My work with dogs — and the people who love them — didn’t come from one place. It’s been built slowly, through years of seeking out teachers and philosophies that helped me understand something a little more clearly each time: how dogs communicate, how nervous systems settle, how trust gets rebuilt.
This is some of what’s shaped how I think and how I work.
🎾 On Motivation and Connection
Susan Garrett’s work — especially Recallers and Home School the Dog — has shaped more of my thinking than almost anything else. Her focus on motivation and relationship, not correction, sits close to the center of how I approach recall and self-control with dogs. I’ve also studied Crate Games and Wag Nation for additional grounding in these methods.
🐾 On Prey Drive and High-Energy Dogs
I’ve leaned heavily on the work of Predation Substitute Training — a force-free philosophy that works with a dog’s prey drive instead of against it, redirecting chase and scavenging instincts into something the dog, and the humans around them, can actually live with.
Better Than Fetch™ Herding Games (@collieswithyen) has been especially useful with Izzy — teaching the real mechanics of herding, stalking, flanking, and blocking, using toys like balls, discs, and a flirt pole instead of sheep, through that same reward-based, force-free approach.
🌙 On Nervous Systems and Relationship
Dancing Hearts Dog Academy’s work on nervous-system regulation — through Brilliant Dog Foundation Builders and Relationship Rescue — has given me language and tools for something I already believed: that calm, connected dogs come from calm, connected partnerships.
💌 On Trust and Trauma
James French’s Trust Technique has deepened how I think about anxious, reactive, and trauma-affected dogs. It’s a mindfulness-based approach: you learn to lower your own anxious thinking so your animal can relax alongside you, replacing fear and pressure with calm, present connection. That philosophy lines up closely with the trauma-informed approach at the heart of Dogs Best Coach™.
🪷 On the Body as a Doorway
Canine Bodywork Online, created by animal massage therapist Kara O’Laughlin, has shown me how much a dog’s body holds — arthritis, tension, anxiety — and how targeted, hands-on bodywork can release what training alone can’t reach.
The Moving Canine’s Movement Puzzles Academy added another piece — helping me see how movement itself builds a dog’s confidence and body awareness, not just their skills.
✨ On Healing Beyond the Physical
I’m also drawn to less conventional paths. Lynn McKenzie’s work on animal communication and energy healing has shaped how I think about the parts of healing that live outside behavior and biology.
Danielle MacKinnon’s Be Open community for intuitive animal communication has done the same — deepening how I think about the emotional, even spiritual, bond between a dog and the person who loves them. I don’t think healing only happens through obedience or technique. Sometimes it happens somewhere quieter.
💛 On the Human Side of the Leash
I don’t think you can really help a dog without helping the person on the other end of the leash — so a lot of what shapes my coaching has nothing to do with dogs at all.
Eckhart Tolle, Louise Hay, and Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements shaped how I think about presence, self-worth, and letting go of what isn’t mine to carry. Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score gave me language for why trauma lives in the body, for people and animals both, which is really the foundation of everything I do.
Brené Brown, Jen Sincero, Mel Robbins, Glennon Doyle, and Nicole LePera have shaped how I think about courage, boundaries, and doing the harder, truer thing even when it’s uncomfortable. Brianna Wiest and Gary John Bishop’s Unfuck Yourself books keep me honest when I need a push instead of a hug.
I lean on frameworks for understanding people more deeply, too: the Enneagram (I first really understood it through Ian Cron’s The Road Back to You), Susan Cain’s Quiet, and Temple Grandin, whose work as both an animal behaviorist and autism advocate has shaped how I think about neurodivergent minds — human and animal — experiencing the world differently, not wrongly.
And some of it is just how I think: James Clear’s Atomic Habits, Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, and Ruth Soukup’s work on courage and consistency have shaped how I build routines and run this business. Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and Rebecca Campbell’s work keep me connected to creativity and something bigger than logic. Ken Honda’s writing on money, Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael, and Malcolm Gladwell’s way of looking at human behavior round out how I see the world.
🌱 Closing
This page will keep growing, because I don’t think anyone ever finishes learning how to help a dog — or a person — feel safe. If you’re curious what all of this actually looks like in practice, I’ve mapped it into four stages on The Healing Together Path. If any of this resonates with you, I’d love to talk about how it shows up in our work together.