Dog Training for Sensitive, Anxious, and Reactive Dogs
From relentless technique to the rhythm of co-regulation. How a Navy veteran became the trainer who stopped performing — and started becoming the river her dogs could rest inside.
I thought mastering the best techniques, strategies, and behavior systems made me the ultimate dog trainer.
I was relentless: I studied obsessively, devoured peer-reviewed journals, and shadowed elite trainers across state lines. I read "Bible-sized" training manuals so dry they could turn a Labrador into a librarian.
I applied those skills with hundreds of dogs — big, small, aggressive, anxious, "untrainable" dogs that others had given up on.
And it worked.
Until it didn't.
One day, I realized the truth that unraveled everything I thought I knew: it wasn't about getting dogs to understand my language.
It was my steadiness. My willingness to play. My breath. My silence. My heart. It was about learning to speak theirs — through field, through rhythm, through co-regulation and presence.
The real magic happened when I stopped performing like a behavior technician and started becoming the river my dogs could rest inside.
The Science Behind This ›
Pioneer. U.S. Navy Veteran. Nervous-System-First Trainer.
Lorrie is a pioneer in relationship-based dog training, specializing in building deep, meaningful connections between dogs and their owners. With a career spanning over three decades, her journey began shortly after her service in the U.S. Navy.
Her formal dog training path in 2019 was a natural evolution of an extensive background in Health Coaching and Enneagram-based personality dynamics — a unique lens that allows her to integrate wellness and mindfulness into every session, tailoring methods to each dog's individual nervous system and personality.
Lorrie works with families in North Kingstown, Rhode Island and online across the country — with a singular focus: not compliance, but connection.
A neurological bridge that transcends the boundaries of traditional dog training.
Traditional training hits a wall when it meets a fearful or reactive dog — because the brain is locked in survival mode. No amount of technique reaches a dog who cannot access their learning brain.
K9 Bioenergy Balancing allows Lorrie to move past the reactive and fearful brain by regulating the energetic and neurological field first. Safety before skill. Regulation before request.
This creates a path to deeper, more permanent behavioral change — not suppression of symptoms, but resolution of the internal state driving them.
Rewarding desirable behaviors with joy and trust — motivating your dog to choose cooperation over compliance, repeatedly and reliably.
Deep breathing, modeling physiological calm, and co-regulation — so the nervous system is settled and learning becomes genuinely possible.
Harnessing healthy eustress through interactive play and exposure — building emotional flexibility and lasting behavioral change from the inside out.
A dysregulated brain cannot learn. Connection calms the nervous system first — paving the way for communication that actually sticks.
Beyond Obedience. Beyond Technique. Into the Relationship.
For decades, traditional dog training has relied on outdated methods — reinforcing control, suppressing behaviors, and missing the deeper emotional and psychological needs of our canine companions.
At Coaching Canine Companions, we redefine the human-canine relationship using cutting-edge neuroscience, energy balancing, and holistic wellness — building partnerships, not programs.
Explore the Science →You can begin gently here. Lorrie works with dogs and their people from North Kingstown, RI — in-person and online nationwide.
North Kingstown, RI · Tue–Sat 8AM–6PM · (401) 249-4200