About | K.I.S.S. Dog Training

Meet
Mike Deathe,
CPDT-KA

Kansas City dog owners have more training options than ever.

Private trainers. Part-time trainers. Corporate programs. Franchise programs. Training centers. In-home trainers. Online programs. Social media trainers. Daycare and boarding facilities that offer training.

It is enough to make your head explode.

And honestly, not all of those options are bad. Some may be exactly what a dog owner needs. Every trainer starts somewhere. Every business has a lane. I started there as well.

How do you choose the right dog
trainer for you?

Price, location, availability, training style, and personality all matter.

But I think experience matters way more than people realize. Not because experience automatically makes a dog trainer better. In some cases, it does not. But when experience is paired with learning, honesty, continuing education, real client work, and the willingness to keep adjusting, it can change what a trainer sees, the questions they ask, and how clearly they help you understand what to do next.

That is where K.I.S.S. Dog Training is different.

Same Foundation. Clearer Value.

When I started K.I.S.S. Dog Training in 2010, the message was simple:

Training Owners, Not Dogs.
And it made sense. It still does.

That idea was not new to dog training, but it was an idea I believed in deeply. I made it the tagline and foundation of K.I.S.S. Dog Training because it matched the way I wanted to work with dogs and owners.

Over the years, more trainers have moved toward some version of that same owner-focused message.

Great. Finally!

That means more dogs and owners are being helped by positive, science-based training that understands the human side of the leash.

But as the message became more common, it became clear that K.I.S.S. Dog Training needed to shift the message forward. The philosophy has not changed. The value behind it has become clearer.

Same foundation. More experience. Clearer value.

Dog Training Ain’t Cheap… Experience Counts.

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Experience Changes What You Bring To A Client.

At 55, I probably have more of my life behind me than I have in front of me. That may sound like I am giving up, retiring, or leaving. That is not what this is.

I was lucky enough to become a dog trainer, and I can say without hesitation that I am better at this work now than I was when I started. So no, I am not going anywhere. After all, I still love what I do. Not because my techniques have changed dramatically, but because I have changed. Experience changes how you communicate. It changes how you listen, how you explain, how you read the room, and how you help a client understand what needs to happen next.

That matters, because dog training is not just a set of techniques. It is teaching people how to help their dogs when the trainer is not standing there.

What you are hiring me for?

When you hire K.I.S.S. Dog Training, you are not just hiring someone to walk into your house, show your dog a few behaviors, and leave.

You are hiring someone to help you understand what is happening in your home, why your dog is behaving the way they do, and what needs to change. Then we work on how to practice it when I am not standing there. That is where real training happens.