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Pack Leader Help: Dog Rehabilitation & Training

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Alexandria, VA
Pack Leader Help: Dog Rehabilitation & Training

We rehabilitate dogs and train people. Any breed, any age, any behavior.

09/24/2025

I’m soooo excited for this next month. If you’ve never done a sound bath, it’s relaxing, incredible and a way to really check in with yourself. 🌸

My incredible expert will be guiding us on:
🗓️ THURS OCT 16th 6:30pm
Location: Alexandria, VA Huntington Community Center
$35

DM me “sound” for the rsvp link spots are limited!

09/04/2025

🚨Socialization is making dogs WORSE.

I know you’ve heard it a thousand times: “Just socialize your dog!”
But ….⬇️

❌ Dog parks = chaos
❌ Daycares = over-arousal
❌ Forcing puppies into scary situations = flooding

That doesn’t build confidence.
It builds reactivity, anxiety, and even aggression.

Real socialization isn’t about more exposure, it’s about the right experiences. Calm, structured, and led by YOU.

The dogs I work with who struggle the most almost always victims of bad “socialization.”

📌 Save this if you’re raising a puppy
📤 Share with a friend who still hits the dog park daily

Because bad socialization is worse than none at all.

06/01/2025

Happy 10th birthday to the dog that built my life, my career, my everything. 🤩🌈

My entire career I’ve worked specifically with aggressive dogs and there wasn’t a single dog I did a board & train with or worked with that Iris didn’t make her friend. She is resilient, loving, passionate, serious, goofy, and the best dog anyone could ever ask for. She is every dog an owner wishes they had and I got so fu***ng lucky with her.

She is spritely and young at heart and I plan on having another decade with her. She has seen the ending of relationships, 4 moves, grief, joyous occasions, new friends, thousands of dogs, and an entire decades worth of memories. I don’t even remember a life without her at this point and I never want to.

What will she get today? A long hike (this is what most dogs want!) where she gets to enjoy the fruits of her labor, some sort of steak dinner and a massage for only as long as she prefers. I wish she could read so she can hear all of this but I will thank her by fulfilling her each day.

To end, a poem I wrote about her last year 🙂

Coffee-eyed glare, rich and not bitter
Suddenly I’m guilty for a treat I did not consider
“Not right now” a swift murmured excuse
Her knowing look, one not so easily refused
Remnants of expectancy litter the ground
Freshly cleaned flooring suddenly drowned
Moments to years, a face freckled with gray
Give the treat now, these moments won’t stay

04/07/2025

I meet and talk with clients daily who are excited about helping their dog and immediately ask to join group classes for their reactive pup.

What they fail to realize is, reactivity is a SYMPTOM often built, rehearsed and perfected at HOME. It’s just that those reactions are either smaller or less inconvenient so they’re not viewed as the primary “issue”.

It’s the small or minor responses that matter the most. These are often missed or pushed aside as less important.

“Well I don’t care as much that he barks at the door”
“Getting her to come when called isn’t our priority right now”
“I’d love for him to drop the ball on command but I want to focus on his leash reactivity”

If you’re unable to control your dog’s most basic impulses in a controlled environment like your home, what makes you think tackling an uncontrolled trigger and environment is going to be the best game plan? This is not to shame at all! Its only to bring awareness to the root cause. These little moments that add up throughout your relationship.

A training program focused on passing dogs, triggers or group classes first is one that will fail, in my opinion. The issue isn’t that your dog is reacting to those things, it’s a multitude of other factors contributing to the symptom in the moment.

What do you think?

04/01/2025

I don’t think it needs to be said but this is an April Fool’s joke despite me wishing it wasn’t!

The dog training industry has a long ways to go but at least in this corner, in my part of the community- a mixture of training methodologies, we don’t argue we stay curious.

Anyone who paints things as black and white, with very little regard to nuance, is a person I will never trust. This goes for both balanced and force free trainers.

They are ethical ways to train in both “corners” and unethical ways to train.

I have to believe the majority of people are doing the best they can with the information they have. They are ways of gently guiding someone to more kind, less forceful or physically punitive ways of training but it doesn’t include belittling, beating, and harassing trainers online.

I hope we can all do better soon.

03/30/2025

Is your dog reactive toward other dogs?
-Growling. Lunging. Barking.

It’s not bad behavior—it’s communication. And more often than not, it’s coming from a place of fear, not dominance.

The truth is:
Dog-on-dog aggression is common.
And better yet—it’s fixable.

This post breaks down:
• What actually causes it
• What triggers it
• Why it escalates
• And what your dog really needs

Whether your dog’s reactions feel random or rooted in something deeper, we’re here to help you move from chaos to calm—with empathy, structure, and long-term results.

Swipe through to learn more, and send us a DM if you’re ready to get started.

03/03/2025

I’m not sure why today was the day Iris allowed Raisin to sleep next to her this morning but I’m so glad I was able to capture it even though it only lasted 10 minutes.

Neither dog has ever been big on cuddling (raisin has tried but Iris usually gets up and walks away)

But this morning she was nestled into her couch nook and Raisin forced his way in, always undeterred by her standoffish mood, and laid as physically close as possible. She accepted.

As a side note, I’ve been MIA due to a family friend passing. This is a big loss for myself and loved ones around me so if I’m unresponsive that’s why. Thank you for your support and patience 💙

12/29/2024

Happy 3rd birthday to skittles-for-brains Raisin! 🥳

He has like Benjamin button disease where he mentally ages backwards. Aren’t dogs supposed to get wiser (better behaved) with age?

Those who have done socialization sessions with me over the past 2 years have worked with raisin and have been witness two his lack of thoughts (just vibes).

He has learned so much from Iris and has chosen to use what he wants and leave out what doesn’t include fun (he doesn’t like to work).

With all that said, I’m still grateful I paid for a well bred, well balanced, amazing temperament dog. He is a testament to ethical breeding practices l that I wish more people wouldn’t consider when choosing a family dog. He loves everyone and everything.

Help me wish him a happy birthday today and let me know if you want a play date! (Raisin’s request)

11/12/2024

Raisin wants to know 🤔🤔🤔

09/02/2024

Today’s my 30th birthday 🥳🥳and there’s a few lessons I want to share that I’ve taken from 3 decades being alive Dog Trainer Edition.

1) Everyone is right and everyone is wrong. Trust your instincts and go with what you feel is ethical.

2) Your dog doesn’t want you to feel guilty. Move on quickly. Use the time you can when you can.

4) The loudest voices are often the wrongest (I know that’s not a word but it’s true)

5) Trust yourself. Trust that you know what’s best for you and not a single other person, professional or anyone else on earth knows what you need more than you do.

6) Genuinely stop giving a f**k about what other people think about your life. They don’t know you like you know you. Stop wasting time worried about outside judgements. Respect opinions of people who respect you.

7) Boundaries are incredibly important for both you and your dog. Please don’t let people think that dog training is all rainbows butterflies and placating your dog. It’s not true and it’s not healthy.

8) there will always be sacrifice on some level for both you AND your dog. Try your best to find a balance of both.

9) Don’t take anything personally. It’s not about you, I promise.

10) Love openly, love freely, intensely, embarrassingly, share it everyday with anyone you love because you don’t have a lot of time even if you think you do. Life has a way of snatching your crutch of time away. Do it now and do it with all you have.

Thanks for joining me. Now help me celebrate my birthday 🎂🎂🎂

07/31/2024

🐶 Ever wondered why your friendly dog suddenly turns leash aggressive? Let’s dive into the stages of how excitement can turn into aggression over time.

1️⃣ **Curiosity:** Most adolescent dogs are naturally curious. This curiosity is often met with excitement, but it’s important to manage this excitement properly.

2️⃣ **Excitement:** Many dogs are very excitable, especially on the leash. If excitement is mixed with restriction, it can lead to frustration. Learn to manage and control this excitement to prevent future issues.

3️⃣ **Frustration:** Over time, repeated excitement with restriction can lead to frustration. If your dog is allowed to pull towards everything on walks, they may not understand why they can’t pull towards other dogs.

4️⃣ **Aggression:** After months or years of frustration, dogs may seek an outlet for their feelings, sometimes resulting in aggression. Biting or aggressive behavior often stems from this long-term over-arousal.

Don’t wait until your dog is in the frustration phase.

Talk to a professional dog trainer if your dog is pulling you on walks towards other dogs or animals. Better yet, shoot me a DM for personalized advice! 🐾✨

06/12/2024

🐶Making dogs wait calmly at thresholds (this doesn’t mean forcing them into a sit while they maintain high levels of excitement) is one of the most underrated tools you easily have at your disposal.

This is a behavior your dog is practicing multiple times a day- impulsively moving through life. It would serve both you and your dog to ask them to wait before they get to move towards what they want. This includes any threshold: car, back door front door, crate, gate etc.

I won’t allow my dogs to go through the doors until I’ve released them to do so.

Do you make your dog wait at thresholds?

Address

Alexandria, VA
22309

Opening Hours

Monday	12pm - 8pm
Tuesday	12pm - 8pm
Wednesday	12pm - 8pm
Thursday	12pm - 8pm
Friday	12pm - 8pm
Saturday	12pm - 8pm

Telephone

+15715703395

Website

http://Packleaderhelp.com/

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Orgins of Pack Leader Help

Brianna moved back to northern Virginia after spending the previous 5 years in Pennsylvania for her undergraduate program in business administration with a concentration in small business development. After she moved back to NOVA, Brianna recognized the perfect opportunity to help dog owners and their pets. There was plenty of dog training facilities in the DMV area, but none actually addressed dog psychology or dog behavior, and none helped to create a harmonious relationship between dog and owner-a relationship based on trust and respect, instead of sending dogs off for intense training courses that don’t involve the owner and don’t create lasting and healthy results for behavior modification.

It was clear after the first few months of Pack Leader Help opening that the community desired a place where they can actually find results for serious behavioral problems such as aggression, over excitement, leash pulling, anxiety, etc. Brianna uses her arsenal of tools, which all stem from dog psychology and behavior, to inform owners on how to understand their dog, why their dogs do the things they do, and what they, as owners and pack leaders, need to do to fix and rehabilitate the behavior.