Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaitlin Evaston.
Hi Kaitlin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have been working with animals for as long as I can remember. I started my animal career at a shelter in Lancaster, PA as a dog walker back when I was 21! I was later hired there to work as an adoption counselor. I worked there for a year and a half before I was offered a position as a Outpatient Nurse at a veterinary hospital in Neffsville, PA. I worked there for 2 years and fell in love with the field, but my parents had just moved down to Myrtle Beach, SC in the fall of 2016. I was living with my boyfriend (now my husband, don’t worry it all works out!) and decided that I needed to be closer to my parents. I ended up moving down to Myrtle Beach in December of 2016 and my husband followed me about 6 months later. I started working at an emergency vet hospital down here at first and got some really great training, but the hours were rough and I made a change to a veterinary hospital that was open during the day. I soon found that this was also not the right fit for me and I ended up working at Carolina Forest Veterinary Hospital. I worked there for 4 years and loved the hospital, the staff, the management, and the doctors. Unfortunately, the veterinary field can be very trying for many different reasons and I decided that I was going to go back to school to become a dog trainer. It was something I had always wanted to do since I had my first dog on my own named Jake. Jake was a firey Jack Russell Terrier who loved the beach, playing ball, and was extremely aggressive when people tried to pet him. He bit me numerous times, but I didn’t want to give up on him. I hired a dog trainer in PA who used some very upsetting methods to try and get my dog to listen. I watched my 14lb dog be terrified because of what this man did. I vowed that instead of moving forward with this trainer, I would figure it out on my own. I began my journey of researching all different methods of training and found Positive Reinforcement. Using the methods of Positive Reinforcement, I trained Jake. And every day he got better and better. He passed away in 2020 from cancer at only 7 years old, but I’m so grateful he lead me to my career now. So in 2022 I was working full-time at the vet hospital and going to school to be a dog trainer in my “off” hours. I graduated from my program in 10 months with distinguished honors and my CCDT (CATCH Certified Dog Trainer). I started my business in 2023 and began by working full-time at both my business AND the vet clinic. Unfortunately, it became too overwhelming and eventually in March of 2024 I went full-time into my business and left the veterinary field permanently. I haven’t looked back since!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Nothing is ever as smooth as it seems. Although I never struggled with the aspects of dog training, I did struggle with how to get started, gain clients, and keep myself relevant as a trainer. I struggled with money and uncertainty because it was a risk to leave a full-time position with guaranteed pay to running my own business not knowing whether or not I would be successful.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Kay’s K9s, LLC?
Kay’s K9s, LLC is a dog training business. I am the owner and trainer in the business and my co-workers are just my two dogs Finn (a 4 year old Pitbull/Lab mix) and Fionna (a 3 year old Jack Russell/Whippet mix) and they get paid in peanut butter treats, bully stick bones, and pets. As a dog trainer, I use only Positive Reinforcement as a training method meaning I do not use any pain or punishment for any of my training. Positive reinforcement focuses on recognizing and rewarding the good things your dogs does and ignoring and redirecting the behaviors you don’t want to see your dog doing. I do training for puppies, basic manners, and behavior modification. I took an extensive course in working with aggressive dogs by a world-renowned dog trainer named Michael Shikashio and now specialize in working with aggression and reactivity, two behavioral issues that plague many dogs in the country. My personal dogs are trained to work with dogs who need help with reactivity or socialization in a safe and secure manner so they have been a great help in this line of work. I’m really proud that I’ve been able to get more confident with these cases as there are not many trainers in the area who work aggression or reactivity cases using positive reinforcement only. I offer a variety of programs and pricing options and I even offer some pet sitting with dog training as well! I like to make myself available to my clients and help them with whatever they may be needing for their dogs. My programs are individualized to each person/pet so that they are achieving all of the goals they have for their furry family member!
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Well when it comes to risk taking, I would say the older I get the less risks I am willing to take. I did take a huge risk when I left my full-time job in a different field to start my own business specializing in something that I had been studying for and I had to know everything. When I started my business the scariest thing was…if I don’t know what to do then who do I go to? There’s no one else, it’s just me!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kaysk9sdogtraining.com
- Instagram: kaysk9smb
- TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@kaysk9smb
