About Us

A little about us at A Better Dog Trainer.

John Vinton

John has been training dogs and solving the worst dog behavior problems in the Bay Area for over 20 years. A native of Chappaqua, New York, John grew up with German Shepherd Dogs and came to love them for their intellect and versatility.

John has vast experience with all full and mixed breeds plus rescued dogs and even therapy dogs who ultimately go on to provide assistance for those suffering from PTSD, TBI as well as mental illness.

Previously created and held a therapy dog class focused on training dogs to pass the therapy dog test.

Licensed business owner of A Better Dog Trainer (#04766)

In addition to John's extensive experience as a dog trainer, working with thousands of dog's and their owners, John has also:

Been interviewed for his expertise by:

- NPR's hour long discussion on dog aggression.
- The San Francisco Chronicle.
- Various on-line media.

Worked as the Dog Handler for:

- Sungevity's Video sent to President Obama.
- Milk Bone's Ad campain.
- Product testing at a Fortune 100 Company.

Is a registered Dog Expert with the Expert Institute:

- John has submitted Dog assessments for multiple court cases
- Licensed business owner of A Better Dog Trainer (#04766)

Karen Vinton

After retiring from her demanding corporate Senior Vice President role, Karen is returning to her first love- working with animals. An avid animal lover, she grew up outside of Chicago training and showing horses in 3-Day Eventing and Dressage and working problem horses.

In the early 1990’s Karen turned her attention to training and showing her dogs in obedience, tracking and the highest levels of agility. Karen was Director of Training for The Windy City Agility Club, and often spoke to dog training clubs on “Conditioning the Canine Athlete.” Karen also specialized in training classes for advanced level competition dogs and their handlers.

Karen also trained her first golden retriever, G’Day Dover, to become a certified therapy dog, where his gentle loving demeanor had profoundly positive impacts on handicapped children and senior citizens. Inspired by her therapy dog work, Karen went on to lead specialized training classes for therapy dogs designed to help them excel in all therapy situations.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you don’t find the answers you are looking for, please give us a call. 415-235-5647

Where and when are the lessons held?

We schedule the lessons on your schedule in your home. We believe the optimal training is done one on one working where the dog lives and with what the dog encounters. This individual customized training program focuses on training your dog, but just as important, training you. Many times I work with owners who say the dog will obey my wife or my husband but not me. And many times people see that I can get the dog to do obey commands in minutes after they have struggled for months, even years. But the goal is not that the dog obeys me. The goal is that the dog obeys you. So we need to take you both through the process in real life situations like your neighborhood or anywhere you plan on taking the dog.

How long is the training program?

The training program is 5 months long. Within that time frame you will see a dramatic change in your dog’s obedience and behavior. Many 6 week programs are designed from the optimal business model, so they can start a new program with new clients every 6 weeks. Since we schedule the appointments on your schedule we can easily accommodate this if so desired and do all the lessons in a much shorter time frame. But we know that to achieve the highest level of success, putting a little more time in-between lessons is a good idea. This gives you the flexibility to fit the program into your schedule and also gives you time to work with your dog and make progress, which enables you to take the training to a higher level on follow up lessons.

Does everyone in the family need to be there?

We do not require all family members to participate. While we encourage family members to participate in all the lessons, this is not always possible. We do strongly encourage one person to be at all the lessons for optimal results. But many times one member of the family works with the trainer one on one and then we ensure that other family members get their questions and issues answered as well. This too is another great advantage of scheduling one-on-one lessons- so we can accommodate the entire family’s busy lives.

Call us Today