Lindsay Dellas founded Good Dog Happy Dog LLC in 2017 after her own rescue dog Barnaby struggled with reactivity to San Francisco city life. According to her site, a negative experience with a punitive trainer led her to seek out a compassionate behavior consultant, an encounter that ultimately shaped her career path. She holds multiple credentials including CPDT-KA, CTBC, and Fear Free Certified Professional designations, and describes herself as an Assessed Trauma Informed Practitioner.
The business focuses specifically on what Dellas calls "behavior work" rather than traditional obedience training. Her site emphasizes reactive dogs, anxious or fearful dogs, senior dogs experiencing behavioral changes, and complex cases including dogs with bite histories or aggression labels. She states she takes on cases other trainers might decline and works to identify root causes rather than suppress behaviors.
All sessions are conducted via Zoom, which the site describes as best practice for anxious and reactive dogs since an unfamiliar person entering the home can add stress. Dellas offers only private one-on-one consultations, not group classes, and indicates she coordinates with a dog's broader care team, veterinarians, veterinary behaviorists, and other specialists, as part of her approach. She's a member of several professional organizations including the Pet Professional Guild and the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants.
