Trainer - Chris Lemons

Chris Lemons

Chris Lemons is the owner, primary trainer, and behavior consultant of PAWSitive Experience Training. He trained his first dog, Missy, at 10 years old and has worked professionally in the animal field for over 20 years. He has trained dolphins, whales, and sea lions for the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program; husbandry behaviors for exotic animals in zoos; dogs to work in film and television in Hollywood, and over 1000 dogs (and a couple of cats) in basic skills and manners to allow them to fit into their forever homes. Chris has a Bachelor’s of Science in Wildlife Biology, a certificate in Applied Animal Behaviors, and is completing his Master’s of Science in Clinical Animal Behavior.

Through PAWSitive Experience Training, Chris teaches you to train your dog. Chris’ philosophy utilizes positive reinforcement training to help your dog become a well-mannered member of your family, in public and at home. A relationship with your dog created through this type of training brings trust, joy, and happiness to you and your dog(s).

Talking about Chris . . .

Excellent ! He is Awesome at training.
Chris is an excellent dog trainer. Stella, my Corgi and I have learned so much in just two sessions. I appreciate Chris’s philosophy and approach to dog training. Instead of disciplining unwanted behaviors, he enables one to learn positive tools to teach desired behaviors and how to reinforce those behaviors in a calm, compassionate manner. We look forward to our next training session!
Chris helped me with a rescue dog who is very fearful of strangers. Weekly work helped to both reduce her anxiety and provide strategies to introduce newcomers with less drama. Each session was structured to address her problem and help me understand the points at which her anxiety is likely to manifest, and the subtle shifts in her expression/position/demeanor that indicate that she was reaching the limits of her comfort zone. Chris was also always on time, prepared, with specific goals for each training session.
Your dog is worth it! Though we didn't have any major problems, Chris helped us developed a strong bond with our new 14 month old Cockapoo by working on numerous commands, and annoying habits that would have escalated, to discussing and answering our million questions. Learning to "Dog Speak" can be a challenge for some of us humans. Thank you Chris for being so patient with us and Shiloh. We feel lucky to have been able to tap into your deep insight and knowledge.
Chris was very helpful and friendly as well as understanding with our dog's behavior issues. He's very knowledgeable and obviously cares deeply about animal well-being. I would recommend him to anyone who needs help with pet behavior and training.
Chris is an absolutely wonderful trainer. He is very knowledgeable, flexible, and always focuses on how to impact the dog's behavior change in a positive fashion. I felt at ease with him from the beginning and he has a multitude of strategies that make sense and are easy to practice between sessions.
I started working with Chris almost four years ago when I adopted a second companion animal, an eight-year old dog. I already had another adopted dog and really had no idea how to help these two get along. Luckily I found Chris and he’s made such a positive difference for us! He trained us on all the basics and has helped us with any obstacles we’ve encountered over the years including barking, lunging and anxiety. He’s trained us so well that now we’ve progressed to the fun stuff - agility! He’s a real professional who goes above and beyond, always coming up with innovative solutions for whatever we need to work through. He’s also great at keeping us on our toes by making sure we’re always learning something new. Working with Chris has been a really rewarding experience!