Built By Dog Trainers,

For Dog Trainers.

At Automation Dogs, we are dog trainers with deep business experience helping other trainers build real, sustainable companies.

With 58 years of combined experience in training, business operations, and competitive dog sports, we understand what it actually takes to grow and what keeps most trainers stuck.

We’ve lived the reality: missed leads, inconsistent follow-up, and the constant pressure of trying to run a business while still working in it every day.

Our mission is simple. Build systems that capture leads, automate follow-up, and create consistent growth so your business doesn’t depend on you being in it 24/7.

This is about more than training dogs. It’s about building a business that gives you freedom, control, and time back.

We’re also actively in the dog training game today as the owners of Zero To Sit Dog Training in Northeast Florida. Working directly with dog owners while operating a training company keeps us connected to the same day-to-day challenges our Automation Dogs clients face and helps shape the systems and strategies we teach.

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FOUNDER

Lianne Shinton

Hi, I’m Lianne! I’ve spent more than 33 years in dog training, and during that time I’ve experienced this industry from just about every angle...as a trainer, competitor, business owner, educator, coach, and someone who has helped build and grow dog-training businesses.

Like a lot of trainers, I learned that being great at training dogs and running a great business are two very different things. Even with a receptionist, I struggled with missed calls, inconsistent follow-up, leads slipping through the cracks, and the constant mental load of trying to remember who needed what and when.

That frustration eventually became the idea behind Automation Dogs.

After years of owning and growing dog-training businesses and being involved in franchise development, I knew trainers needed systems designed around the way our businesses actually work. Most of us didn't need more complicated technology...we needed something that could help capture leads, follow up consistently, organize communication, and support the sales process without losing the personal connection our clients expect.

Today, Automation Dogs combines CRM, automation, AI, business systems, coaching, and technology built specifically around the needs of dog trainers. We work with dog-training businesses across the United States and Canada, helping them create better systems, communicate more consistently, convert more opportunities, and get some of their time back.

But my roots are still firmly in dog training. I’m a Certified Master Dog Trainer, a two-time DockDogs World Champion, a DockDogs Hall of Fame inductee, and I've represented Team USA twice at the Mondioring World Championships. I’ve owned and grown multiple dog-training businesses throughout my career and continue to stay actively involved in hands-on training today.

That combination of dog training, business, and technology is really what Automation Dogs is all about. We understand the challenges because we've lived them...and our goal isn't to replace the human side of your business with technology. It's to use better systems to protect it.

I want trainers to spend less time chasing leads, digging through messages, and worrying about what they've forgotten...and more time training dogs, serving their clients, growing their businesses, and actually enjoying the lives they've worked so hard to build.

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Automation and Sales Coach

Bret Geller

Hi, I’m Bret Geller, of Automation Dogs. Before helping dog trainers grow through automation and sales systems, I spent more than 23 years building, running, scaling a real dog training business and competing in dog sports. That hands-on experience is what allows me to design automation that actually works for dog trainers, not generic software that creates more headaches.

In 2013, my partner Lianne Shinton and I founded IQ K9 Training in San Diego, California. What began as a two-person operation grew into a highly respected dog training company with multiple trainers we personally mentored from the ground up. Two of those trainers went on to successfully open and operate their own dog training businesses.

Over more than 10 years, IQ K9 Training maintained a flawless reputation with consistent 5-star reviews. In 2022, we sold the business to our head trainer, who continues to operate it successfully today. Running a high-volume dog training business showed me firsthand where most trainers struggle, not with training dogs, but with sales follow-up, lead management, and systems that don’t scale.

Automation Dogs was built directly from that experience. I’ve handled the missed calls, late-night follow-ups, unbooked evaluations, and lost leads that come from running a busy training business without the right systems in place.

Today, I take the lead on sales coaching and automation strategy inside Automation Dogs. I help dog trainers capture more leads, follow up consistently, book more consultations, and confidently sell larger programs, using systems that save time instead of creating more work. Most importantly, I coach trainers on how to use these tools effectively, so they see real, measurable growth.

Alongside running our training business, I spent many years competing in dog sports at elite levels. I began in flyball as a member of the world-champion team Touch N’ Go, then transitioned into dock diving, competing for more than a decade at local, national, and world championship levels.

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Lots of Dogs

Just kidding. Sort of. We do have an amazing tech team, but it’s not actually a bunch of dogs, but the bunch of dogs are definitely around the office all the time, doing, something!