the best dog trainer in phoenix

ABOUT ACTIVE K9 TRAINING SOLUTIONS

Highly Experienced Team: Our trainers bring years of expertise in behavior correction, obedience training, and advanced skills.

Heartfelt Care: We treat every dog like family, offering patience, understanding, and love throughout the training journey.

Dedicated Commitment: We know every dog is unique, which is why we create customized training plans tailored to your dog’s needs for lasting results.

Certifications

CPDT-KA · K9 CPR

Experience

15+ years

Based in

Phoenix, Arizona

Philosophy

Balanced, positive-first

THE ACTIVE K9 STORY

Meet Missy Dallas

Meet Missy Dallas, CPDT-KA, a professional dog trainer in Phoenix with more than 15 years of experience in obedience training, behavior modification and puppy training.

I’m Missy Dallas, founder of Active K9. As a CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer—Knowledge Assessed) and K9 CPR–certified trainer, my focus is helping Phoenix dog owners build clear communication and real, lasting reliability.My passion for behavior, learning theory, and understanding the “why” behind canine actions began long before I entered the professional world. In 2003, I became the canine mom of two special-needs shepherds whose opposite personalities pushed me to dive deep into training and behavior. Feisty, my male, bit out of fear, was dog-aggressive, and very codependent. Kiah, my female, was bossy, territorial, and loved to learn. I jokingly called Feisty my street-smart dog and Kiah my book-smart dog. Their contrasting needs required me to develop individualized care and training approaches—an experience that shaped my entire career.What started as a desperate need to help my own dogs became a lifelong passion—and eventually, Active K9. Today, everything we do is built around giving dogs better lives and helping their people actually enjoy them.My work focuses on teaching how to provide the proper blend of mental, physical, and emotional stimulation that every dog needs to thrive.

PROGRAMS

Dog Training Services in Active K9

From basic manners to advanced behavior work — Active K9 help dogs learn, grow, and succeed.

View all programs →

Board & Train

Immersive live-in programs

Your dog stays with us for a structured multi-week program covering obedience, manners, and real-world reliability — then we transfer everything back to you.

Board & Train in Phoenix →

Advanced Obedience

Off-leash reliability

For dogs with a solid foundation who are ready for distance, duration, and distraction-proof commands in busy environments.

Advanced Obedience Training →

Behavior Modification

Reactivity, fear, aggression

Compassionate, systematic programs for dogs struggling with reactivity, anxiety, resource guarding, or aggression — always working with the family.

Reactive & Aggressive Dog Training →

Puppy Training

The right start

Socialization, crate training, house manners, and the foundation skills that shape a confident, well-mannered adult dog.

Puppy Training in Phoenix →

Private Training

Dedicated solo focus

Personalized sessions built around your dog, your household, and the specific goals you want to reach.

Private Dog Training Phoenix →

NOT SURE?

Consultation

We'll recommend the right fit

Tell us about your dog and your goals, and we’ll help you choose the program that works the best.

Get in touch →

Happy clients

What Phoenix Dog Owners Say

    
 
 
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   Allison Yacovella 
 
 
 
  We reached out to Missy for help with our reactive/stranger danger dog, Bam.
Her dedication,  expertise and professionalism has turned Bam from a dog that we couldn't take on a walk, into a happy, well behaved, enjoyable family pet.
I would recommend Missy to anyone needing assistance training their dog.
  
 
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   Emalee Hoefner 
 
 
 
  I’ve had an amazing experience with Active K9. Missy has helped me build my fear reactive dog’s confidence along with teaching me how to communicate with my dog. She is very knowledgeable and a wonderful teacher.
  
 
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   Ashley Rice 
 
 
 
  I’m not sure what we would have done without Missy. We adopted a tripod puppy, not realizing that her traumatic former life made her quickly  very protective of her new family. I was desperate to learn how to work with her, but all the trainers in the area were months out for help. Missy answered the call and accepted the challenge the same day! Three years later, Missy has been our go-to for new dog introductions and brush up training sessions. I highly recommend Missy’s training and the no nonsense approach to holding the owner just as accountable. Thank you Missy! ❤️ 🐶 Cookie, Zeus and the Rice Family
  
 
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   travis 
 
 
 
  Missy has shown a lot of patience with our more than energetic German Shepherd Autumn. She has taught us a lot about our approach to training and gave us guidance on questions both big and small, and was available to answer. We feel confident in continued training thanks to Missy‘s explanations. We had our Autumn go through the boarded training and believe our Autumn learned what the curriculum stated it would provide. Missy has gone beyond what we would have expected for our doggy and truly believe our pup would be a mess without Missy’s training.
  
 
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   Angela Boyce 
 
 
 
  We have two dogs, an English bulldog and a red nose.  They are great dogs, but the red nose likes to jump on people to greet them and the bulldog was very stubborn and didn’t realize he was 80 lbs.  in no time at all, Missy had them behaving wonderfully and listening to our commands.  Finally, we can walk them and have them in public without having to worry that their over friendly nature would end up hurting someone on accident.  Missy took the time to train the dog, and us on how to get the best behavior from them.  We could not be happier with the results.  Thanks Missy!!!
Best money ever spent!
  
 
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   Ryan Gamlin 
 
 
 
  I truly don’t know where I would be without Missy’s training with my young golden Lyla! I gave her a super high energy, excitable and rambunctious golden retriever puppy for a months worth of obedience board and train and got back a well behaved, attentive and still high energy pup. That’s what I really appreciated about her training program!! She trains her dogs to be attentive and obedient without them losing their luster and spirit. I’ve recommended her to a few of my friends and will continue to do so. Really grateful to have come across Missy and her talents! I’m confident she actually loves her pups more than humans 😂 which is great in my opinion!!
  
 
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   Chris Cenci 
 
 
 
  My dog's name is pup pup. This is a list of what puppup knows to be gospel...

- Down and hold
- Sit and hold
- loose leash walks
- Off leash walks - due to recalls
- Recalls - 'here' and 'target'.
I can be a football field away from my dog, verbally present the recall command and he will be at my side in however long it takes him to sprint the distance between us. This includes a time when another dog and it's owner were engaging with him in a chaotic manner. I saw what was happening, yelled out the command ... and mid showdown he turned and came directly to me.
- Crate trained
- Food trained (no jumping for scraps or coming to get food without the 'yes' as a thumbs up to do so).

ZERO of those things would have been part of puppups world without Missy having boarded and trained him prior to me picking him up. He was a rescue and Missy set him up to be happy and enjoy his life because the structure is what gives our animals the most rewarding experience they can have. Not to mention it helps with providing safety for them and everyone around ... If somehow off leash and near a road (cars) or any other type of possible trouble (other off leash dogs that are untrained and possibly aggressive etc) the recalls and the trust built through training can prevent accidents.

Missy is tough but in a good way. She wants the parents to know what they are doing and what they need to continue doing in order to maintain the structure moving forward.

I have no problem recommending her as a trainer. If you're thinking of boarding or day training etc ... She's the girl.
  
 
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   Bernie Evans 
 
 
 
  I was eager and determined to write a review about Missy, owner of Active K9, and pleased that many other stellar reviews praise her without exaggeration. She truly is a rock star in her field.
She worked for 2 months with our 5 Y.O. rescue who is dog aggressive and we've seen more progress than we expected. Missy is a gifted communicator with dogs (and owners,) who taught us how to be good dog parents, and it made a remarkable difference in our dog's behavior.
Missy was prompt, attentive, enthusiastic and intuitive and delivered exactly what our dog needed at each session. She made herself available for all the time we requested and always considered our input during individual sessions, If I have have one complaint, it's that our dog likes Missy way too much! I will sing her praises to all and everyone who needs help with a furry friend.
  
 
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   1stacyyates 
 
 
 
  Fantastic experience with Missy. Very low stress for both dogs and owners. She trained us as well as our dogs so training could continue indefinitely. Highly recommend!
  
 
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   Grace Somers 
 
 
 
  We found Missy through a friend who also had a fantastic experience with the program. I thought I knew enough to get by with training a dog and have been successful with training dogs in the past, but after adopting an energetic Dalmatian with a very strong prey drive I was feeling super overwhelmed and defeated.

After a 3 week board and train program, our pup was not only 10000% more well behaved but we were also given the tools to continue the process at home.

Thank you Active K9 Training Solutions!!!