From Commands to Connections — The 3-Week Reset
A gentle reset for families who want to move beyond command-chasing and rebuild attention, rhythm, and trust.
$14
Open the Reset
Dog Training for Sensitive, Anxious, and Reactive Dogs
Not sure where to start? Take the Stress Bubble Audit and choose the right path.
Take the AuditIf your dog can listen in the living room but unravels outside, the answer isn't louder commands or another obedience checklist. The real behavior begins before the bark — and that's exactly what these programs teach you to see.
Start small or go all the way in. The quickest way in is an audio walk; the deepest is the five-month Trilogy. Every program teaches the same lens — the moment before behavior breaks.
A gentle reset for families who want to move beyond command-chasing and rebuild attention, rhythm, and trust.
Learn the nervous-system language underneath behavior so you can respond with more clarity and less pressure.
A deeper path for dogs who move through fear, reactivity, and overwhelm and need help returning to flow.
Learn how space, distance, and movement can change the entire emotional temperature of a walk.
Short, structured training bursts that help movement become focus instead of frenzy.
When your dog misbehaves, they're not breaking the rules — they're breaking down. The neuroscience, tools, and somatic practices to become the calm field your dog can finally rest inside.
A playful training bundle for dogs who learn best when structure feels like invitation instead of pressure.
The flagship Coaching Canine Companions program — a five-month, guided journey into reading your dog before behavior breaks, supported by four live, semi-private group coaching sessions with Lorrie.
Three phases of curriculum, woven together with four one-hour private Zoom sessions — roughly one every six weeks — over five months of guided pacing.
The bark is never the beginning. By the time your dog reacts, their nervous system is already overwhelmed. This is the full path back — three phases of curriculum and four live, semi-private group coaching sessions, paced over five months so the change actually holds.
Learn to read the 26 foundational canine signals — the quiet language your dog speaks long before the bark, the lunge, or the freeze.
Turn observation into action with 26 field cards for real-time responses — what to do in the moment each signal appears.
The science of handler regulation and co-regulation — becoming the calm, coherent field your dog can organize around.
Field Notes, Field Guide, and Field State — the complete nervous-system-first framework for reading, responding to, and regulating your dog.
One hour, roughly every six weeks — live with your coach and a small group of handlers. Personal guidance and shared momentum, never a lecture to a crowd.
Room to absorb each phase before the next — change that holds, because it was built slowly and in real life.
You apply and are accepted; your start date and session times are set in your acceptance email.
Every path teaches the same lens: behavior is late, the nervous system speaks first, and your dog needs a handler who can read the field. The difference is how much guidance, structure, and accountability surrounds you.
Hybrid online learning with your live coach in semi-private groups — the complete self-paced method paired with four live group coaching sessions, over five months of guided pacing through the three phases.
The Trilogy plus live group coaching, documented field work, and a Canine Resilience Index™ score — 90 days of structured, measurable transformation.
For dogs who need intensive nervous-system work and handlers who learn best through direct, in-person transfer. North Kingstown, RI only.
Not sure which is right for you? The enrollment conversation guides you — without pressure.
Start the conversation →Coaching Canine Companions offers online dog training for reactive, anxious, sensitive, and easily overwhelmed dogs throughout the United States. The work is built around nervous-system-first Field-Based Regulation Training, not generic obedience advice.
This page is for families whose dogs may listen at home but lose access to learning on walks, at thresholds, around other dogs, around people, or when the environment becomes too much. The online pathway teaches you to read state, pressure, recovery, orientation, fixation, and the moment before behavior breaks.
Most online dog training gives you a task list: do this, say that, reward here, redirect there. But anxious and reactive dogs do not fall apart because they forgot the script. They fall apart because the environment has already changed their nervous system.
Field-Based Regulation Training teaches you to read the sequence before the explosion: orientation, fixation, breath, muscle tone, leash pressure, distance, recovery, and your own timing. That is the doorway into real change.
Online training fails when it becomes generic advice dropped into a complicated dog’s life. It works when it teaches you how to observe, adjust, and practice inside the exact places where your dog struggles: the driveway, the sidewalk, the doorway, the yard, the car, the sound outside the window.
This is not obedience from a distance. It is a guided way of learning your dog’s nervous system — and your own — so training starts before the reaction takes over.
Read body language, orientation, fixation, pressure, recovery, and threshold before behavior erupts.
Use video lessons, audio walks, and field exercises in the places where your dog actually needs help.
Start online, then step into a deeper path if your dog needs more structure, tracking, or hands-on support.
If your dog changes the moment the environment changes, this is the missing layer.
Orientation before obedience. Perception before pressure. Relationship before control.
This is not a library of commands. It is a guided training ecosystem for people whose dogs are sensitive enough to need something more intelligent than “try harder.”
The audio experiences and online lessons help you slow down enough to notice what your dog is actually responding to — so you can stop reacting to the behavior and start working with the system underneath it.
Begin where you are. The next walk can become useful information instead of another failure.
A gentle, perception-first audio walk for you and your dog. No drills. No pressure. Just walking, listening, and letting your dog’s nervous system tell the truth.
When orientation returns, learning becomes possible again.
Begin the Orientation Walk →Because calm is not a costume. It is a nervous-system capacity.
If you have ever thought, “But they were calm two seconds ago,” this is the page I want you to sit with.
Connection does not begin with commands.
It begins with rhythm, safety, and shared regulation.
A dog can look quiet and still be losing capacity. A dog can stop barking and still be flooded. A dog can take food and still be too tense to think clearly.
That is why so many families feel confused. One moment there is softness. A little attention. A little hope. Then the environment shifts — a dog appears, a car door slams, the leash shortens, the sidewalk narrows — and suddenly the calm is gone.
That does not mean the moment was false.
It means the nervous system lost the sequence it needed to stay with you.Most online dog training assumes your dog can access the lesson whenever you ask. Anxious and reactive dogs often cannot. They need you to recognize the loss of access before you ask for more behavior.
This is where nervous-system-first training becomes practical. You learn what to do before the bark, before the lunge, before the shutdown, before the walk becomes another exhausting management project.
The goal is not to make you dependent on a trainer. The goal is to help you become a better reader of your own dog — so you can make cleaner decisions in the moments that matter.
Tell me what you are seeing. We will identify whether your dog needs self-paced training, guided support, or something deeper.
Watch this first if you are tired of being told to “just train more” when your dog clearly cannot stay available under pressure.
Click to watch on the Coaching Canine Companions Video Channel
Start with the videos that show regulation, recovery, movement, and relationship in action — not as theory, but as field practice.
A nervous-system-first pathway for dogs who need more than obedience tips.
Yes — connection is not bound by location. The heart of these courses is learning how to perceive, interpret, and respond to your dog's unique language — skills that are often easier to cultivate in your everyday environment.
You'll get step-by-step guidance — plus real feedback. Our Canine Signal Checklist breaks down body language and emotional shifts into simple, observable steps. We make it easier to decode even the quietest canine communication.
Absolutely — personal feedback is built in. You're encouraged to submit short video clips for customized support. Our Field Clinics are open, interactive sessions where your questions and real-life challenges are welcomed.
Yes — our approach is deeply rooted in neuroscience. The Science Corner you'll receive explains how co-regulation, the polyvagal system, and affective neuroscience support this work.
You set your own pace — and support is always available. Our visual progress map and weekly River Ripples help you stay inspired, but there's no pressure to keep up with anyone else.
| Aspect | Traditional Obedience | The River Between Us |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Compliance | Connection |
| Methods | Commands, corrections | Attunement, energy |
| Focus | What the dog does | What the dog feels |
| Tools | Leashes, collars | Breath, presence |
| Basis | Conditioning | Neuroscience |
| Outcome | Temporary shifts | Lasting trust |
These courses are designed for dog guardians looking for help with dog reactivity training, leash reactivity struggles, anxious dog training, and dogs who become overstimulated or overwhelmed outside. They support people who want a calmer, more humane way to address dog behavior problems through communication, co-regulation, and practical observation.
Before you choose a course, find out what may be filling your dog’s stress bubble — distance, pressure, movement, sound, recovery, or your own handling rhythm.
These answers help clarify when online training is useful, when a deeper program may be safer, and how this work differs from ordinary command-based dog training.
Online nervous-system-first dog training teaches handlers to observe the dog’s state before asking for behavior. Instead of beginning with commands, the work begins with regulation, recovery, handler timing, leash pressure, orientation, and the early signals that appear before barking, lunging, pulling, freezing, or shutting down.
Yes, online dog training can help many reactive dogs when the handler learns what to notice and practice in the dog’s real environment. For dogs with severe reactivity, bite history, or very slow recovery, online learning may need to be paired with deeper coaching, the 90-Day Field Immersion, or local professional support.
Ordinary online obedience training often focuses on cues and compliance. Coaching Canine Companions focuses on the moment before behavior breaks: breath, body shift, fixation, distance, handler rhythm, recovery, and environmental load. The goal is not just a dog who knows commands, but a dog who can stay reachable enough to use them.
It is best for thoughtful handlers with reactive, anxious, sensitive, adolescent, or easily overwhelmed dogs who want a practical, humane way to understand what is happening before the behavior. It is also useful for people outside Rhode Island who want access to the Coaching Canine Companions method.
Coaching Canine Companions is based in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Local families may use Day Training or in-person programs, while families outside Rhode Island can begin through online training, video lessons, audio walks, and virtual pathways.
You do not need to guess your way through another program. Start with a conversation, and we will identify whether your dog needs self-paced online training, guided support, or a deeper field-based path.
Ask Which Path Fits
