attend the summer camp as a camper, she became the program’s first Junior Counselor.  As an adult, her first job was working at PetSmart in Thousand Oaks as a Pet Care associate, tasked with caring for all the animals in the store while she attended CSUCI.  She had a strong interest in psychology & took many courses, including ones focused on learning theory.  This educational background was a big help when she went through PetSmart’s Dog Trainer Accreditation program & started her career as a dog trainer.  In 2020, she made the switch to working at Petco in Camarillo & in less than one year became the Training Mentor for the district, in charge of overseeing other trainers & teaching new trainers for the company.  In 2022, she decided to quit working in big box stores and was offered a position as Head Dog Trainer at the Zoom Room in Thousand Oaks.  There, she had freedom to take on more challenging behavior cases & to create her own curricula for the group classes including Obedience, Reactive Dog, Tricks, and Leash Walking.  In 2024, Shaylin started her own business, Clever Tails, offering both training and pet sitting in Thousand Oaks. ​

Shaylin strongly believes that understanding the science behind behavior is critical in effective training and takes a holistic approach, constantly assessing the dog's physical, mental, & emotional needs.  Her goal with every client is to help make training not only informative & effective, but also fun for both the dog and human with as little stress or frustration as possible for everyone involved. ​

Always striving to be aware of the most progressive science-based methods, she continues her education by attending seminars and workshops and keeping current on industry research.  Some of her continuing education includes Geek Week 2021 by Pet Professional Guild, Aggression in Dogs Conference in 2021, and the Aggression in Dogs Master Course in 2023.  Currently, Shaylin is completing the certification course to be a certified pet sitter by the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters. ​

When not helping build bonds between dogs and their humans, Shaylin spends time with her own fur and scaly babies: 2 cats, a leopard gecko, a box turtle, a puggle, and a cattle dog mix. 

So, you want to be a dog trainer?

Step one, TAKE OUR CLASSES TO LEARN THE CURRICULUM and show off your dog handling skills to our trainer!

Step two, books, videos and everything you can absorb about dogs and training people and dogs!

Step three, do ride alongs and observe classes without your dog.

We offer internships for dog trainers with some experience and no experience.  We work with ABC and help give their students our intern experience too. Expect the process to take YEARS (sorry)! Dog training may seem easy when you train your own dog, but sometimes that's because you got a good dog to begin with, and you have a knack for it!  Now imagine training another human to know what you know and help a dog that chews its way out the front door due to separation issues from his owner!  There is a lot to learn.

We have developed an excellent curriculum that will teach you every aspect of running a dog training business, from keeping the books and keeping the kennel, to training the owners and training the dogs!  You must have a flexible schedule.  We do most of our dog training evenings and weekends, the office and in-kennel training typically takes place during the day, during the week, when we aren't busy with clients.  Call (818) 996-3647 (DOGS), talk to Karen Taylor, CPDT-KA and enroll today!

Learn to teach Groups and administer AKC CGC testing by assisting and taking notes. 

• Train a dog through our program(s)!

• Intern (work with a trainer and learn hands-on-unpaid)

• Assistant (if you come to us with enough skills or have finished interning, but need to learn more before you are a "trainer")

• Co-teach with a qualified instructor (you come to us as a full trainer or are finished interning and assisting, but need to learn our curriculum)

• Teach groups on your own. Then you begin to train new interns.

• Ride along and intern with one of our trainers and help on private sessions.

We will recommend books to read, videos/dvds to watch, and seminars to attend along the way. For a jumpstart download the ccpdt.org study booklet!

To find out more about ABCDT http://www.animalbehaviorcollege.com/dogtrainingcertification/

To find out more about the independent certification required for CCPDT trainers https://www.ccpdt.org/certification/dog-trainer-certification/