Dog Training for Sensitive, Anxious, and Reactive Dogs
Ready to go from surviving walks to leading them? Lorrie works in North Kingstown, RI and nationwide online.
Free ConsultationFrom 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 began working with dogs in 1990 — shortly after completing her service in the U.S. Navy — nearly three decades before formalizing her practice with a Master Dog Training Certification from the National K-9 School in 2019. That timeline is not a gap. It is the education: thousands of hours of real-field dog experience, health coaching, nervous-system work, and personality dynamics, converging into a methodology that no single certification program could have produced alone.
The 2019 certification didn't create the trainer. It confirmed one. Lorrie had already developed her foundational approach through hands-on work with bomb detection dogs, anxious rescues, reactive family pets, and handlers at the end of their rope. What the certification gave her was language for what she already knew in the field.
Lorrie works with families in North Kingstown, Rhode Island and online across the country — with a singular focus: not compliance, but connection that holds under pressure.
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 →The Dog Knows the Way — the moment Lorrie stopped training and started returning to what was already there.
I thought I was raising a polite, perfect dog. Maui knew better. He mirrored every tension I carried. Training stopped. Returning began. This is the piece that explains why everything changed.
Read on the blog → Field Library · Lorrie HarrisEach morning, before the world rushes in, Maui rolls onto his back, paw resting against my leg. I match my breath to the rhythm. Science calls it co-regulation. I call it medicine you can't bottle.
Read on the blog →Free Guide
The signals most handlers miss before the reaction. Learn to read them — and what to do when you catch them. Lorrie reads every reply personally.
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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