Local dog trainer Jeremy Brown is on the brink of being announced the winner of Greatmats 2nd Annual National Dog Trainer of the Year Award for the second year in a row.

Brown has been training dogs for over a decade, and now is the owner and head trainer of his own business, The Complete Canine. He competed against four other dog trainers from around the country to maintain his title as National Dog Trainer of the Year. Voting ran through Nov. 30, and Brown received 451 votes—over five times more than the second place trainer, at 89 votes. He was nominated both years by clients whose dogs he had worked with.

“It’s really increased business,” Brown said. “It’s insane how busy I am from last year to now. We’ve had so many people that want us to work with them, and that’s really nice.”

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The Complete Canine opened about a year ago, and it has been so popular that Brown now has five other dog trainers working for him. His business was also one of the top local dog training businesses in the Arizona Daily Star’s 2016 Readers Choice Awards.

His favorite part about his job is training therapy dogs, and Brown said he trains a lot of the dogs that come to campus for de-stress programs such as the ones during finals week. He has been a Canine Good Citizenship evaluator for about eight years.

“I even volunteer with my own dogs,” Brown said. “I have two therapy dogs myself, Lacey and Archie, and they’re both rescues. Lacey’s a three-legged dog that is amazing and Archie’s a yellow lab. They’re both really great therapy dogs.”

Previously, Brown worked at PetSmart as a dog trainer, but left to open his own business for the freedom to work when he wanted and to focus more on training therapy dogs, which is his specialty.

“I’ve been able to help people, and that’s just been an amazing part of the process,” Brown said. “I’m one of the only people in Tucson that can train for that, and that’s been a big thing.”

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Another part of therapy dogs is training them to be around people. Brown and his staff walk the dogs around the UA every week to get them used to being in crowded places where people will interact with them.

“The dogs are usually smarter than the people,” Brown said.

Brown said his favorite type of dog is not a breed.

“I love rescue dogs because they tend to appreciate a little bit more and they give back a whole lot more.”

He told a story about how his three-legged dog, Lacey, had broken her back leg after her previous owners had left her tied down. She was going to be euthanized, but a rescue group saved her.

“She is the best therapy dog on the planet because she has empathy like you wouldn’t believe,” Brown said. “She is so loving.”

So, is dog training anything like the TV shows? Not necessarily.

“There’s lots of great tips they give you on TV, and it’s great that they do that because it brings training to the masses,” Brown said. He added that each dog is different, and the things that work on the shows may not work for every dog.

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