| Birth Date: | 5 September 1956 |
| Awards: | Best Trainer by City Voter 2009-2014 |
| Citizenship: | United States |
| Education: | Phillips Academy 1971-1973 Palisades grad. 1974 |
| Alma Mater: | U. Cal. Santa Barbara 1980 BA |
| Occupation: | Dog trainer |
| Years Active: | 1988–2016 |
Jonathan Philip Klein (1956-2016)[1] was an American expert in dog training and behavior consultant based in Los Angeles.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Klein trained dogs for several decades.[8] 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. In 2016, his 5,000 square foot facility offered training, day-care for dogs, and both long and short term boarding. Klein trained more than 8,000 dogs during a period of 28 years. His I Said Sit service won numerous awards.[9] [10]
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.[12] Training should be based on "trust and cooperation" rather than fear or dominance or intimidation, according to Klein.[13] He advocated that dogs and their owners should have a healthy "foundation of interaction" comparable to a supportive parent-child relationship.[14] Dogs with separation anxiety or problems living alone can be helped by day-care, according to Klein.[15] He advocated clicker training and hand signals as teaching methods. 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.[16] 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.[17]
Klein opposed surgical methods to remove or soften a dog's bark, sometimes known as debarking or devocalization.[18] 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.
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.