Coaching Canine Companions AT YOUR OWN PACE · BEGIN ANY DAY
Workshop 1 of 2Canine Sensory ConnectionWorkshop 2: The 90-Day Field Immersion
Live with Lorrie · January 2027About twelve places, this winter.Sign up for an invitation →

For anxious, reactive, and restless dogs · Fifteen minutes a day

Canine Sensory ConnectionLiving the Tao
of the Dog

For the dog who barks, lunges, or can’t settle,
and the person who has started to dread the walk.

Opening soon · your first month is freeThe Mini ProgramYou don’t need to know whether the whole road suits the two of you. A twelve-month membership, four short lessons a month at home, to see whether the first few steps do.Look inside the Mini Program →

Canine Sensory Connection is a six-month, self-paced online scent work program by Lorrie J. Harris of Coaching Canine Companions, for anxious, reactive, and restless dogs and the people who love them.

For the first eighty-one evenings, short searches at home, one story each night, and letters from me help you notice your dog’s quiet language: the small signals most people miss. You keep practicing through Month 6, with three assessments to compare her recovery in your own minutes and feet. You begin on the day you choose.

Format
Online, at home, at your own pace. Begin any day.
Length
Six months, with 81 evening cards in the first phase and continued practice afterward.
Learning
Four modules released monthly, 12 letters, and seven Fireside Self-Checks.
Your record
Three Canine Resilience Assessments: Day 0, Month 3, Month 6.
Your time
About 10 minutes to read; up to 15 minutes on a practice day. Each Self-Check takes about 30 minutes.

Three ways to walk it

  1. 1Independent · $479 · on your own, at home, at your own pace
  2. 2Accountability Partner · $637 · the same program, with me reading your progress and writing back
  3. 3Live · January 2027 · about twelve guardians per circle, on Zoom, by invitation Sign up for an invitation →
Begin at your own pace · $479Begin with Lorrie · $637Is this for my dog?

In the Independent and Accountability Partner editions, there are no calls to schedule and nothing to attend. Everything happens at home, on your own time.

A dog follows a scent in warm morning light while a person sits quietly nearby.
There is a whole world
in the dog beside you.

A twelve-month membership · $39 a month · Your first month is free

The Fireside Sneak Peek: the mini version of Canine Sensory Connection, twelve months at home.

You don’t need to know whether the whole road suits the two of you. You only need to know whether the first few steps do.

Video thumbnail: Why Reactive Dogs Cannot Learn Until You Fix This First▶ Watch a sample lessonFree · watch on YouTubeWhy Reactive Dogs Cannot Learn Until You Fix This First

Most of us decide about a program from the outside, reading about it the way we read a menu. But a dog is not learned from the outside, and neither is this work. So I made a smaller version of it. The Fireside Sneak Peek is the mini version of Canine Sensory Connection: a twelve-month membership in which four short lessons come to you each month, one a week, to practice with your own dog in your own kitchen.

What usually changes first is not the dog. It is where you look.

The Fireside Sneak Peek

The mini version of Canine Sensory Connection

Your first month is free

$39 a month after that
cancel anytime · no contract

Twelve months · Four lessons a month · One each week · Everything in one learning portal

In every lesson

  • A five-minute deep-dive video. One idea, slowed down until you can see it: a turn of the head, the moment the nose goes quiet, the sigh after a search.
  • An at-home exercise handout. One small practice for the week, written so you can prop it against the counter and begin.
  • Vela’s story, read aloud. Each week’s story from the fire, read in my own tone, to carry on a walk, in the car, or with your dog asleep against your feet.
  • An open door. Each lesson closes with an invitation into Canine Sensory Connection, so when you are ready for the whole road, you will already recognize it.

The Mini Program opens very soon. Leave your name and email, and I will write to you the day it opens. Your first month is free, then $39 a month unless you cancel. Videos, handouts, Vela’s stories read aloud, and the book all live in one learning portal.

Every week, the whole lesson

Four weeks a month. Each week brings all four of these, never one piece at a time.

▶

A five-minute deep-dive video

One idea, slowed down until you can see it on your own dog.

✎

An at-home exercise PDF

One small practice for the week, at the pace she sets.

♫

Vela’s story, read aloud

The week’s story from the fire, read in my own tone, for a walk, the car, or a quiet evening at home.

→

An open door

Each lesson closes with an invitation into the full Canine Sensory Connection, whenever you are ready.

Get notified when it opens →See the full program

Live · January 2027

There is a moment, just before she turns her head. In January, we learn to see it together.

Play thirty seconds of an ordinary walk and most of us see a dog walking. Play it again beside someone who has watched thousands of them, and the walk begins to slow. An ear shifts. The nose goes quiet. Her weight settles back an inch, long before the bark you were bracing for.

That is what the live circle is for. This January I will gather about twelve guardians on Zoom, week by week, to watch our own dogs together, ask what each one can afford that day, and practice answering her early, while there is still room to.

You bring the dog you know. The rest we find together.

  • You hear the dates before anyone else.
  • Places are offered first to the people on this list.
  • Each circle is limited to about twelve guardians, so every dog is seen.

Join the invitation list

Each circle holds about twelve guardians. Your name and email is all it takes to be considered.

No payment and nothing to commit to. I will write to you only about the live circle.

Perhaps you know this dog

She takes the chicken in the kitchen. Twelve feet away, in the hallway, she won’t touch it.

Same chicken. Same hand. Same house. Most of us were taught to call that picky, or stubborn, or “not food motivated.” It is usually something else. In the hallway, she has less to spare.

  • She hears something in the street before you do, and the evening is over.
  • She lies down on the couch, but her eyes keep returning to the door.
  • She is bright and busy and never quite switches off.
  • She is getting older, and her world is getting smaller in ways that are hard to name.
  • She is doing beautifully, and you have a feeling there is more of her to know.

And there is the other end of the leash. There is a particular kind of tired that belongs to the people who love these dogs. The tiredness of scanning. Of choosing the hour and the route. Of watching the far end of the street while pretending to look at your phone. Of the apology you have ready before anything has happened.

If any of this is familiar, you are not doing it wrong. And she is not doing it on purpose.

The question underneath

Should I step in, or wait? Am I helping her right now, or getting in her way?

Most of the advice we are given begins after the behavior: what to do when she barks, pulls, freezes, or refuses. By then, the most useful part has already happened. The behavior is the last thing that happens, not the first.

This program works earlier, with one question you can carry into any room:

What can this dog afford today?

How much she has to spare: for a new room, a visitor, a sound, a little more distance or a little less. When you can see that, the choices in front of you get simpler. Make it easier today. Stop sooner. Wait one more second. Try again tomorrow.

That is what living the Tao of the dog means here: noticing before naming, leaving room for her choices, offering guidance with care, and recognizing when enough is enough.

How you will know

Stop counting the barks. Watch how long it takes her to come back.

When you live with a dog like this, it is natural to judge each day by one question: did she react? But a resilient dog is not a dog who never startles. She is a dog who startles, looks, and finds her way home again. The mail carrier comes and goes. One dog is still pacing two hours later. Another shakes it off, sighs, and lies back down.

A change in that return can be easy to miss if you are counting only reactions. It is one of the things worth measuring. So we measure it. Three times, with the same questions, so the dog you have in six months can be set beside the dog you have today.

Watch: what the Canine Resilience Assessment is, and why it matters
0

Day 0 · Before your first card · The baseline

You complete the Canine Resilience Assessment at home: her history and health, the state she spends most of her day in, the last seven days of walks, every trigger you know of and how far away it begins, and a section about you. Two or three minutes of an ordinary walk on your phone is strongly recommended. In the Accountability Partner Edition, you email it to me with your clip, and my full written debrief comes back within seventy-two hours.

3

Month 3 · Once the cards are behind you · The first comparison

You answer the same questions about the same kind of week, with a fresh clip if you can. You read it beside your baseline: what has moved, and what hasn’t yet.

6

Month 6 · After ordinary life has had its say · The one that tells the truth

At Month 6, after time to live what you have learned, we look at what stayed. You answer once more, and set all three side by side.

What is compared, from one reading to the next

  • Her recovery time. After a stressful moment, how long until she is herself again: under five minutes, up to fifteen, up to an hour, several hours, or the rest of the day.
  • Her week, in numbers you already know. Walks per day, hard moments per walk, and how many minutes each one takes to pass.
  • Distance. For each trigger, how far away it was when she first began to react. A dog who once came apart at sixty feet and now notices at twenty, looks, and keeps walking has told you something no single walk could.
  • The state she lives in. Whether an ordinary day finds her mostly at ease, mostly on alert, or mostly flat and withdrawn, and how fourteen everyday situations, from the doorbell to the car, land for her.
  • You. What your body does in the first three seconds of a hard moment, how quickly you recover, and whether you can see her early signals before they build.
  • One sentence. On Day 0 you write what you believe is fundamentally wrong with your dog. At Month 6, you read it again.

There is no score at the end, and your dog is never graded. What is measured is written in your own words and your own minutes, and set beside the reading that came before.

The assessments show what is changing. They do not promise what will. Every dog moves at her own pace, and a quiet change still counts.

Why scent

We don’t teach the dog to smell. We give the smelling somewhere to go.

She has been reading the world through her nose all her life. A simple search, a few pieces of food in open cardboard boxes on the kitchen floor, gives her something she is already good at, in a place where nothing frightening is asked of her.

Focused searching, followed by room to rest

An anxious or reactive dog can find it hard to settle after something difficult. A short search offers a different kind of activity: head down, thinking, in a place she can manage. Then we leave room for rest and watch what happens in her own body.

In a small study, researchers monitored dogs during and after a five-minute search. Heart rates rose more during searching than walking, and the researchers reported recovery afterward and no observed stress behaviors in that setting. That is encouraging evidence about the activity; it does not establish that scent work treats anxiety or makes every dog calmer. In the program, we watch whether a particular search suits your dog, and shorten or simplify it when she needs us to. Fountain et al., 2026

Neuroscientists describe seeking and foraging as part of a positive motivation system in mammals. That framework helps explain why searching may be rewarding; it is not a trial of this program. Wright & Panksepp, 2012 In a small controlled study, dogs who practiced nosework for two weeks showed a more optimistic judgment bias than their own starting point; dogs who practiced heeling did not. Choice and opportunities to use their noses were proposed explanations, rather than separately tested causes. Duranton & Horowitz, 2019

A bond built in her language

Dogs speak mostly in small movements: a lick of the nose, a head turned away, a pause at a doorway. Most of us were never taught that language. In a 2024 study of social media videos of people playing with, petting, and hugging dogs, researchers described stress signals during human–dog interactions and called for greater attention to canine communication. Walsh et al., 2024

A search gives you a quiet place to learn that language, from your own dog, in her own words. You see her approach or hesitate, keep going or walk away, check an empty box or look back at you. Then you start answering her: making it easier when she hesitates, waiting when she is working, stopping before it is too much. She learns that she is heard. That is the kind of understanding usually reserved for people who have lived beside a dog for years.

And your quiet presence matters more than you might think. In one study, dogs kept working on a food puzzle much longer when their own person was in the room, even when that person sat silent with their eyes covered. A stranger in the same chair made no difference. Researchers call this the secure base effect. The study concerned a food puzzle, rather than scent work, and helps us think about the role of a familiar person nearby. Horn, Huber & Range, 2013 In the program, one lesson asks you to put both hands in your pockets and say nothing while she searches. That is not you doing less. That is you being her safe place while she figures it out.

That is why this is not obedience training, and not a trick class. The searches are where you learn her language, and she learns she can trust you with it.

Who scent work helps

Scent work for anxious, reactive, and restless dogs.

Three dogs I meet again and again.

They look very different at the end of a leash. Underneath, they often need the same three things: something they are good at, a choice that belongs to them, and a way back to ease.

The anxious dog

Scent work for anxious and fearful dogs

The dog who finds the world too much

She startles at the recycling truck. She won’t take a treat outside the front door. She spends the evening watching the window instead of sleeping.

Nobody can talk a frightened dog out of being afraid. What we can do is give her something she is already good at, in a place where nothing is asked of her except curiosity. She has been reading the world through her nose all her life. A few pieces of food in open boxes on the kitchen floor let her succeed at the thing she does best, and every part of it is her choice: to approach, to check, to walk away.

Choice is part of how we build the searches. A small study compared two weeks of nosework with heeling practice and found a more optimistic judgment bias after nosework. Both groups earned food and worked with their owners. The authors suggested opportunities to use the nose and exercise choice as possible explanations; those factors were not tested separately. Duranton & Horowitz, 2019

In the program there is a small lesson with one empty box. When she checks it and finds nothing, you say nothing and do nothing. She moves on, and the next box pays. Being wrong just became safe. For a dog who has learned that the world is full of surprises that cost her something, that is not a small lesson.

“A dog who is allowed to leave never has to say anything louder.”

Vela, from Card Thirty-Seven · The Small Loud One

The reactive dog

Scent work for reactive dogs

The dog who explodes at the end of the leash

You walk at 5:30 in the morning so no one else is out. You know every driveway you can duck into. You have crossed the street so many times you have stopped noticing you do it.

You are not alone in that. When researchers asked guardians of reactive dogs to describe their lives, the same things came up again and again: planning routes and hours around other dogs, turning back, crossing the road, feeling judged by strangers, and in a few cases being pulled down hard enough to break a wrist. Hart & King, 2023

Here is what the searches teach you that a walk cannot. A reaction can begin before the bark. It starts much earlier, with something small: a lick of the nose, a head turned a quarter away, a breath gone high and shallow. The searches give you a quiet place to learn what those small signals look like in your dog, when nothing is at stake. Then you begin to see them on the sidewalk, earlier, while there is still room to help.

“The bad Thursday did not begin on Thursday. It began three days earlier, at the corner by the wall, and it was the size of nothing at all.”

Vela, from Card Five · The Small Thing First

There is a second lesson underneath the first. On one Tuesday she passes the neighbor’s dog and carries on. On the next Tuesday, at the same corner, she comes apart. The corner didn’t change. What changed is how much she was already carrying when she got there. So before anyone works near the thing that frightens her, the program spends weeks lowering that load: daily food scatters, protected sleep, fewer demands. Only when she is ready, and only at a distance she can manage, does a search become something more. Find it stops being a game and becomes a familiar road back to herself.

And you learn to measure what actually changes first: not the storm, but the return. How long until the first sigh, the first soft eye, the first curious sniff. Watching that number is often how you first see progress, and your three assessments put it on paper.

The dog who never switches off

Scent work for restless dogs

The bright, busy dog who can’t settle

Two long walks, a game of fetch, a puzzle toy, and she is still pacing at nine o’clock. Every extra mile seems to make her fitter, not calmer.

A search asks for a different kind of effort: head down, slow, thinking. In a small 2026 study, researchers monitored dogs during and after a five-minute search and reported increased heart rates while searching, with recovery afterward. Those findings concern activity and recovery in that setting, rather than proof that scent work reduces restlessness. Fountain et al., 2026

Scent work won’t sedate a busy dog, and I won’t pretend it does. What it does is give her energy somewhere satisfying to go, a job with a clear beginning and a clear end, and a finish she can feel. Then comes the half that most of us skip: the rest. The program pairs searching with protected quiet, because a dog who has only ever been kept busy may never have learned how to be still.

“A dog who has been filled every hour of her life becomes a dog who cannot bear an empty one — and an empty hour is most of what a life is.”

Vela, from Card Four · The Empty Hour

And the person at the other end of the leash

The guardian who is quietly worn out

In a 2026 survey of 565 people living with dogs who have behavior problems, more than three in four reported a heavy caregiving burden, and more than half said they felt alone, even with help. The strongest driver of that distress was not how serious the dog’s behavior was. It was guilt. Kogan et al., 2026

That is why the fires and the notes are part of this program and not an extra. Alongside watching your dog, there is room to notice what changes in you: less grading her against every other dog in the park, and more attention to her own record.

“She is measuring your Tuesday against somebody else’s Saturday… There is no dog anywhere on this earth that you are behind.”

Vela, from Card Seventeen · The Dog Across the Park

Why it suits so many dogs

One simple activity. Almost any dog. Almost any home.

  • It uses what she already has. You are not teaching her to smell. You are giving the smelling somewhere to go.
  • Adapted to the dog in front of you. A search can happen in a hallway, at a slow walk, with finds placed low and easy. The setup can be adapted for many ages and abilities, with your veterinarian’s guidance when health or mobility calls for it.
  • No special space or equipment. A little food, three to five cardboard boxes, and a quiet room.
  • She gets to choose. Approach, pause, leave, come back. For a dog who has little say in her day, that is rare.
  • Being wrong is safe. An empty box costs her nothing, and a dog who learns that becomes more willing to try.
  • You can see what is happening. A search puts her comfort, her hesitation, and her recovery right in front of you, in a few minutes, at home.

What the research says, and what it doesn’t

What research tells us about scent work.

Small studies have examined judgment bias, activity, recovery, and welfare during scent work. Surveys also tell us what trainers and guardians believe or experience. These are different kinds of evidence, and the research is still young. I want you to be able to weigh it yourself.

Read the research sources and their limits
  • Nosework and optimism. Twenty dogs, two weeks. Dogs who did nosework became more optimistic on a standard judgment test; dogs who practiced heeling did not. Duranton & Horowitz, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2019
  • What searching does to the body. Twenty-one dogs wore heart monitors. Heart rate rose most during the search, dogs carried their tails higher and showed no stress behaviors, and they recovered as they did after a walk. Fountain et al., Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2026
  • What trainers see. Of 566 professional trainers in 32 countries, most believed scent work helps with general fearfulness (81%) and anxiety (77%), and many with overexcitement (64%) and reactivity toward unfamiliar dogs (57%). These are professional impressions, not controlled trials. Fountain et al., Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2025
  • Scent work compared with obedience class. Thirty-five dogs, four weeks. Owners in the scent work classes said their dogs’ quality of life improved; the obedience classes improved trained behaviors more. The study did not show a calming effect on owner questionnaires, and reported increased hyperactivity in the scent work group. Sobol & Dowling-Guyer, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2026
  • Your presence as a safe base. Dogs persisted much longer at a food puzzle when their own person was present, even silent and blindfolded; a stranger had no such effect. Horn, Huber & Range, PLOS ONE, 2013
  • Missed signals and the bond. In videos of people playing with, petting, and hugging dogs, people often missed the dogs’ stress signals; the authors warn this can fracture the human–dog bond and call for teaching people canine communication. Walsh et al., Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2024
  • Why searching feels good. Neuroscientists describe seeking and foraging as a core positive motivation system shared across mammals. This is a well-established framework in brain research, not a dog-specific trial. Wright & Panksepp, Neuropsychoanalysis, 2012
  • The big picture. A 2025 review of 27 studies found that very little research has yet looked at how scent activities affect dogs’ well-being, especially companion dogs, and called for much more. Fountain et al., Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2025
  • The people. Guardians of reactive dogs describe planning their lives around walks and feeling judged (Hart & King, Anthrozoös, 2023); among 565 owners of dogs with behavior problems, 78% reported a heavy caregiving burden (Kogan et al., Pets, 2026).

These sources concern scent work and related questions about dogs and their guardians. They do not establish the effectiveness of the complete Canine Sensory Connection program or predict an individual dog’s recovery. The assessments are your record of what changes, rather than a clinical test.

So here is my honest position. Scent work is not a cure, and it is not a substitute for veterinary care or an individual behavior plan when a dog needs one. It is one of the most useful, gentle, and widely suited things I know for helping a dog feel capable, and for helping you see her clearly. That is why it sits at the center of this program.

What this helps you resolve

Less guessing. Earlier decisions. More of the dog you enjoy.

One place to begin is with what you notice: something you may have walked past a hundred times.

Not knowing whether she is calm, or only quiet

You practice reading breathing, movement, and attention well enough to tell stillness from ease.

Finding out she was overwhelmed only after she reacts

You learn what comes before: the turn of her head, the shift of weight, the moment she stops sniffing.

A bright, restless dog with nowhere to put it

Short searches use her nose and let her finish satisfied, in fifteen minutes or less.

Days planned around what might go wrong

Everyday support lowers how much she is carrying, so she has more to spare when the world arrives.

One more repetition, and then paying for it

You learn when to make it easier, stop, or rest, and why an easier day often teaches more.

Advice written for someone else’s dog

Your assessment helps you choose a starting point, then compare your record at three months and six. In the Accountability Partner Edition, I also read your Day 0 assessment and write back.

What you may find yourself doing less of: repeating cues, moving closer because she has gone quiet, filling the silence, deciding after it has already happened, and reading every hard moment as a failure.

These are skills you practice, not results I can promise. Every dog moves at her own pace, and a quiet change still counts.

How the program is built

Four steps, in this order for a reason.

Most people start with the hardest part: working near the thing that frightens their dog. That is why so many people stall. This program starts somewhere quieter, and builds.

We don’t set you in the middle of the ocean and tell you to paddle your way home. A new module arrives each month, one step at a time, so there is only ever one thing in front of you. By the time the next one comes, the last one has had time to become yours, and hers.

1

Scent Work Foundations · Learn to look

Simple food searches and clear timing. You learn what she looks like before a search, while she works, and as she settles afterward.

2

The Whole Hunt · Build the game

A search with a clear ending she enjoys: staying at the find to show you, or, for dogs who like to carry, bringing something back.

3

The Distance She Can Afford · Lower the load first

First, learning to read what she is carrying. Then weeks of everyday support that reduce how much she is carrying. Only then, and only if she is ready, careful work at a distance she can manage.

4

The World Made Findable · Make it part of your life

Choose the searching that belongs in your days: a favorite object, a familiar person, a new room.

Canine Sensory Connection orientation map: four modules — 1 Scent Work Foundations, a familiar search; 2 The Whole Hunt, an ending she chooses; 3 The Distance She Can Afford, the waiting periods are hers; 4 The World Made Findable, thirty days wherever they fall. See, sense, choose, recover. Seven fires you keep at home. Begin on the day you choose: one card each evening, Day 1 to Day 81.
Your self-paced orientation map. Download the map to keep on the fridge.

Progress follows your dog, not the calendar. You never have to work near something frightening to belong here.

An ordinary week

A card each evening. A small search when it suits. A fire now and then.

Each evening a card arrives: a short story from Vela, an old dog speaking to a gathering of puppies beside a fire. Fifty-one of the cards carry a small field lesson; thirty ask only that you notice something. Allow about ten minutes to read, and up to fifteen on a practice day. The search itself may last a minute or two.

Illustration of Vela, an older dog, and five puppies gathered around a small fire in a woodland at night.
Meet Vela. Eighty-one evenings by the fire.Tap or click the illustration to enlarge.

The teaching comes in twelve letters from me, one before you begin and one with each packet of eight cards, written the way I would talk with you on a walk. And seven times across the eighty-one days, on Days 1, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, and 81, you keep a Fireside Self-Check: about thirty minutes to look back at what you noticed and choose one small next step. In the Accountability Partner Edition, you send me the Self-Checks from Day 14 through Day 81, and I answer each in writing within seventy-two hours.

  1. Arrive · 5 minutes

    Sit where she can see you. Write one ordinary moment from the days since the last fire.

  2. Open a story · 5 minutes

    Reread one card from the stretch you are looking back at.

  3. Look closely · 10 minutes

    One observation, or a short clip of your own, watched twice: once for her, once for you. Describe what happened before deciding what it meant.

  4. Hear yourself · 5 minutes

    What surprised you? What are you tired of? What do you enjoy that you did not expect to?

  5. Choose one small thing · 3 minutes

    One next step, an easier version, or rest.

  6. Close · 2 minutes

    Write the day of the next fire.

Your notes and clips are yours. Nothing is graded. In the Independent Edition, nothing comes to me. In the Accountability Partner Edition, your Day 0 assessment and six of your Self-Checks do, and I write back. Your dog never has to perform for anyone. If a week gets away from you, the card waits. There is nothing to catch up.

Your six months at a glance

You choose Day 1. The rest follows from there.

The first letter arrives the evening before. One card arrives each evening for eighty-one evenings, and seven times along the way you keep a fire. Then you keep practicing through Month 6, when your final assessment gives you another comparison with where you began.

Counted from your own Day 1 · about thirty minutes each.
FireDayLooks back at
The opening fireDay 1Your first sentence about her
SecondDay 14Cards 1–14
ThirdDay 28Cards 15–28
FourthDay 42Cards 29–42
FifthDay 56Cards 43–56
SixthDay 70Cards 57–70
The last fireDay 81Cards 71–81, and your first sentence beside the last

The first sentence and the last

On Day 1, you write one sentence about who your dog is to you today. On Day 81, you write it again.

What you now pay attention to may be the change you most want to keep.

Three assessments around them

Day 0, before your first card. Month 3, soon after the last. Month 6, once ordinary life has had its say.

Some steps in the modules wait on your dog, not the calendar. If one falls after card 81, that is the design, not a delay.

Is this right for us?

Who this is for, and where to start instead.

A good fit

This was written for you if…

  • Your dog is anxious or fearful, and takes a while to come back.
  • She reacts on the leash, and your walks are planned around it.
  • She is bright and busy, never quite settles, and needs something satisfying to do.
  • She is older, and you want to meet the dog she is becoming.
  • She is doing well, and you would like to understand her more deeply.
  • You have tried several approaches and still cannot see what comes before the hard moment.

Start somewhere else

Talk with me first if…

  • There has been a bite, guarding around food or objects, or a current safety concern.
  • Something has changed in her movement, appetite, or behavior with no story behind it. That is a veterinary question first.
  • You would like me beside you every week. Private work or the 90-Day Program may suit you better.
  • You are looking for a fast fix or a dog who performs on cue. This is not that.

There is no promise of a particular behavior result by Month 6. There is a program built with care, and room for the two of you to learn at your own pace.

Why I made this

I would love for us to continue.

When we walk around the yard together, we begin by talking about your dog. Before long, I hear a little about the life the two of you share: what the week has asked of you, something that made you laugh, a moment you are still thinking about. Your dog stops to investigate the grass, and there we are, getting to know one another.

So much of what I teach happens in those unhurried minutes, when there is time to watch. I wanted you to have more of them, on your own evenings, with the whole of what I know written down beside you.

So I have made Canine Sensory Connection into something you can keep at home: the four modules, the eighty-one fireside cards, the letters, and the practice. You begin on the day you choose. The evenings are yours.

And if we have not met yet, you are welcome here too. The first two editions are open to anyone. No invitation is needed.

Warmly, Lorrie

Where you begin

The whole program. One payment. Yours to keep.

Three editions. The first two carry the same program, and differ only in whether I walk beside you. The third is a live circle of about twelve guardians, by invitation. No subscription and no renewal.

On your own

Canine Sensory Connection · Independent Edition

Living the Tao of the Dog · The independent edition

$479 one payment
everything yours to keep

Begin any day · Six months · Eighty-one evenings at home · Three assessments

  • Three Canine Resilience Assessments. Day 0, Month 3, and Month 6, each answered at home and kept by you, so you can see side by side how her recovery is changing. This edition does not include a written reply. Taken on its own, the assessment with my written read is normally $297. See the assessment →
  • Four modules, one each month. Scent Work Foundations, The Whole Hunt, The Distance She Can Afford, and The World Made Findable, with companion books, study guides, roadmaps, the Distance Book, the Planting Page, and eight quick reference sheets.
  • Eighty-one sensory encounters. Vela’s fireside cards, one each evening from Day 1 to Day 81, so you always know what to read next.
  • Twelve fireside letters. One before you begin, one with each packet of eight cards, and a last one with card 81. They carry the teaching.
  • Seven Fireside Self-Checks. On Days 1, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, and 81: about thirty minutes to look back, look closely, and choose one small next step. All seven stay with you.
Begin at your own pace · $479
  • Your access details and assessment arrive by email.
  • You choose your Day 1. The first letter arrives the evening before.
  • Your second and third assessments arrive at three months and at six months.

Read client reviews · Questions before you begin are welcome: ask me first.

There are no calls of any kind. Individual consultations with me can be arranged separately if you would like them.

With me beside you

Canine Sensory Connection · Accountability Partner Edition

Living the Tao of the Dog · The accountability partner edition

$637 one payment
everything yours to keep

Begin any day · Six months · Eighty-one evenings at home · Me beside you

  • Everything in the independent edition. Four modules, eighty-one fireside cards, twelve letters, three assessments, and seven Fireside Self-Checks.
  • Day 0 · Your debrief. You email me your completed Canine Resilience Assessment. My full written debrief comes back within seventy-two hours. On its own, that assessment and written read is normally $297; here it is included. See the assessment →
  • Month 3 and Month 6. These two assessments are yours, to set beside the first.
  • Six Self-Checks, answered. You send me your Fireside Self-Checks on Days 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, and 81, and I answer each in writing within seventy-two hours. Your Day 1 Self-Check stays with you; your Day 0 assessment has already shown me where you begin.
Begin with Lorrie · $637
  • Your access details and assessment arrive by email.
  • Email me your completed Day 0 assessment. My written debrief comes back within seventy-two hours.
  • You choose your Day 1. The first letter arrives the evening before.
  • From Day 14, send me each Self-Check. My reply comes back within seventy-two hours.

There are no calls of any kind. Individual consultations with me can be arranged separately if you would like them.

Live · January 2027

Canine Sensory Connection · Live Edition

Living the Tao of the Dog · The live edition

$1,197 or six monthly payments of $209
by invitation · about twelve guardians per circle
places offered first to the invitation list

On Zoom · Week by week · Every dog seen

  • A small circle, live. I gather about twelve guardians on Zoom, week by week, through the winter.
  • Your own dog, watched together. We slow an ordinary walk down until the ear shift and the quiet nose become visible, long before the bark.
  • What she can afford today. Each week we ask it of each dog, and practice answering her early, while there is still room to.
  • Kept small on purpose. About twelve guardians in each circle, so every dog is seen.

Join the invitation list

  • No payment to join the list.
  • You hear the dates before anyone else.
  • Places are offered first to the people on the list.

Why it is built this way. The cards arrive one at a time so you are never handed a pile to get through. The modules arrive one a month for the same reason: we don’t set you in the middle of the ocean and tell you to paddle your way home. You get one step, time to live with it, and then the next. And the assessment comes first, because the right beginning for a dog who will not eat in the hallway is different from the right beginning for a dog who never switches off. It comes back twice more because the question worth asking at six months is not whether she still reacts, but how quickly she returns.

Before you begin

Bring the dog you know, and a little curiosity.

After you enroll, I will send your access details, assessment instructions, and reference library. The first letter arrives the evening before your Day 1. Nothing needs to be read, filmed, or practiced first.

1

Choose a question of your own

Perhaps you want to enjoy walks again, recognize invitations to play, or understand an older dog’s changing preferences. You will keep returning to what matters to you.

2

Write one sentence about your dog

Describe who she is to you today. Keep it somewhere you can find again on Day 81.

3

Gather almost nothing

A little suitable food, three to five open cardboard boxes, and a quiet place. No special equipment and no purchase required.

4

Choose your Day 1

Pick a day with a little room around it. If you miss an evening later, the card waits for you.

Your guide, and a fellow student of dogs

Lorrie J. Harris

If we have worked together, you know how much I care about what happens before a behavior becomes obvious: the small change in a dog’s body, the pace of the person beside them, the question that becomes clearer when we take our time.

“What usually changes first is not the dog. It is where you look.”

Lorrie J. Harris, founder of Coaching Canine Companions

My own dogs keep that curiosity alive. With Maui, tracking and scent work opened another way for us to spend time together. I began paying closer attention to what he enjoyed, how I was participating, and what happened when I gave him room to use his nose.

In the letters, you will hear what I notice, what I ask, what I leave alone, and why. And if you choose the Accountability Partner Edition, I read about your dog directly: your Day 0 Canine Resilience Assessment, and your Fireside Self-Checks from Day 14 through Day 81. Each one comes to me, and each one comes back to you in writing.

U.S. Navy veteran · Dogs since 1990 · Master Dog Trainer through National K-9 · AKC Approved CGC Evaluator · AKC Fit Dog Certified · North Kingstown, Rhode Island

Read client reviews

A few things you may be wondering

Questions about Canine Sensory Connection.

What is Canine Sensory Connection?

Canine Sensory Connection is a self-paced online scent work program created by Lorrie J. Harris of Coaching Canine Companions. It combines short searches at home, 81 fireside cards, four monthly modules, 12 letters, seven Fireside Self-Checks, and three Canine Resilience Assessments across six months.

What is scent work for dogs?

Scent work is a search game. Your dog uses her nose to find a little food hidden in one of several open boxes or places around a room. You are not teaching her to smell; she already does that far better than we can. You are giving the smelling somewhere to go. In Canine Sensory Connection, a search lasts a minute or two and happens at home, at her pace.

Does scent work help reactive dogs?

It can be a useful part of the picture, and the research is still young. In a 2019 study, dogs who did two weeks of nosework became more optimistic on a standard judgment test, while dogs who practiced heeling did not (Duranton & Horowitz). In a 2025 survey of 566 professional trainers, 57% believed scent work helps with reactivity toward unfamiliar dogs; those are professional impressions, not controlled trials. Scent work is not a cure, and it is not a substitute for veterinary care or an individual behavior plan. What it does well is show you, in a few minutes at home, how much she has to spare and how quickly she comes back.

Can I do scent work with my dog at home?

Yes. Everything in Canine Sensory Connection happens at home: a little food, three to five open cardboard boxes, and a quiet room. A search can happen in a hallway. There is no special equipment, no training field, and nowhere to drive.

Is scent work suitable for older dogs or dogs with health limits?

Often, yes. A search can happen at a slow walk, with finds placed low and easy, and the setup can be adapted for many ages and abilities. When health or mobility is a question, plan it with your veterinarian. New or unexplained changes in movement, appetite, or behavior call for a veterinary visit first.

Do I need to live in Rhode Island?

No. Canine Sensory Connection is online and done at home, so you can join from anywhere. Coaching Canine Companions is based at 19 Lawnwood Road in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, where Lorrie also works with dogs and their people in person.

Who is Lorrie J. Harris?

Lorrie J. Harris is the founder of Coaching Canine Companions in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and the author of Canine Sensory Connection. She is a Master Dog Trainer through National K-9, an AKC Approved CGC Evaluator, AKC Fit Dog Certified, and a U.S. Navy veteran who has lived and worked with dogs since 1990.

How long is the program?

The program spans six months. The 81 evening cards begin on your chosen Day 1. Four modules are released monthly, so the fourth module and some practice can continue after the cards finish. Assessments at Day 0, Month 3, and Month 6 let you compare your own record. Progress follows your dog’s pace.

How much time do I need each day?

Allow about 10 minutes to read a card and up to 15 minutes on a practice day. A search may last only a minute or two. The seven Fireside Self-Checks take about 30 minutes each, on Days 1, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, and 81.

What equipment do I need?

A little food suitable for your dog, three to five open cardboard boxes, and a quiet place at home. You do not need special scent work equipment.

How much does Canine Sensory Connection cost?

The Independent Edition costs $479, paid once. The Accountability Partner Edition costs $637, paid once, and includes a written debrief of your Day 0 assessment and written replies to six Self-Checks, each within 72 hours of receipt. The separate Fireside Sneak Peek membership has a free first month, then costs $39 a month unless you cancel. The January 2027 live edition is by invitation, at $1,197, or six monthly payments of $209; its dates are not listed here.

What is the K9 Stress Bubble Audit?

It is a free, informal six-question reflection on everyday life with your dog. It offers a starting point for a conversation with Lorrie, rather than a diagnosis or a validated measure of stress. It is separate from the longer Canine Resilience Assessments included in the program.

How will I know if it’s working?

Watch the return, not the reaction. Your assessments at Day 0, Month 3, and Month 6 ask the same questions each time: how long she takes to come back after a hard moment, how many hard moments a walk holds, and how far away each trigger is when she first notices it. You set each one beside the last. There is no score. Only her own record, side by side.

My dog is doing well. Is this still for us?

Yes. You can come because you enjoy your dog and want to understand her more deeply. Shared pleasure and quiet discoveries belong here just as much as a difficult week.

Is this obedience training?

No. There are no drills and no commands to perfect. The searches give your dog something she is naturally good at and give you a clear place to watch her choices, her comfort, and how she recovers.

Who is this for?

Anxious, reactive, and restless dogs, and the people who want to understand them more deeply. Both editions, on your own and with me as your accountability partner, are open to anyone, with no invitation needed. Only the live circle is by personal invitation. If there has been a bite or a current safety concern, please contact me before enrolling.

Are there any calls?

The Independent and Accountability Partner Editions have no calls. The seven Fireside Self-Checks take their place, and the twelve letters carry the teaching. In the Accountability Partner Edition, your Day 0 assessment and six of your Self-Checks are where I read about your dog directly and write back. Individual consultations can be arranged separately. A separate live edition meets on Zoom and is planned for January 2027, by invitation.

What is the difference between the two editions?

The program is the same in both. In the Independent Edition, $479, all three assessments and all seven Self-Checks stay with you, and no written reply is included. In the Accountability Partner Edition, $637, I am your accountability partner. You email me your Day 0 assessment and my full written debrief comes back within seventy-two hours. Your Month 3 and Month 6 assessments are yours to compare. You send me your Fireside Self-Checks on Days 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, and 81, and I answer each in writing within seventy-two hours.

What if my dog doesn’t want to search?

That is useful information, not a failed session. She may approach, pause, leave, or decline. We look at what happened just before, make it easier, and try another day. We never hold a dog near something frightening to push through it.

What if I miss an evening?

The card waits, and so does the fire. There is nothing to make up and nothing to explain. Begin again where you are.

What if a card feels too personal?

Some later cards touch on aging, loss, and grief. A letter tells you those themes are coming before they arrive, and you can choose how to read them, including leaving a card for another day.

Can I try it before committing to the full program?

Yes. Start with the Mini Program, the Fireside Sneak Peek. It opens very soon: leave your name and email on this page and you will hear the day it opens. Your first month is free, then $39 a month, and you can cancel anytime. Four short lessons arrive each month, one a week, so you can see whether this way of working suits you and your dog before you begin the six-month course.

What is the Fireside Sneak Peek, the Mini Program?

A $39 monthly membership: a twelve-month mini version of Canine Sensory Connection, with four short lessons a month, each with a five-minute video, an at-home handout, and Vela’s story, read aloud in the author’s own tone. Your first month is free, then $39 a month, and you can cancel anytime. Each lesson ends with an invitation into the full program, whenever you are ready.

What happens after the eighty-one evenings?

The cards end, and the program does not. Months four through six are for living what you learned: the searches become part of ordinary days, and your second and third Canine Resilience Assessments, at three months and six months, show you what has settled into place. Everything written remains yours to keep. There is no subscription and no renewal. Some steps in the modules wait on your dog rather than the calendar, so they may continue past Day 81 by design.

An invitation to begin

We did not win the walk. We came home to each other.

That is what this work is for. Not a perfect dog. A dog you can read, and evenings you both look forward to.

Bring a question, a story, or an ordinary week. Begin there.

Begin at your own pace · $479Begin with Lorrie · $637Talk with Lorrie first

Begin any day · Six months · Eighty-one evenings · Three assessments · One payment, yours to keep

Free · six questions · about three minutes

The K9 Stress Bubble Audit

Not sure which of these is yours? Take a quiet minute to reflect on how daily life feels for you and your dog.

Six questions about walks, rest, and recovery, followed by a starting point to discuss with me. This is an informal reflection, not a diagnosis or an enrollment requirement. Enter your name and email after the questions to see your result: low, moderate, or high. Each comes with a short lesson for this week, the edition that fits what you described, and the Stress Bubble video. Nothing to buy.

Question 1 of 6

Also from Coaching Canine Companions

The 90-Day Field Immersion

If you are looking for structured work on everyday handling and behavior, explore the 90-Day Program. It offers a different kind of support, with self-directed learning from anywhere or day training in Rhode Island.

Explore the 90-Day Field Immersion →

We can talk about which kind of support fits this season of your life with your dog. Ask me first.

Living the Tao of the Dog · Begin any day

Mini Program · get notifiedFull program · from $479

Meet Vela. Eighty-one evenings by the fire.