Meet Good Dog Happy Dog

A safe space for you and your dog to be supported, guided and understood, without judgment and without fear.

Good Dog Happy Dog was founded in San Francisco in 2017 by Lindsay, a certified dog behavior consultant who specializes in working with behaviorally complex dogs and the people who love them. If your dog is reactive, anxious, fearful, aggressive, or just really hard to figure out, and you are exhausted and overwhelmed and not sure where to turn, this is the place for you. You do not have to navigate this alone.

What Good Dog Happy Dog stands for

This business exists because every dog deserves to feel safe while learning, and every person caring for a challenging dog deserves clear, compassionate support. Not judgment. Not outdated methods that cause fear or pain. Not the feeling that you are the problem, or that your dog is beyond help.

Lindsay works with both ends of the leash. That means the dog and the human both get support, both get to be understood, and both get a clear path forward. The goal is never just a dog who performs a behavior on command. The goal is a dog who feels safe, a guardian who feels confident, and a relationship that has real joy in it again.

Good Dog Happy Dog is proudly force free, fear free, and built on evidence based, positive reinforcement methods. It is also a genuinely inclusive and judgment free space.

Every dog is welcome here. Every person is welcome here. You are safe to be exactly who you are.

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The story behind the business

Lindsay did not set out to become a dog behavior consultant. Her dog Barnaby led her there.

She adopted Barnaby when he was around three years old, and it became clear very quickly that city life in San Francisco was overwhelming for him. He reacted to everything. Noises in the apartment, dogs on the street, people passing by, buses, cars, pretty much anything that moved. Lindsay loved him deeply but felt completely lost trying to help him, and made the mistake that a lot of people make in that situation. She typed “dog trainer, aggressive dog” into Google and picked the first result.

What followed was one of the worst experiences of her life as a dog owner. The trainer told her it was her fault, that her dog was hopeless, and that she should consider returning him. Instead of help, she left with shame and despair. But that was not the end of the story. Through the shelter she had adopted Barnaby from, she found a skilled and compassionate behavior consultant who showed her a completely different way forward. One rooted in science, empathy and respect. From that point, Lindsay could not stop learning. She and Barnaby took every class they could find. She started studying dog behavior in her spare time. What began as a desperate attempt to help her own dog became a calling, and in 2017 she made it official.

She tells this story not because it makes a nice origin story, but because it is the reason she does this work the way she does it. She knows what it feels like to be told your dog is a lost cause. She knows the shame of feeling like you are failing your dog. And she knows, from personal experience, how completely things can change when you find the right support. That is what she wants to give every single person who reaches out to her.

How Lindsay works

Lindsay’s approach is welfare first and whole dog focused. That means looking at everything affecting your dog’s behavior, not just the behaviors themselves. The environment, the enrichment, the management, the medical picture, the history, the relationship between dog and guardian, and the day to day realities of your actual life. Nothing is looked at in isolation because nothing exists in isolation.

She works in close collaboration with your dog’s wider care team, including veterinarians, veterinary behaviorists, canine fitness and massage practitioners, nutritionists, and any other professionals supporting your dog’s wellbeing. Building and coordinating that team is part of the service, not an afterthought.

She is committed to continuing education and staying at the leading edge of dog behavior science, because the field moves and the dogs she works with deserve the best available knowledge and methods. She will never use tools or techniques designed to cause pain, fear or discomfort, and she will never ask you to either.

Find out why I’m the right person for you and your dog →

Credentials and memberships

Lindsay holds the following certifications and professional memberships:

CTBC, Certified Trainer and Behavior Consultant

CPDT-KA, Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Knowledge Assessed

Fear Free Certified Professional

Member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC)

Member of the Pet Professional Guild

Member of the Shock Free Coalition

Values

Ethics

Committed to force free, fear free learning. No use of violence, pain or intimidation toward dogs or the people caring for them.

Education

Dedicated to continuing education and expanding knowledge, because learning never stops and neither does the science.

Happiness and joy

Ensuring that both dogs and their people find happiness and joy in their relationship, and helping that grow over time.

Safety

Creating a safe learning environment for everyone, safe from fear and safe to be exactly themselves without judgment.

Collaboration

Working alongside other professionals for continuity of care and total support across your dog’s whole life.

A little more about Lindsay

When she is not working, Lindsay is most likely on a road trip with her dog. She has been lucky enough to travel all over western North America together, crossing state lines and international borders, exploring national and regional parks, and spending as much time as possible in some of the most beautiful places on the continent. One of her favorites is right on the doorstep, the Presidio of San Francisco, which she considers one of the great privileges of calling this city home.