Jonathan Philip Klein

Jonathan Philip Klein (1956-2016)[1] was an American expert in dog training and behavior consultant based in Los Angeles.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Klein trained dogs for several decades.[9] He began I Said Sit in 1988 as an in-home pet training service and later offered day-care and boarding for dogs; he expanded his service by networking to vets, groomers, pet stores and breeders.[9] In 2016, his 5,000 square foot facility offered training, day-care for dogs, and both long and short term boarding.[9] Klein trained more than 8,000 dogs during a period of 28 years.[10][11] His I Said Sit service won numerous awards.[2][12]

Klein advocated reward-based training.[11] He did not believe in punishing the animals, but rather teaching wanted behaviors and rewarding them when they happened.[13] Training should be based on "trust and cooperation" rather than fear or dominance or intimidation, according to Klein.[14] He advocated that dogs and their owners should have a healthy "foundation of interaction" comparable to a supportive parent-child relationship.[15] Dogs with separation anxiety or problems living alone can be helped by day-care, according to Klein.[16] He advocated clicker training and hand signals as teaching methods.[11] He liked to find out what things a dog wanted most, and then used that as a reward to encourage positive behavior; for example, in one instance, he found that a difficult Pomeranian valued her dog bed, and Klein used that as a reward.[17] When a family has a new baby, he advocated a calm period of adjustment to get a dog and the baby used to each other, and continuing to give the pet the same attention as before.[18]

Klein opposed surgical methods to remove or soften a dog's bark, sometimes known as debarking or devocalization.[10] He saw debarking as a "quick fix" but which prevents a dog from communicating with humans or other animals, which can cause other long term problems.[10]

Klein attended Phillips Academy in Andover from 1971-1973, graduated from Palisades Charter High School in 1974, and earned a BA from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1980. He was certified by the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors, Inc, was a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. He wrote a blog entitled thedogbehaviorexpert.com and served as a legal advisor and expert witness in dog behavior cases.