Justin Kitts has always loved dogs. So it’s no surprise that Justin-the-kid, who was always fascinated with animals—from iguanas, to birds, to the ocean-dwelling creatures he studied at the Mystic Aquarium as a high-school student volunteer—would grow up to make that passion his life’s work.
With 15 years of professional dog-handling under his belt, Justin has trained more than 1,000 dogs across the country. His experience runs the gamut of dog breeds, canine personalities, and behavioral problems. There’s no dog too big or too small, too young or too senior. Justin has trained working police dogs and hunting dogs (like German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois), to a range of puppies and older house dogs (like a 5-pound Chihuahua and a 150-pound Mastiff giant).
Justin’s professional work with dogs and his military service has, on occasion, put him in the national spotlight. You might’ve seen him on a recent episode of A&E’s hit show “Wahlburgers,” or read about his combat deployment with K-9 partner Dyngo in Smithsonian magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times best-selling book War Dogs.
It was right after high-school graduation that Justin made the decision to serve his country and enlist in the Air Force. During his 18-year career in the military, 11 of those years have been devoted to military working dogs to include six K-9 partners and three deployments. After returning from their combat deployment in Afghanistan in 2011, Justin and MWD Dyngo were awarded the Bronze Star. In 2012, he was a lead instructor at a highly specialized and intensive pre-deployment training course at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona where he prepared dog teams from all military branches for their upcoming combat deployments. He’s also served on POTUS protection details for presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. In addition to his military (and police) experience with dual-purpose detection dogs, Justin has also been training dogs privately since 2012 in personal protection and patrol work.
Expertise
Fellow dog handlers and former clients have often observed that Justin’s connection to dogs is unique—that he has an innate ability to communicate with them. He understands dogs and they respond to him with ease. Through his quiet, confident manner and practiced patience, Justin refines his dog-training approach with each and every dog he trains.
In addition to his years of experience as a military dog handler, Justin is a graduate of Animal Behavior College. Through the merging of his professional, military, and private training experience, Justin has honed not only his skilled methods for evaluating individual dogs and their behavioral issues—leash pulling, jumping, barking, and potty issues—but his approach to resolving them.
Justin’s breadth of knowledge and experience includes Puppy Training, Basic Obedience, Advanced Obedience behavior modification, aggression rehabilitation, Detection, and Protection.
Personal Mission Statement/Philosophy:
At Total Dog! Vegas, we operate under the philosophy that there are no “bad” dogs. All dogs have potential if you give them the right chance.
We also believe that dogs are individuals and as such there is no one cookie-cutter method to dog training that fits every single animal.
Whether it’s potty-training overly rambunctious puppies or acclimating an older adopted dog to your home, we will work with you to determine the best approach for your situation and design a specialized training program to fit your dog’s needs.
