Strategic Behavior Coaching
Traditional dog training often focuses on symptoms. Strategic Behavior Coaching focuses on the system. We aren't teaching commands; we are teaching you how to be your dog's greatest advocate. Through this framework, we'll help you replace anxiety with agency, and frustration with flow.
As your personal consultant and coach, I analyze your dog’s unique behavior patterns, learning history, environmental triggers, your communication system, and their emotional needs in order to build a custom plan for success in collaboration with you. Whether you're seeking support for complex behavioral needs, or you want to master the art of Cooperative Care, I provide the evidence-based strategy and high-touch guidance to get you there.
As your personal consultant and coach, I analyze your dog’s unique behavior patterns, learning history, environmental triggers, your communication system, and their emotional needs in order to build a custom plan for success in collaboration with you. Whether you're seeking support for complex behavioral needs, or you want to master the art of Cooperative Care, I provide the evidence-based strategy and high-touch guidance to get you there.
Training Philosophy
True confidence is born from choice. As we move beyond traditional compliance-based training, focusing on voluntary engagement and intrinsic motivation, I'll teach you how to incorporate choice and strategic enrichment into everyday experiences while building a strong reinforcement history for desired behaviors. My committment to you includes:
🚫 NO PRONGS
🚫 NO CHOKES
🚫 NO SHOCKS
Dogs have rich emotional lives and they deserve our kindness and respect. I believe that shifting from control to curiousity adds beauty and depth to our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
🚫 NO PRONGS
🚫 NO CHOKES
🚫 NO SHOCKS
Dogs have rich emotional lives and they deserve our kindness and respect. I believe that shifting from control to curiousity adds beauty and depth to our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
Our Story
It started with John. My journey into dog training was inspired by my first rescue greyhound, "John" who joined me in 2011. Over time, his stong spirit taught me invaluable lessons about patience, empathy, and the profound bond between humans and dogs.
Known on the track as "Junkyard John," he was a beautiful dog and an amazing companion who left an indelible mark on my heart before crossing the rainbow bridge in 2019. His legacy lives on in the ethos of Fearless Dogs. (John means "God is gracious".)
Known on the track as "Junkyard John," he was a beautiful dog and an amazing companion who left an indelible mark on my heart before crossing the rainbow bridge in 2019. His legacy lives on in the ethos of Fearless Dogs. (John means "God is gracious".)
Enter Asher. Asher is an incredibly sweet and gentle soul with unique, playful antics that never fail to bring me smiles. You can see some of his personality on my YouTube channel.
I'm grateful for the chance to share life with this guy. Asher turns 11 this year and enjoys a good retired life of high-class treatment, new mini adventures, and sometimes, sardines.
I'm grateful for the chance to share life with this guy. Asher turns 11 this year and enjoys a good retired life of high-class treatment, new mini adventures, and sometimes, sardines.
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From Trails to Training
Before focusing exclusively on training, I operated a professional dog hiking service, exploring Bay Area trails with canine companions.
These experiences deepened my understanding of dog behavior and reinforced the importance of patience, observation, and trust in building strong human-dog relationships.
I found it refreshing and grounding to spend time in the outdoors with animals in the midst of an ever faster moving digital age of screens, notifications, performance, and image. I realized that in contrast, I wanted to pursue a more analog lifestyle, complete with ample amounts of dirt, dog hair, and nose art on car windows.
These experiences deepened my understanding of dog behavior and reinforced the importance of patience, observation, and trust in building strong human-dog relationships.
I found it refreshing and grounding to spend time in the outdoors with animals in the midst of an ever faster moving digital age of screens, notifications, performance, and image. I realized that in contrast, I wanted to pursue a more analog lifestyle, complete with ample amounts of dirt, dog hair, and nose art on car windows.
Community
I partner with various rescue groups, including SAGE, to offer behavior support for their adopters.
I support several local veterinarians and their patients, including Adobe Animal Hospital, Village Square Woodside Veterinary Hospital, and San Francisco SPCA Behavior Clinic.
I'm a featured "expert" co-author on wikiHow! Here's a recent wikiHow article that I co-authored: Why Do Dogs Bark at Nothing?.
I also network with other positive reinforcement based trainers to ensure that clients have access to robust support options. This also helps to keep me learning and continually improving my skills.
I support several local veterinarians and their patients, including Adobe Animal Hospital, Village Square Woodside Veterinary Hospital, and San Francisco SPCA Behavior Clinic.
I'm a featured "expert" co-author on wikiHow! Here's a recent wikiHow article that I co-authored: Why Do Dogs Bark at Nothing?.
I also network with other positive reinforcement based trainers to ensure that clients have access to robust support options. This also helps to keep me learning and continually improving my skills.
Continuous Learning
I actively pursue continuing education courses to continue learning from some of the top animal trainers, scientists, and behavior specialists in the industry. Below is a partial list of my classes, workshops, seminars, and certifications:
Canine Behavior Academy, I & II, Trish King (2012, 2014)
Dog Emotion and Cognition, Dr. Brian Hare (2015)
Living & Learning with Animals: The Fundamental Principles and Procedures of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Susan Friedman, Ph.D. (2016)
Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) (2018)
2018 Canine Science Symposium
Resource Guarding: Trish King & Sue Sternberg (2020)
Three Days to Fluent Training (2020):
Fear Free Animal Trainer Certification Program (2021)
What Not to Err: Training Mistakes that Create Headaches for Dogs, Kathy Sdao (2022)
Excitability, Rehabilitating the canine wild child! with Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA (2021)
Separation Anxiety (Mission Impossible) Solving canine separation anxiety! with Malena DeMartini (2021)
Pharmacological Intervention for Canine Non-Aggression Problems, Dr. Ellen Lindell (2021)
RECALLS: Why Dogs Aren’t Coming When Called and What We Can Do About It with Susan Garrett (2021)
2021 Lemonade Conference
2022 ClickerExpo LIVE
2023 Canine Science Symposium
2023 ClickerExpo LIVE
2024 ClickerExpo LIVE
Canine Behavior Academy, I & II, Trish King (2012, 2014)
Dog Emotion and Cognition, Dr. Brian Hare (2015)
Living & Learning with Animals: The Fundamental Principles and Procedures of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Susan Friedman, Ph.D. (2016)
Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) (2018)
2018 Canine Science Symposium
Resource Guarding: Trish King & Sue Sternberg (2020)
Three Days to Fluent Training (2020):
- “Let Me Want It” the science of choice and engagement in training with Agnieszka Janarek
- “Off Cue—Off Control?” the art of offered behavior with Catja Pedersen
- “Control Is An Illusion” stimulus control without frustration with Sarah Owings
Fear Free Animal Trainer Certification Program (2021)
What Not to Err: Training Mistakes that Create Headaches for Dogs, Kathy Sdao (2022)
Excitability, Rehabilitating the canine wild child! with Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA (2021)
Separation Anxiety (Mission Impossible) Solving canine separation anxiety! with Malena DeMartini (2021)
Pharmacological Intervention for Canine Non-Aggression Problems, Dr. Ellen Lindell (2021)
RECALLS: Why Dogs Aren’t Coming When Called and What We Can Do About It with Susan Garrett (2021)
2021 Lemonade Conference
- From Distress to De-Stress: Teaching the Switch from Frantic to Focused, Laura VanArendonk Baugh
- Reducing Overarousal and Reactivity via the Circle Method of Leash Walking, Denise Fenzi
- Separation Anxiety and Current Research: Time to Toss Grandma's Training Plan? Malena DeMartini, CTC
- Arousal and Aggression: When There’s Fuel Behind the Fire, Michael Shikashio, CDBC
2022 ClickerExpo LIVE
- Toward a New Understanding of Constructional Aggression Treatment (C.A.T.), Kellie Snider
- A Successful Approach: Your Dog Controls the Distance! Leslie McDevitt
- Bait and Switch 2.0: Advanced Luring Skills Expanded, Michele Pouliot
- Snakes on the Plain! Snake-Avoidance Training Using Positive Reinforcement, Ken Ramirez
- Tricks Are Not Just for Kids!, Melissa Millett
- Your Reactive Dog Needs a LATTE: A Game for Decompression and Enrichment, Leslie McDevitt
- How to Approach a Spinning Chainsaw: Safe Handling in Aggression Cases, Michael Shikashio
- Team In Transition: How to Bring Husbandry At-Home Behaviors to the Vet Clinic with Laura Monaco Torelli & Kelly Ballantyne, DVM
2023 Canine Science Symposium
- Unleashing applied behavior analysis to improve canine training and enrichment programs through a university-based animal behavior research clinic, Lindsay Mehrkam, Ph.D.
- Waking up on the wrong side of the dog bed: Mood, motivation, and learning, Alexandra Protopopova, Ph.D.
- Pushing your dog's (preferred!) buttons: Toward a science of communication training and "consent" for dogs, Lindsay Mehrkam, Ph.D.
- Let’s talk about prong & shock collars: A review of what we know about operant and Pavlovian effects of aversive control, Erica Feuerbacher, Ph.D.
- Child-dog bonds matter: “Do as I do” training as a tool to improve child-dog relationships & wellbeing, Monique Udell, Ph.D.
- Social interaction as a reinforcer for dogs: What, when, and how to use it Erica Feuerbacher, Ph.D.
- Wolves, pets and free-ranging dogs: Exploring the spectrum of their relationships with humans, Sarah Marshall-Pescini, Ph.D.
2023 ClickerExpo LIVE
- Stranger Things: When Food is Aversive, Lindsay Wood Brown
- Magic Tricks! The Secret to Improving Training for You and Your Learner, Michele Pouliot
- All Ears: Protocols for Dogs with Sound Sensitivity, Debbie Martin
- Stimulus Control, Duration, and Other Impossible Dreams, Laura VanArendonk Baugh
- Separation Anxiety: The IRL Application of Behavior Change Conducted Virtually, Terrie Hayward
- Power Targeting for Any Training Goal, Michele Pouliot
- Reactive Dogs, Trish King, CPDT-KA
- Common Myths of Veterinary Behavior, Dr. Amy Pike
- Separation Anxiety - Beyond the Pandemic, Preventing/Fixing Separation Anxiety in Your Dog, Tracy Krulik, CTC, CSAT
2024 ClickerExpo LIVE
- Clean Training for Reactive Dogs
- Skateboarding: A Rad Window to the Soul of Training Decisions
- Train Faster: Speed Up the Process of Teaching New Skills
- Taking the Bite Out of Tough Aggression Cases
- Expect the Unexpected: The Skills You Should Be Teaching Clients but Probably Aren’t
- The Poisoned Cue Today Antidote, Avoidance, and Application
- Train that Chain: Behavior Chains
- Clear and Collaborative: Working with Your Veterinarian
