Ellie grew up in the Bay Area with Alaskan Malamutes as family pets. She joined 4-H and participated in Dog Showmanship where she was first introduced to the basics of Canine health, nutrition, grooming, and the foundations of behaviors and training. Driven by a passion for wanting to understand the “why” behind behaviors she got her Bachelor’s Degree in psychology and has continued her education in dog behavioral science. She also has spent the last 15 years fostering dogs, with a particular interest in rehabilitating canines that have behavior issues. Ellie has five dogs currently, a rescue mix, a Golden Retriever and three Australian Shepherds. Her dogs are a pivotal part of her family; she travels with them on trips across the country and also enjoys finding enriching ways to engage with them in day to day life. Ellie strives to help others understand their dogs and achieve a respectful relationship that will allow them to live life to the fullest. She also has a love for all things Disney and frequents the parks with her Service Dog, Amelia. Ellie is passionate about spreading awareness of disability and Service Animal Rights and training. Animal health and welfare is also at the forefront of her training approach and strives to continue to learn about animal nutrition, fitness and overall health and how it plays a pivotal part in our dogs behaviors and quality of life.

Owen grew up in a part of the countryside where he was surrounded by horses, cows and family dogs, igniting a love of all animals. Just before starting high school he began to explore his passion with riding horses and soon progressed to competition showing in English hunter jumper and cross country. Owen eventually went on to manage a stable with over forty horses, run summer camps, train clients’ horses, and assist in a breeding program for Belgian warmbloods. After college he went on to work in the hospitality industry and was focused primarily on training people how to excel in their professional and personal lives, but never lost his passion for working with animals. After getting his own dog, an Australian Shepherd named Emma, Owen jumped head first into training with her using a balanced approach. Owen is now dedicated to using his skills in training dogs and people to help them build the best possible relationship that’s built on a balanced foundation of respect and trust. It is vitally important that each owner receives just as much if not more training than their pet dog. Owen believes that every owner should have a coach to help them become a trainer for their own pet and help them lead the best possible life.

Amelia is equal parts crazy as she is calm and focused. She has a high working drive which she finds outlets for both in chasing the ball and squirrels and birds when allowed. Her other outlet is working very hard as Elena’s Service Dog. She has been the perfect support to help Elena with her disability and is constantly learning new ways and tasks that help. Amelia has been all over the country for her work but both her and her mom’s favorite place are their trips to Disney.

Emma has been ready to work hard and play hard since she was a puppy. Seemingly limitless energy and an intense drive to work has led to us exploring just about every outlet possible to fulfill all her needs and drives. Emma has no sense of personal space and will quite literally smother you! Emma has enjoyed diving into the world of scent training and is working towards an ORT (odor recognition test) just for fun. Emma has taught Us the importance of patience, consistency and teamwork in dog training. Emma travels with Owen to almost every training session to help demonstrate and educate owners and their pets with their training.

Named after Newt Scamander from Harry Potter, this golden retriever is also a Hufflepuff through and through. As the baby of the pack Newt is always following along wherever they go and loves to play with each and every one of them. Due to some genetic factors and events during his critical development period, Newt struggles with a lot of confidence issues and is fearful of new environments and people. We work with him everyday to overcome those challenges and he has been a wonderful playmate to so many young and nervous dogs and has helped them come out of their shells. This boy wants nothing more than to lay in his pool and carry around his stuffed animal “baby”.

Sirius Black (yes Harry Potter reference) is the biggest love bug ever. While being all black and looking like a lab he is actually 50% Golden retriever, 25% Husky and a mix of other breeds. That being said his temperament reflects that of a well bred very calm Golden. He loves exploring the outdoors but is equally all about couch snuggles. His calm and biddable personality has made him the best friend of our daughter (also known as Big Buddy to her) and he gladly follows her around anytime we are out.

Montana is an Australian Shepherd and is our resident senior dog. Elena got her at 8 weeks old and she is still keeping pace with the pack at 14 years old. She started going deaf about 4 years ago so all of our commands have switched to visual and tactile and while it was a learning curve for all of us she thrives on having clear and predictable communication. Montana always remains up for a good session of playing ball, a good walk, and is known for her very deep sleep snoring.

Grizzly was our loveable chocolate Labrador. We lost him to cancer in October of 2023 but we carry him in our hearts still. Grizzly was dog reactive from the age of 2 when he was attacked by two off leash dogs. This single learning experience was traumatic enough to leave him with a distrust of other dogs. It took years of slow and patient work but through consistent work and showing him how to place his trust back in us he was fully able to be around new dogs (with proper neutral introductions) again. He optimized so many client dogs we see running into similar issues whether it be unexpected or things gone wrong at dog parks and is a big reason we emphasize trust going both ways in our relationships with our dogs and advocacy.