About Us

Creating the Best Life with Your Dog

Right off the bat, you should know…we are not your average dog trainer. We are dog lovers and dog owners, just like you, who want to experience the best life possible with these FABULOUS furry family members. Harmony in your home, safety, and happiness for you and your dog are our primary goals. How do we make that happen? By going beyond just “sit” and “stay,” to understanding your dog’s emotional state of mind (where all good behavior starts) and teaching you how to support them in making preferred behavioral choices all on their own.

Just like food and water, training is an essential element to your dog’s quality of life, not to mention the peace and enjoyment you experience in your house!

We can’t wait to meet you and let you decide if we are the right trainer for you and your dog! And if we aren’t the right match, we are happy to refer you to one of the few trainers who we would trust with our own dogs.

Signature Learning Curve

Your pathway to becoming the Happiest Dog Owner

Full House Dog Training is committed to serving as the premier dog trainer in the Southwest Salt Lake Valley, including communities in Riverton, Herriman, Bluffdale, South Jordan, Draper, Sandy and Lehi.

We are the Game Changer

Why is obedience the focus of interacting with our dogs? Owners feel successful when their dogs can sit and stay upon command, but does that mean the dog is well-behaved?  We suggest the answer is no! The Full House Dog Training approach focuses on the deeper, emotional elements that express a calm mental state and stable emotional wellness in a dog.  At this level of mental relaxation, successfully developing desired behaviors in your dog comes more easily and high failure rates melt away.

Full House Dog Training wants to help you create a healthy emotional connection, the HAPPY experience of a loving, calm, loyal AND obedient doggie-companion. As you understand the true psychology behind developing good behavior and engage with our fun and rewarding training exercises, you will love watching your dog progress. Our Signature Learning Curve provides a simple, step-by-step process turns “no, no, no!” into teaching you to say “YES” to your dog!

If you’ve ever felt like “something is missing” or “training just isn’t working,” you’re not alone. There IS a missing link in traditional dog training that focuses solely on obedience. 

Most trainers deploy their best obedience training to correct, control and ultimately teach you how to intimidate your dog to listen to your commands. BUT, there are major flaws in this approach in that it doesn’t address the true science behind WHY your dog is acting out—the lack of EMOTIONAL BALANCE. The real solution is teaching your dog mental relaxation and accountability for their choices, so they can more appropriately respond to stimulation in their environment.

It’s unanimous. Puppies are SUPER cute! They also have lots of energy, almost non-existent self-control, they need a nap…or three, have short attention spans, and provide a clean canvas for quality training.

Our expert puppy training focuses on teaching your new cuddle partner to remain calm as life swirls around them. Full House Dog Training creates life skills at this young, impressionable age that begin developing long-term positive habits to ensure the love you have for that sweet little fur-ball remains and grows stronger every year.

Want help finding your perfect puppy? Learn more about our Pick of the Litter program.

“I have a really great dog, but… ” Adult dogs often have established bad behaviors and habits that you may want them to unlearn, as much as learn. Full House’s dog training program takes away the worry of bad behaviors, we will work together to guide your dog to higher levels of mental composure, while brushing up on positive processes and patterns that address a variety of training issues and happily reconnect you and your four-legged old friend.

Meet Your Full House Crew

THE FACES THAT WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE FOR YOU

Tracie

Owner and Head Trainer

Tracie is the owner and head trainer at Full House Dog Training, but this journey is a family affair. The Kay family considers their canine companions additional members of their family. Thus, the name Full House, perfectly fits a family of of five active humans and multiple dogs all living all living under one roof! Tracie has had a life-long drive to connect. Building fulfilling relationships with people and animals makes her whole! It is an innate characteristic that is ingrained in her passion for life. From personal fitness training, global humanitarian work and developing her family, Tracie is dedicated to helping others sort through life’s challenges and find joy in their own life. Tracie’s motivation for teaching others how to enjoy life with their dog stems from the pure joy she has experienced learning and training her own dogs for decades. As an active woman focused on balancing personal goals for herself and her family, she has first-hand knowledge of making training successful in any lifestyle. Tracie has a genuine interest in helping others create a meaningful relationship with their dog.

Kody

Lead Trainer

Mountain biking, longboarding, video games, reading, and anime are among the favorite activities for this Full House Lead Trainer Kody’s favorite part of his job is meeting all the new dogs with their various personalities and traits, and seeing all the returning dogs because it’s like seeing and spending time with old friends. Kody is a Riverton resident whose future goals include establishing a stable life, making six figures, enjoying good health, happiness and no stress. He’s an all-around animal lover with current pets that include a ball python named Paul, Nubbins the cat, and huskies named Karma and Luna.

Shannon

Lead Trainer

Shannon grew up in California and now resides in West Jordan. Her future goal is to be “the funnest grandma that ever lived!” So you know, she’s happy and awesome! Her love for and experience with animals originated from growing up on a farm. She is especially drawn to dogs and has trained her own four-legged family members, that include a labradoodle, Cali, and a mini-schnauzer, Ivy. Shannon enjoys paddleboarding, pickleball, reading, hiking and spending time with her family. Her favorite breed is a retriever and her favorite part of working at Full House Dog Training is… you can probably guess it… the dogs!

Karly

Junior Trainer

When your dogs are named after super heroes and icons, you know you’re a dog lover! Karly is the proud mama of two dogs, Captain America and James Bond, in addition to her bird, Puff. She has a quality background in training medical service dogs and is excited to blend that experience with her work at Full House Dog Training. Karly is a Utah native, coming from West Jordan and now Salem. She is focused on supporting her child through school, and expanding her skills and knowledge in the dog training world. She also has goals of incorporating competitive sports training into her repertoire of training skills. Karly loves the family feeling that comes through working with the Full House family and shares how the experience really does feel like family. She appreciates the way every member is dedicated to physical, emotional, and mental well-being of dogs AND their owners.

Jessica

Office Manager

Jessica, AKA The Organizer, serves as Office Manager for our pet-loving pack and counted-on point-of-contact for all new, and existing Full House family members. Originally from West Jordan, Utah, Jessica operates remotely from beautiful Richmond, Virginia, where her husband is currently attending dental school. She is a CNA who enjoys playing volleyball, camping, fishing, hiking and spending time with her family. As she brilliantly balances her work with Full House Dog Training, she also keeps up with her young daughter. Jessica loves dogs and grew up with a husky named Nikido and a chocolate lab named Cocoa. She and her husband look forward to growing their household with a new furry family member once dental school is complete. She says that her former work at the University of Utah hospital has helped prepare her to share the same help, care, and compassion she provided to her patients with the dog owners as supports their goal of developing a beloved family member.

Lauren

Marketing

Lauren is a lifelong resident of Utah, bouncing from West Jordan to Price to Logan, and now resides with her husband and daughter in Smithfield. She loves playing and watching sports, especially soccer. She enjoys working out, staying active, and eating healthy so she can keep up with the many goals she wants to achieve. Lauren had a dog and a cat growing up, but currently focuses on wrangling her toddler, Piper. Flexibility is what she loves most about her social media marketing role with Full House, as well as creating opportunities for our clients to find joy connecting with their dog.

Connections & Credentials

Training Between The Ears™ Training System

Training Between The Ears system focuses on removing conflict in training to improve the internal mental state and perspectives of the dogs we train, instead of just changing the external behavior owners find frustrating. Training Between The Ear’s goal is to help a dog choose good behavior through emotional and physical wellness, rather than simply not choosing bad behavior or following commands of their owners.

PawTree petPro

Pet nutrition is the core of every well-behaved dog. We recognize the whole dog in our approach to creating enjoyment with your best furry friend. Quality ingredients DO matter in helping your dog reach his full potential in your world. PawTree products will build a solid foundation of wellness for your dog and we are thrilled to make this step simple and convenient for you to help your dog thrive in life.

International Association of Canine Professionals

International Association of Canine Professionals, Membership A7341 – The IACP is a community of dog training professionals who mentor and guide other members to reach their full potential. Membership requires compliance with a Code of Conduct specific to industry professionalism and humane treatment of animals in our care.

BEST of SLC™

Full House is honored to be a three-time nominee and 2019 winner for Best Pet Trainer. In the Salt Lake valley, there are numerous dog trainers and we are grateful to each of our clients who nominate and vote for us in this annual contest.