Today we’d like to introduce you to Kylie Campbell.
Hi Kylie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The catalyst for diving into the pet care field happened 11 years ago when I adopted my business mascot and muse Magrathea, aka Monster Maggie aka Maggie Mayhem, an adolescent mix of several herding and hunting breeds who had been in and out of the animal shelter thrice before even hitting 18 months old. If her nicknames don’t give you a sense of the chaos that immediately entered my life, let me just tell you — life got wild and intense and I did almost everything wrong as a dog parent the first year that I had her.
At the time I adopted Maggie, I was employing old-school “dominance/alpha” training. As a result of that stressful style of training, Maggie became reactive and sometimes aggressive around other dogs and people — or really, anything that moved — and she became distant from me. I thought she was just “sassy and independent”. It wasn’t until I’d encountered and made the switch to force free training that I realized she wasn’t sassy or independent; she was wary and chronically stressed.
Positive reinforcement training transformed Maggie, and really it transformed me as a human, too. As she gained trust in me and began to enjoy training, Mag turned into a happy, confident cuddle bug that now pulls me to meet dogs and people. No longer aggressive or having panic attacks, she now works by my side to help other dogs experience the same transformation. As for me, this lifestyle and the lessons I’ve learned from hundreds of animals over the years have helped me tremendously with my own anxieties and emotional reactivity.
Learning how to understand and communicate with Maggie on a deeper level was truly a profound, life-changing experience for me and I knew I had to share what I had learned with the world. I shifted my focus from pursuing a career in fine art to a career where I could help families understand their pets, reduce the amount of animals ending up in shelters, and help pets gain agency and confidence in our overwhelming, confusing world.
A few years into my force free pet care journey, I got “official” and obtained certification from the Karen Pryor Academy of Animal Training & Behavior — an organization widely regarded as one of the most respected and rigorous schools for trainers. Through this education, I learned positive reinforcement training works with all species. I’ve since trained rats, horses, fish, lizards, rabbits, and regularly have worked with cats and pigs over the years. I’ve obtained many other professional credentials since this time as well, including being a Fear Free Certified Pet Professional in which I seek to reduce/eliminate fear, anxiety and stress for both pet and pet parent. I’m also currently pursuing the L.E.G.S. Family Dog Mediator certification in which I can more effectively bridge the gap between animals and their people through integrated science and innovative practical solutions.
I started my business in 2017 while living in Las Vegas, NV and did contractor training with one of the best force free training companies in the city. I still work with this company occasionally via virtual sessions. During this time I also worked as a manager & trainer assisting in the opening of Las Vegas’s largest and highest-rated indoor dog park and daycare.
Art of Behavior really came to life when I relocated to Utah after the pandemic hit and I’ve had a blast growing and connecting with the community here. My current focus is helping animals with “big feelings” — whether that’s excitement arousal or reactivity/aggression — puppy and teen dog training, and general cat and pig training & behavioral solutions.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The only thing that has been easy about the journey of having a business is that my passion for the work I do has only grown stronger over the years. It has taken me a long time and countless baby steps to have Art of Behavior even exist. I’ve struggled with various neurological disorders and the symptoms have been crippling at times; depression, executive dysfunction, and intense anxiety. I’ve also struggled with things that I think most new business owners struggle with; imposter syndrome, time management, and setting realistic and achievable goals. Not to mention general life setbacks; my heart dog dying, moving states and not knowing a soul in our new town, and oh yeah, a global pandemic.
I can say with certainty I wouldn’t be where I am today in business or in my personal growth had it not been for discovering the concepts of positive reinforcement training and the absolutely amazing community of trainers worldwide that follow these practices. It’s so much more than just giving a dog a cookie. It’s a lifestyle that extends beyond my dog, beyond my clients’ pets, and is a concept that can be applied to everything: approaching situations with curiosity instead of judgment, having emotional resilience, letting go of perfectionism and society’s expectations of what we or our pets should be like. These all apply to training our animals and sharing a harmonious life together, but I believe we have to start with ourselves first.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
It’s probably no secret at this point that I have an affection for art. I first went to college for fine art — I illustrated the animals in my logo and “art” is even in my business name! As a young adult I thought I would eventually open an art studio (it’s still a goal!) and while adopting Mag did shift my initial life’s path, I never let go of the artistic piece of myself. It doesn’t feel as though I’ve changed the direction my life was heading, but rather I took a different route — and I’m still seeing where it takes me!
These days I get to exercise my creativeness in so many ways that I had never imagined back when I was painting 8 hours a day. You might say I’ve become creative with my creativeness. (Sorry, I couldn’t pass that up! 🤪) There are so many ways I’m able to express myself and the essence of my business: building my website, designing my training packages, making flyers, creating educational and entertaining graphics and videos for social media, the list goes on!
My favorite application of creativity is of course training animals and coaching people! Under the umbrella of force free, positive reinforcement training there are often many ways to gain progress and achieve training goals. My job is to pull from my resources and come up with a training plan I think will work best for this specific animal in this specific situation with this specific human and training goal. The nature of training animals and coaching humans is also one that involves a lot of thinking on the fly where sometimes I need to adjust my training criteria or adjust my coaching style to stay on track for success. Every dog and every person is an individual, and a major part of what I do is creating plans that fit the needs and learning bandwidth on a case by case basis.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Can I be a little cheeky here and say I’m still growing up? Okay, okay. I was a free-spirited kid, drawn to art and bright colors, singing and playing my piano, and going on adventures in the mountains with my friends. I was a self-proclaimed hippie with an affinity for animals, nature, and peace & love. Really, not much has changed! I’ve always been introspective, self-critical, and curious which has been a blessing and curse. Once something piques my interest, I’m determined to know as much as I can and figure out the “why’s” and the “how’s” behind things. It’s very suiting that I’m in a field where I get to examine human and animal behavior as regularly as I do!
I’ve had an affinity for animals for as long as I can remember and always wanted to work with them in some capacity. Growing up in rural Montana, I was surrounded by so many different animals all the time. I’d keenly observe wildlife from herds of deer to ant piles to the occasional black bear checking out our yard. My family had cats, horses, ferrets, goats, cows, chickens, rabbits, rats, and a wide range of different dog breeds, most often of the working/herding variety; Australian Cattle Dogs, Australian Shepherds, and Border Collies. I’ve quite literally shared a lifetime with these breeds and am well acquainted with the many amazing qualities they have, as well as the challenges that can come with having an extremely intelligent dog.
Pricing:
- Complimentary Call
- Free
- Discuss your goals, chat about a training path, and make sure we are both on the same page for training methods
- Comprehensive Consultation
- $165*
- 60-90 minutes
- Initial appointment to assess your pet, jumpstart house training & biting for puppies, address immediate concerns, start on a safety management plan if necessary, establish history and your personal training goals
- Reduced rate if a package is purchased
- Dog Training Packages
- Two options: Coaching – I teach you to teach your pet & Day Training – I train your pet then show you how to maintain the skills
- Virtual Coaching starting at $345 for 3 sessions
- In-Person Training starting at $395 for 3 sessions
- Customized training with suggested package length is determined in Complimentary Call or Comprehensive Consultation
- Pig and Cat Training
- $300
- 60-90 minutes initial appointment to assess your pet, address immediate concerns, and start on a training solution
- 60+ minute follow-up session
- Package prices vary based on virtual sessions, in-person coaching, or day training sessions. Contact for details.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artofbehavior.dog
- Instagram: @art.of.behavior
- Facebook: /art.of.behavior
- Twitter: @art_of_behavior
Boris the potbellied/ hog rescue piglet gets enrichment and exercise by learning how to paint for a fundraiser.
Kylie uses a target stick to help a cat gain confidence around people during a cat training class at an adoption center.
After training Ivan the Border Collie to ignore distractions and offer focus to his dog mom, Ozzy the cat can now safely enjoy his meals and their parents can live a peaceful, harmonious life with their cat and dog.
Maggie, a reactive-in-recovery senior Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix, comfortably rides in a kayak during an enriching adventure after her dog mom helped her gain confidence around water.
Kylie shows a dog parent how to teach her group of herding dogs to go from chaotically barking and jumping on her to patiently wait their turn for cues and treats.
After Halloween, Kylie and Maggie collected 163 pumpkins across Wasatch County and donated them to farm animal rescues in Park City and Salt Lake City areas.
Ramona, an adult potbellied pig, goes from fearfully fleeing to confidently approaching Kylie during this training session.
Reilly, an Anatolian/Shepherd mix, sniffs her way over to meet Kylie for the first time after a virtual training package. Before training, Reilly was too afraid to leave the house or see any human other than her adopter and now she has the confidence to go on daily walks and her mom can finally have a social life again.
