About Me

Keiko (pronounced kay-ko) Swanberg, owner of Zen Dog Seattle, LLC, is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA), Certified Control Unleashed Instructor (CCUI), licensed AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) evaluator, Associate Nose Work Instructor (ANWI), and a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT).

She was ranked #2 in Washington State and #13 in the United States in the 2023 Sniffspot Top Dog Trainer Contest.

Leaving a teaching job in Japan, Keiko moved to the U.S. in 2000. She has been a long-time shelter/rescue volunteer and foster parent ever since. Her passion for training grew from helping shelter animals, and deepened when she adopted Akira, a very fearful and reactive husky/shepherd mix who later became her business logo. Keiko shares her home with her husband, adopted dogs, cats, and frequent foster animals.

After working with many top professional trainers and spending seven years as an assistant trainer, Keiko left the corporate world and founded Zen Dog Seattle, LLC in 2021. She teaches group classes and private lessons, specializing in Reactive Rover, Control Unleashed, Basic to Advanced manners, Canine Good Citizen, Agility, and Nosework. She uses science-based positive reinforcement training, avoiding fear, force, intimidation, or aversive tools such as prong collars or shock collars.

In 2025, Keiko was featured in junglecity.com, a Japanese informational site about the Pacific Northwest, where she shared her journey and offered guidance on finding ethical, humane, and credentialed trainers in an unregulated industry.

Committed to ongoing education, Keiko has completed multiple week-long courses working with goats, donkeys, and alpacas under Ken Ramirez at the Karen Pryor National Training Center. Her goal is simple: help dogs and their people thrive together with kindness and joy.