our story

My name is Jenna Kingston and I am the sole trainer at Highfives For K9s. My journey with dogs started in the year 2005. For a while, I had been obsessed with anything related to animals so it was not surprisingly how persistent I was in getting my very own dog. That day came when I walked into a pet shop and found one last liver & white puppy with long ears looking back at me through the window. Do you know that feeling of connection when you meet a kindred spirit? That was how I felt when I saw my Judah.

Now, even though it may have been a match made in heaven, it didn’t mean Judah was going to be an angel without me putting in some work. Far from it… He gave me a reality check on what it was really like to own a rambunctious, mischievous pup with a mind of his own. He played out some pretty dangerous stunts and escapades, a few that almost finished him for good and left my heart in my throat. Not only was he Houdini in dog-form, he also became quite challenging to walk on-leash. One of my less brilliant ideas was to put on rollerblades in order to remedy that problem. Judah proceeded to pull me down the street and straight into a pizza picnic, devouring a slice right out of somebody’s hand!

I was mortified beyond belief, but the next day I was back out on rollerblades with Judah to ensure we would conquer our previous failure. Lessons learnt: Never give up. Change yourself and you’ll change the outcome. Failure is a great teacher. Your dog is a reflection of you. And remember to put the breaks on when your dog tries to pull you into a picnic.
I learnt a lifetime of lessons like that and more, because I was open to learning from the master himself… the Dog.

Judah inspired me to become his personal trainer (aka his personal student) and then we branched out to work with other dogs. Highfives For K9s was born. We started out as a dog walking service in 2007; working solo with difficult dogs and eventually uniting them into a balanced Pack. Then we found that dogs needed some assistance with the training of their people. So we began private training sessions to spread our newfound knowledge and experience. And people wanted to learn!

I believe having a passion for animals is a great asset but it won’t reach as deep unless we also have a love for people. After all, dogs are here to teach us to be better human beings.

When Judah was 10 years old, I adopted Lily who was a completely different dog requiring a completely new set of training skills. She took me on another journey which led me to meeting professional dog trainers in Canada and the USA, attending seminars to learn about the most up to date tools and techniques, and being able to change many more lives for the better.

In the spring of 2018, my beloved Judah crossed the rainbow bridge at age 13. My goal is for his legacy to live on through my work and my Pack. We definitely don’t always get the dogs we want but we get the dogs we need. Some dogs may even be furry fiends but, if Judah is any example, I guarantee we’ll find they are brimming with angelic potential.