Best Life Dog Services

13/08/2024

Picking up supplies for the .free.pet.pantry.project at Costco using the Best Life Accessibility Fund! Want to pitch in? Venmo or Cash App

17/07/2024

✨This Saturday at 3 PM EST join us via Zoom for our July Best Life Support Group!

This free, one-hour Zoom is appropriate for dog guardians supporting a pet on a behavior journey through reactive, aggressive, or otherwise dysregulated behavior.

RSVP online ✨

12/07/2024

☀️Seeking Treat-Tossers!

RVA - we’re looking for 3 community members to hang out for 45 minutes Sunday morning at 10 while dogs with the stranger danger build their confidence around new people. Treats, friendship, and cute dogs provided!

Please send an email or a text if you’re interested and available! ☀️

10/07/2024

Happiest of Happy Birthdays to my sweet Amore - 12 years! 🎉

I am so in love with my sweet girl, and so grateful to have the privilege of enjoying this long life with her.

If you’d like to help Amore celebrate her birthday, and your financial needs are met, consider contributing $12 to the Beat Life Accessibility Fund via Venmo or CashApp

This year alone the fund has helped to support community members with specialist support (specifically, service dog, separation anxiety specialists, veterinary behaviorist consults, and work with Best Life), enrichment items, emergency surgery, management and safety equipment, and more ✨

I will also be sure to pass along any birthday wishes and love you leave in the comments. Comments requesting Amore be given cookies or pets will be honored 🤓🥰

21/06/2024

☀️🥵It is HOT! We have quite the heat wave coming.

• Limit outside time with your pets in favor of indoor enrichment like nose work, shredding, and play.

• When outside with your pets stick to the shade and provide them with fresh water.

• Ensure you have plenty of water, too, and consider putting a few frozen bottles of water in your car to share with houseless community members, or others spending excessive time outside when you go out.

• Watch for signs of heat stress in dogs such as excessive panting or drooling; red or pale gums; weakness or staggering; increased heart rate; vomiting or diarrhea; confusion or disorientation; and collapse or seizures.

• Watch for signs of heat stress in cats such as rapid breathing; excessive grooming or drooling; elevated heart rate; restlessness; lethargy; or vomiting.

19/06/2024

✨Join me on June 22nd at 5 PM EST -or- sign up and enjoy the recording at your own convenience for “Building Community through a Disability Justice Framework” hosted by the Learner-Centered Training community!

We’ll talk about
• Why social connection is important, and can be difficult or unsafe
• Disability, ableism, and Disability Justice
• The 10 Pillars of DJ
• Charity vs. Mutual Aid
• Practical community building
• Access intimacy, care linguistics, and courageous conversations
• The Paradox of Intolerance

Suggested contribution of $25, pay what you can model ✨

Live Q&A 🌈

See you there! 🔗 in bio!

13/06/2024

✨Join us on June 22nd at 5 PM ET for an empowering webinar titled “Building Community through a Disability Justice Framework” hosted through Learner-Centered Training.

This 90-minute presentation, followed by a live Q&A, will delve into strategies aimed at cultivating inclusive and supportive communities within the field of animal behavior and in our day-to-day lives.

Drawing upon the framework of Disability Justice, the session will explore concepts such as leadership of those most impacted and access intimacy, discuss the differences between mutual aid and charity, and leave participants with practical considerations to apply to their own community-building efforts.

The event is designed for anyone interesting in building, growing, or thriving in community.

While the suggested cost is $25, it is pay what you can. 🔗 to register in bio or through the LCT website.

See you there!

Photo ID: A beige square with pink text in the middle. The first line shares the date of the webinar “June 22nd at 5 PM ET; then the title “Building Community Through a Disability Justice Framework”; then my name and credentials “Gabrielle Johnson, BS, CDBC”. Around the border, multiple hands of different skin tones and shirt sleeves reach towards the center, with little pink hearts near their fingers.

11/06/2024

✨Learner-Centered Training: Walking Skills

Charlie and his mom have collaborated on creating pre-determined communication to use on their walk. Charlie has a mutually understood ability to stop his mom from moving, send her forward, turn her in any direction, and to “park” her so he can explore without the pressure of continuing on.

Using these skills has totally changed how Charlie feels and behaves on his walks. Instead of struggling to keep his stress levels low, he’s full of curiosity. The distance he needs to feel safe is steadily decreasing.

Today, he laid down during our training session. This is totally new behavior. In addition to our two fake dogs on scene, we had a whole group of folks exercising with their babies and toddlers, and a trio of frisbee golfers all about 30-50 feet away.

Charlie settled in to watch.

Since introducing these skills, Charlie’s mom reports that he’s much less hyper-vigilant on their walks, and much more relaxed, thoughtful, and curious.

And Charlie’s not the only one.

The other day, Penny the lab also laid down during a session, then rolled around in the grass. Her parents’ reaction was almost identical to Charlie’s mom’s - “she’s never done that before!”

And Libbey’s mom just checked in to tell me that these skills have been a “game changer” for their walks and their understanding of one another.

And the list goes on!

For more information on learner-centered training check out and ✨ There are some excellent videos, a fantastic course, and some awesome blog posts.

16/05/2024

⭐️Mutual Aid Request⭐️

Hello community!

You have done some remarkably powerful things this year in terms of mutual aid. With your support, we’ve been able to help folks access a service dog, provided behavioral support, helped fund emergency surgeries, paid for medications, covered vet costs, supported dog trainers in pursuing continuing education, purchased life-saving management items and more!

We are hoping to pull community support to meet some incoming requests for support!

We would also like to offer acts of reciprocity for those supporting these community members.

If you send $5, or if you share and like this post and tag three friends in the comments, we invite you to ask a question in the comments of this post related to behavior, aggression, nervous system dysregulation, etc.

Once we hit our goal of $800, we will do a one-hour live on Instagram answering as many questions as we can in that period. Time to be announced.

If your financial needs are met, please consider sending a contribution to on Venmo or Cash App, or making a purchase from our Bonfire Store. Engaging with the post is another way to be of support!

And we encourage you to check out 🍉 Contributing funds if your financial needs are met is incredibly helpful, and there are also many non-financial ways to be of support.

Photo ID: A little baby turtle laying in the grass, who I found in my yard this morning. In the first photo he is next to a key with a dog face on it. He is smaller than the key.

14/05/2024

⭐️Spring and Summer Workshops are Up⭐️

And only half-way through the month!

Best Life Community - workshops are up for the end of May and June. Here’s what we’ve got:

⭐️Social Skills (in-person) working on dog-human social skills

⭐️Dog Parties (in-person) working on dog-dog social skills

⭐️Support Group (Zoom, no-cost) for pet parents and professionals on a behavior journey.

⭐️Book Club (Zoom, no-cost) meet to talk about “The Education of Will” by Patricia McConnell

Sign up online! Message us if you need the booking portal password. In-person services are only for past or active Best Life clients, and are generally suggested as part of our training plan.

10/05/2024

How cool!

08/05/2024

⭐️Darla is looking for a home where she can be the only dog! Read what her parents have to say about her below.

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Hi, I’m Darla! 👋 I’m a 8-(ish)-year-old pittie gal looking for a loving home — my family is part of the military and unfortunately had to move to Hawaii last summer and was unable to take me with them. I have been living with the nicest foster parents for about 8 months now, but I am ready to put down some roots!

I’m a rescue girlie who comes from a formerly abusive situation, so I’ll need someone who will be patient with me, respect my space when I need it, and give me lots of love and positive reinforcement!

I am super smart, a fast learner, and a fantastic snuggle buddy & personal heater! I am looking for someone who doesn’t have another dog but is looking for a dog to put some time and training into!

Darla does have a bite history due to management oopsies, but when she is prepared and reassured by her people she is a big ole love bug.

Darla loves:
❤️ Snuggles — I’m an extremely loyal girl who loves people, cozy blankets, and affection. (especially on the couch with you)
❤️ Playtime - Darla is a chill older lady, but when you’re ready to throw the ball for her she lights up!
❤️ FOOD - Darla is very food motivated and will do anything you ask for a lil snack
❤️ To learn — My mom and dad did a lot of work to rebuild my confidence and now I’m willing to pick up any skill or cue you give me! My foster parents have been working with me a lot with the help of a great trainer and are willing to help a future owner continue training!

Darla doesn’t love:
🤍 Being left out/ FOMO— Darla is not a fan of being in a crate or behind a gate. Her fosters have been working on this with her and now she can usually respect a baby gate in the house when we’re gone.

🤍 Small kiddos in my space — My parents have a small human who I love, but he’s at the age where he’s pulling on my ears, legs and tail. I have been working really hard on my quick reactions, and I am getting better, but I can be a little mouthy when I’m worked up. To be sure I’m on my best behavior, I’d be best in a house where I’m the only baby.

🤍 Other dogs/Strangers - Darla lived with two other dogs previously, and it worked for a while, but she really prefers being the only pup in the house. She loves all people once they have been properly introduced. My foster parents keep treats by the door so people can introduce themselves to me with a little snack!

Interested parties can contact Hannah at
757-287-9573 or [email protected]

06/05/2024

CW: SA
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As we posted yesterday, a local dog trainer, friend, and beautiful human was s*xually assaulted last week.

We are collecting funds for her and her family as she pivots to recovery and healing.

If your financial needs are met please consider sending funds to via Venmo or Cash App to be passed along to this friend in need.

You can also leave comments of love and support, and she will see them.

05/05/2024

CW: S*xual A*sault
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Hello community,

A dog trainer in our local community has been sexually assaulted, and needs our help.

To best care for their mental, emotional, and physical health, they need to take time away from their job. We would like to help ease some of the financial burden, so caring for their family financially isn’t a concern during this time, and their energy can be focused on their healing and health.

If your financial needs are met please consider contributing to the BLAF via Venmo or Cash App ❤️

If you’d like to leave comments of love and support, they will see them.

03/05/2024

⭐️❤️

01/05/2024

❤️❤️❤️

01/05/2024

30/04/2024

Officially here at the conference with ⭐️🎉

28/04/2024

Mountain dogs ❤️

28/04/2024

⭐️Happy Birthday! (to me)⭐️
❤️Mutual Aid Request❤️

As many of you know, we are away in the mountains celebrating our 33rd birthday! Nothing brings me more joy than turning off my phone and running wild in the woods with the dogs and

For my birthday (which was yesterday, but my service isn’t great here so it takes literal hours to upload a post) I’m asking for contributions to the Best Life Accessibility Fund (if your financial needs are met) and/or engagement with this post!

We have a ton of new followers, so if you’re not familiar let me fill you in!

The Best Life Accessibility Fund is a mutual aid fund into which community members whose financial needs are met contribute excess funds. Those funds are then redistributed to community members whose financial needs are not met, including financial support for behavior services, veterinary needs, specialist visits, continuing education, enrichment items, harnesses and long lines, and more!

This year alone we’ve supported someone in getting a consultation with a service dog trainer, we’ve helped multiple families access behavior support, we purchased a door-sized baby gate to help keep a cat stay safe from the dogs in the home, we supported a colleague in their continuing education needs, helped pay for life-saving surgery, and more!

To contribute to the fund you can Venmo or Cash App or make a purchase through our BonFire Store.

And remember, mutual aid is more than money. Engaging with this post, spreading the word about these types of set-ups, caring for your community members individually, AND accepting support yourself when needed are all forms of mutual aid.

Catch us at the conference next week talking about what mutual aid is and isn’t in our community building through a disability justice framework presentation for more! PLUS we’re talking on one of our other favorite topics - intrahousehold aggression.

25/04/2024

People often mistake a dog being still for being calm, relaxed, and secure. But there are many reasons a dog might be still while experiencing stress.

1. Fear of punishment

Dogs might hold still when told even when very stressed because they are more stressed about the punisher than the trigger.

Suppressive methods increase anxiety, aggressive behavior, apathy, and aversion to the associated stimuli. Often, the punishment has to get bigger and bigger as the dog’s stress levels increase (from both flooding and punishment). This can be the case even if the aversive is no longer in use.

Dogs with aversive learning histories may be afraid to try new and different behaviors.

2. Hope of reward

Dogs might hold still when told because they’re anticipating a reward. Here, too, still does not equate to calm. In fact, the dog might become more highly aroused while waiting, especially in the context of “impulse control” exercises.

3. They’re in a freeze state

When stress levels become overwhelming for the body-mind our dogs might go into a freeze state. This is not dissimilar to dissociation in humans (though we can’t ask dogs if they dissociate).

This is a state of hypoarousal, and is often mistaken for the dog being “fine”. A common example of this is when a dog is taken away from their safe person at the vet, and the shut down instead of aggress like they might with their safe person nearby.

Freeze states are passive coping, and associated with higher stress levels, lower resilience, and lower ability to cope than the other survival states.

PLUS… When trying to help a dog get calmer, especially if they’re already adrenalized, asking them not to move their body isn’t the way.

Stressed dogs often need to move. We can support them in ensuring that how they’re moving, and the activities they’re engaged in, are bringing down their arousal on a physiological level instead of focusing on behaviors that mimic what we perceive as calmness.

⭐️REMEMBER⭐️ Behavior and body language are only two pieces of data about how a dog is feeling, and they are quite often misinterpreted by humans.

16/04/2024

✨Hi friends,

Cyan is having a hard time. He likely has a slipped disc in his back, and has to rest (not our favorite), and we’re headed to the neurologist.

We are so, so grateful to our friends at and for taking such amazing care of this boy.

Please send him your love ❤️

13/04/2024

Support Group tomorrow (Sunday) at 10 AM ET via Zoom! RSVP online ❤️

Photo ID: a blond pomeranian smiles at the camera surrounded by spring flowers!

08/04/2024

🎉Mutual Aid Request

This is Deenie, and she needs a knee surgery and spay! Her surgery is coming up and her family needs about $300 more.

Contributions can be sent via Cash App to $AlienMan95 ❤️ Sharing and engaging with this post is also a great way to be of support!

04/04/2024

✨Hiatus✨

We are taking a short break from taking new clients.

Folks who have already reached out and been sent on-boarding information are not included; we look forward to your paperwork.

If you refer to us (thank you so much) this pause is temporary, and we will be back at taking new clients in the coming months once some of our existing clients have graduated our services.

✨❤️

Photo ID: A beautiful, fluffy cat stares right into the camera.

03/04/2024

✨WE DID IT✨

You all pulled together over $700 this week to help three families and their dogs. Thank you to everyone who shared, commented, liked, reposted, mentioned to a friend, and contributed financially.

Thank you to those who engage in mutual aid within their communities, their relationships, their every day interactions that never make it to social media. Your individual contributions AND receiving of community care is beautiful ✨❤️

03/04/2024

Working on my presentation on intrahousehold conflict for the conference next month, and I’ll be talking about my personal experience with Jolene and Amore as part of the presentation.

At the time, I didn’t have the benefit of the knowledge and experience I have now. Unfortunately the professional support I sought wasn’t equipped to help me, or to refer me to someone who could.

While at the time I was able to appreciate the severity of the injuries, I didn’t have anyone to explain to me the considerations of on-going risk or sustainability. I didn’t have someone to compassionately walk me through my options.

Revisiting this time in our lives has been a wild ride. It’s been an integration of my personal and professional selves, and parts of me have realized for the first time that these fights were level fives (for the unaware, the only thing higher than a level five is when a dog dies as a result of the fight).

My experiences have made me a passionate advocate for the animals (humans included) living within a home experiencing intrahousehold conflict. I feel deeply that people deserve access to compassionate, evidence-based, specialized guidance as they choose the path forward that makes the most sense to them.

In our case, we quickly opted for long-term, permanent separation. I don’t know if I would make a different decision now, but I do know I could do a MUCH better job now keeping everyone safer and more secure. Sometimes I am still angry that I didn’t have access to someone like me.

Please enjoy these photos of my beautiful heart dog, Jolene, who also caused intense damage to my sweet Amore, after years of holding it together while I missed all the signs.

I miss you everyday, darling ❤️

02/04/2024

✨$150 left to raise to meet our $700 goal to help three families! The remaining funds to be raised are to help a community member pay for the initial consultation with a service dog trainer who believes access to a service dog will greatly improve their life.

Venmo or Cash App or check out our Bonfire store! Remember that sharing and interacting with these posts helps to let folks know these resources are available and gives them the opportunity to contribute - it is ALSO a form of mutual aid.

Photo ID: A very happy brindle pit bull with a soft white spot on her chest wears an orange life vest. She is missing a front leg and is actively splashing in the James River on a blue-sky summer day.

01/04/2024

✨🪄Magical humans, you are making such an impact. Thank you for all of the shares, post interactions, and financial contributions. We’ve been able to help 2/3 families who have recently requested support of the Best Life Accessibility Fund, and are SO CLOSE to meeting the needs of the third.

We need to raise another $250 to support a community member in accessing an initial consultation with a service dog trainer. Other plans have already been made for continuation of that support!

Can you help us wrap up our goal of $700 to support three families?



Photo ID: A wet black and white dog named Lola, with a relaxed face and a little cheese on her nose, looks up at the camera

30/03/2024

🪄 Community Magic Needed✨

We have three big requests for support from the mutual aid fund, and we could use your help meeting those needs. Can you help three families access the support their dog’s need?

We need $800 total, which will cover three consultation fees - two with Best Life at a discounted rate, and a third with a colleague who works with service dogs - as well as medication costs for one of the dogs.

We currently have $92 left in the mutual aid fund, leaving us with about $700 to raise!

Can you help?

If your financial needs are met, please consider contributing to the BLAF via Venmo or Cash App ✨ Or by making a purchase in our Bonfire store.

Other forms of mutual aid include interacting with this post, sharing it, and spreading the word ✨❤️

Photo ID: A little brown dog with pointy ears stands at the end of a trail opening into a green, grassy meadow.