John Garcia (dog trainer)

John Garcia
Born	1981 Arizona
Residence	Fredonia, Arizona
Nationality	Mexican American
Occupation	Dog trainer, Emergency responder
Years active	1998–present
Employer	Best Friends Animal Society
Known for	DogTown TV series
Website	Official Website

John Garcia (born in Arizona in 1981) is a dog trainer, star of National Geographic Channel's four-season DogTown series, and holder of a Guinness World Record.

Garcia began his career at age 18 when he went to work as a caregiver at Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society, the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the U.S., located not far from where Garcia grew up in Fredonia, Arizona. He told Experience Life Magazine that the reason he went to work for Best Friends after high school and not onto college was to give back to animals because his best friend growing up was a dog.

In August 2005, he made news when he set a record, making the Guinness Book of World Records for walking 22 dogs at one time for one mile.

A month later, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and Garcia was deployed by Best Friends to the region as a caregiver of rescued animals, helping care for them at a triage center in Mississippi until May 2006 when all the animals were reunited or placed in foster homes.

Beginning in January 2008, Garcia helped care for and train 22 of the confiscated pit bull terriers from NFL star Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels illegal dog-fighting operation. Garcia was featured in an article and in a photo on the front page of The New York Times with Georgia, one of the shyer Vick dogs, asleep with him on a cot.

He has appeared twice on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (once with Georgia) as well as on Larry King Live.

Garcia, when interviewed by USAToday about the canines referred to by Best Friends as the Vicktory Dogs, told a reporter he’d spent a month at a holding area with the dogs before they were flown to the Best Friends sanctuary: "They are good dogs. We believe every dog deserves a second chance.”

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