About Me

Hey there! I’m Joseph Malisiak, the face and heart behind Mountainshack Dog Training. I’ve been an animal lover for as long as I can remember. Growing up, there were always dogs around—and at one point, I seriously wanted a pet bear (half-joking… mostly). As I got older (and thankfully wiser about household pet logistics), I realized working with dogs wasn’t just a passing interest—it was something I wanted to do for life.

That realization came into full focus when my wife, Ashley, and I adopted our first dog together—Lola, a sweet but complicated Newfoundland-Poodle mix. She came with separation anxiety, unpredictable energy, and a case of chronic diarrhea that no vet or food change could seem to fix. We tried it all—more exercise, more stimulation, more “maybe this will be the thing”—but nothing clicked. That is, until I stumbled into the world of dog training through a few random Instagram accounts. From that point on, I was hooked. The depth, the nuance, the psychology—I fell in love with the complexity of working with dogs, and I dove in headfirst.

My first real experience came at a doggie daycare, where I found myself managing anywhere from 15 to 30 dogs at a time. Picture me in the middle of a canine mosh pit, watching for subtle shifts in body language, breaking up disputes over toys or turf, and learning more about communication and conflict resolution than any college lecture could ever teach. Dogs handle their disagreements with clarity, calm, and boundaries—lessons I carry into my work (and let’s be honest, my own life).

After a few months, I was offered the role of in-house dog trainer. I happily accepted and began testing everything I learned on Lola, who became my living, breathing guinea pig. Once I saw real progress, I started applying those lessons to client dogs. Within six months, I was working with 70–90 clients regularly and was honored to be named Employee of the Year—driven by pure passion and an obsession with learning (and sharing) everything I could about dogs.

But I wasn’t done growing. I joined a working dog Board & Train program, where I managed the care and training of 15–20 high-drive dogs. Potty schedules, feeding, enrichment, meds, training, cleaning—you name it, I did it. I also led group classes, private lessons, and public outings to places like breweries and hardware stores. That experience was invaluable, but it also helped me realize something deeper.

No matter where I worked, there was a limit to how much freedom I had to truly advocate for the dogs and the humans behind them. There was always a company policy or PR concern standing between what I knew was right and what I was allowed to do. That tension kept growing until I finally realized—I needed to do this my own way.

So I did.

I created Mountainshack Dog Training, a company rooted in empathy, transparency, and a belief that every dog-human pair deserves support that’s tailored to them. Since starting this journey, the backbreaking parts of running a business—scheduling, accounting, web design—have somehow turned into the stuff I dance around the kitchen doing. Because when you know you’re building something that matters, the work feels a little less like work.