Our Story

About Art of the Dog

We set out to build the best dog school on the planet — and to save dogs through training other programs won’t take on. Reactive dogs. Aggressive dogs. Anxious dogs. The cases everyone else sends away are the ones we specialize in.

It started with the dogs no one else could help.

Art of the Dog Canine Academy opened in 2019, founded by Will Lieberman and Jamie Miller — a husband-and-wife team who’d already spent more than a decade training dogs in Colorado. Will came to the work through protection and sport training; Jamie had been the owner of a dog she couldn’t control, and knew first-hand how much that stress takes over a life.

They built the academy around a specific focus: the behavioral cases that group classes, private trainers, and even vet behaviorists couldn’t resolve. That focus hasn’t changed. Since 2019 we’ve trained thousands of Colorado dogs, and the work that drew us in — the fearful dog, the aggressive dog, the dog at the end of its owner’s rope — is still the work we do best.

The best dog school on the planet.

That’s the goal Will set out loud when we started, and it’s still the bar. For us it means a few things at once. It means providing genuinely great training — and saving dogs through that training. Good dog training has become something close to a lost art form, and we set out to bring it back into the light.

It also means being a place that holds its own people to a high standard, on every call and every drop-off. And it means earning the kind of trust where an owner leaves saying there’s no one else they’d let train their dog.

We take the cases other trainers turn down.

Most trainers steer away from aggression. We lean into it. It’s the space where we can make the biggest difference in a dog’s life and in their owner’s — a dog that comes in muzzled, lunging, and at war with the world, and walks out able to be part of it. Bite histories, multi-dog household conflict, fear that shows up as aggression: this is the work we’re built for.

We train the whole dog, not a single technique. Our approach is balanced: we use the full range of tools and methods to give each dog clarity and follow-through, matched to the dog in front of us rather than a fixed script. We’re also never finished learning — refining the method across thousands of cases is the never-ending puzzle that keeps the work sharp.

And there is one program for everyone: a 21-day live-in board & train. Your dog lives at the academy for three weeks, and training is woven into every hour of every day — an immersive environment built specifically for behavioral change, not an hourly lesson you have to recreate at home. You can read the full method on our how it works page, or see the 21-day program in full.

Two academies. One standard.

We started in Denver, with Will and Jamie running the program hands-on. As demand grew, we opened a second academy in Longmont to serve Boulder County and northern Colorado — and promoted Andrew D’Addario to General Manager in Denver so the standard would hold in both places.

Two locations, one methodology. Every trainer at both academies is built to the same benchmarks Will and Jamie spent a decade developing — so whichever academy your dog comes to, they go through the same program and come home to the same result.

The relationship doesn’t end at pickup.

Three weeks changes the dog. Keeping that change is a partnership. At pickup we walk you through everything your dog learned and train you to maintain it, so the results hold in your home and not just at the academy.

And every graduate receives lifetime support: unlimited one-on-one follow-up sessions if a behavior ever drifts after the program. No expiration date. For us, the experience isn’t finished until you’d never get your dog trained anywhere else.

The Team

The people behind every transformation.

Art of the Dog is one team built around a single replicated system. Our founders set the standard; our trainers are built to it. When your dog is here, they’re in the system — not just with a trainer.

Will Lieberman

Co-Founder

Jamie Miller

Co-Founder & Head Trainer

Andrew D’Addario

General Manager, Denver

Ian Lieberman

Co-Founder

Meet the full team →

A graduate family: Truman.

Dakota’s family didn’t come to us once — they came back. After living the change a board & train made in their home, they trusted us again with Truman.

“The program was worth every dollar that we invested into it.” — Dakota

That’s the bar we hold every program to: not just a trained dog, but a family that would do it again, and tell their friends to do the same.

Real Graduates

Watch the before & after.

These are Denver and Longmont dogs that came to us as the hard cases. Watch their owners describe where they started and where they are now.

Reactivity · Pulling

“We love going on hikes and exploring Colorado together now. He’s just locked in.”

Carly · Banks

Reactivity

“The relationship has only gotten better since boarding him. It didn’t diminish at all.”

Tu · Goose

Obedience

“Taking him off-leash in a park isn’t something I would have done before.”

David · Teddy

Anxiety

“He is off of his anxiety medication as well. It’s cool to see him just be a normal dog at home.”

Melinda · Sunny

No Pressure. No Commitment.

Think your dog might be one of our hard cases?

See how the program works →

Serving Denver & Longmont, Colorado · In operation since 2019