ABOUT OUR TRAINERS
Meet the Off Leash K9 Team
bryan and joanne swihart - owner
Bryan & JoAnne Swihart are the owners and head trainers for the Off Leash K9 Training program in Georgia - offering locations in Augusta, Peachtree City, Smyrna, Duluth, Athens, Columbus, and Macon. We moved to the Atlanta area to settle near family after opening successful locations in Charlottesville, Virginia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Bryan is an Army veteran with multiple deployments; while deployed he was impressed with military working dog’s impeccable obedience training and high level of confidence enabling them to be the most well trained canines in the world. Bryan has a lifelong love of dogs starting with his first dog “Squeak,” who used to sleep under his crib every night. He has owned and trained a wide assortment of dogs ranging from Chihuahuas to Pitbulls; including his current comrades, a Rejected Labradoodle, American Staffordshire Terrier Mix, and the newest addition a German Shepherd Hound Mix. Bryan has a special love for “Bully Breeds” and wants to empower people to showcase what wonderfully loyal and loving dogs they really are. After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, he can now focus where his passion is. With a degree in business and finance giving him a solid small business foundation, with the precision and passion needed to transform your dog from unruly to obedient, frightened to confident, timid to content.
JoAnne’s passion is transforming fearful and anxious pups into stable confident members of the family! This passion began 5 years ago while fostering an extremely fearful young pup, who soon became a beloved member of the family. Obedience training helped transform the dog from a dog who was terrified of people to a super snuggle bug and constant companion for their 4 year old son. JoAnne has background in business and biological research and left her corporate career to join her husband in running Off Leash K9 Training, Georgia full time 3 years ago.
Bryan and JoAnne are thrilled to bring Off Leash K9 Training to Georgia, specializing in the same obedience training techniques used by the military and law enforcement. This style of training encompasses his core beliefs and philosophy of consistency, fairness, and crystal clear communication that will turn your dog into a well behaved member of society in any situation.
Our amazing Trainers
Amber Poe was born and raised in Augusta Ga. Since a little girl she has always loved dogs. She grew up with family dogs and she taught them a bunch of tricks. After graduating high school Amber went to Augusta University for a biology, pre dental degree and worked a part time job at a doggy daycare. She watched the groomer at the day care and fell in love. She left Augusta University and became a dog groomer at a corporate store. Amber owns and breeds Australian Shepherds and Dobermans. She competes with her dogs in conformation and fast cat. She has also achieved many tiltes on her dogs including working titles and grand champion. After 4 years of grooming she decided she couldn’t ignore her passion for training dogs anymore. Audrey an Off Leash trainer talked her into applying and it took off from there. She enjoys training dogs and loves the reward.
Audrey Baker was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina where she spent most of her childhood and early 20’s focused on becoming an equestrian. She has shown in Dressage, Hunter/Jumper, and some smaller one day eventing trials. Audrey’s love of dogs and animals started very early. She has always had dogs, growing up with a Pit Bull and then later Dobermans. Audrey has been a professional dog groomer for the past 11 years. While she still grooms a bit, her main focus has become training dogs. Audrey moved to Georgia in 2016 and found her way to Athens, GA in 2020 where she joined the OLK9 team. She currently competes with her youngest Doberman Pinscher in conformation ring and hopes to start in Rally Obedience soon as well. Check Out Some of Audrey’s Before & After Videos!
Rebecca was born and raised outside Pittsburgh, PA where she developed a love and passion for animals from an early age. She grew up with numerous pets in the house including giant breed dogs and cats and worked for 2 years in her teens training vaulting horses. Her passion for training and caring for animals led her to graduate from the animal behavioral college in 2018. She has over 6 years’ experience training dogs including volunteering at shelters by training their dogs. Rebecca’s favorite part of her job is watching the confidence build in both the dog and their owners and the freedom that provides both of them.
do you have questions for us?
Or Call us for a free consultation today!
About Off Leash K9 Training
Dog trainers who are recognized around the world!
Nick White is the Owner and Founder of Off Leash K9 Training. Nick is a former US Marine and former US Secret Service. He currently has over 130+ dog training locations throughout the United States.
Nick is globally recognized as being one of the top dog trainers in the world. He has 2 official world records in off leash obedience, named on Wikipedia as one of the top 20 dog trainers in the world, recently named top 10 trainer in the world by bestdogtrainers.org, has been featured in many magazines and shows, and he is regularly requested by the top celebrities and athletes! He has been called upon by people such as actor Ryan Reynolds, WWE’s John Cena, MLB All Star Max Scherzer, UFC World Champion Jon “Bones” Jones, and many more!
You can visit our YouTube Channel and watch over 1500+ before/after videos of Nick and his team’s work! Off Leash K9 Training has more documented videos than any dog training business in the entire world!