We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lindsay Dellaserra a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lindsay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a customer success story with us?

A client reached out to me for help with their senior dog, who was over 10 years old and had a history of biting multiple people. The dog had been assessed by a veterinary behaviorist and was deemed dangerous. When I initially met her, she was extremely reactive and didn’t want me anywhere near her house, let alone inside. What made this case particularly challenging was that the dog didn’t exhibit typical warning signs before biting—no growling or other clear signals. In fact, she often appeared ‘happy’ before suddenly displaying aggressive behavior. Her parents felt unsafe walking the dog and weren’t able to have guests in their home, even with the dog in another room.

We began training sessions outside, with me standing across the street while guiding the dog’s parents on what to do. Over the course of a few months, the dog’s behavior improved significantly. She grew excited to see me and began looking forward to our sessions. She accepted treats from a distance, and eventually, I was able to take the leash from her owners on a few occasions without incident.

After 3-4 months of consistent work, her parents had successfully learned how to make the crate a positive space, allowing the dog to relax in a separate room when guests arrived. She became so comfortable with me that I was able to stand in the doorway of their home, with her watching from inside, completely relaxed. Her parents were also able to manage her reactivity on walks, and they gained confidence in handling her on leash.

This case was unique in that I couldn’t physically handle the dog myself the majority of the time—doing so would have been too stressful for her and a safety concern for me. Despite this challenge, the progress we made was remarkable. Her owners now regularly update me on their walks, sharing how much their dog enjoys her crate and is now calm around guests. They also express how grateful they are for the progress we made together, often saying that if they’d reached out when the dog was a puppy, they might have been able to prevent many of these issues entirely.

Lindsay, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Fear Free Certified Dog Trainer with a Bachelor of Science in Canine Behavior. In 2015, I was attending Missouri State University and knew that I needed to work toward something different than a kinesiology major. I googled “dog college” and found one in Northern California – Bergin University of Canine Studies. I graduated from the Bachelor’s program with a Bachelor of Science in Canine Behavior. During my studies at Bergin, I had 24/7 hands-on experience with multiple Service Dogs in Training. Upon graduation, I worked on the Behavior Team at an animal shelter in Kansas City, Missouri. This is where I got hands-on experience working with all kinds of dogs, some with manageable and trainable behaviors, and others who needed to be humanely euthanized due to a poor quality of life. I left the shelter world to try out training Service Dogs again, and it wasn’t very long before I realized that I wanted to train dogs my way, and take on the kinds of cases that I wanted to focus on.

I specialize in dogs with aggression, reactivity and fear/anxiety. This means that if your dog is barking and lunging at people on walks or in the home, I can help. I am there to help you better understand your dog and how you can move forward with training. I also occasionally take on adolescent dogs and dogs who need help with basic manners.

I am most proud of something that sets me apart from other trainers: being truly force free and training dogs with Fear Free methods.

Positive based training is the only method that has been proven time and time again through research studies to actually help dogs learn, while keeping their mental and emotional wellbeing at the forefront of the training program. I am proud to hold a degree in Canine Behavior and to take several continuing education courses each year to uphold my Fear Free certification. Since humans domesticated these wonderful animals, I believe that we owe it to them to treat them humanely. There is no need to use punitive tools such as shock collars, punishment, etc. when working with a dog, no matter what breed they are, and that is shown through research studies and through the results that I see every day with my clients’ dogs.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best sources of new clients have been word of mouth, and vet clinic referrals. I’ve fostered a wonderful relationship with a few local vet clinics who trust me with their clients’ pups, and it means so much to me.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started an Instagram page when my business first opened, and was sharing cute photos of clients’ dogs and the stories of each team’s training journey, along with videos of my own dog’s reactivity training process. As my business grew and I became more busy, I hired a virtual assistant to create and post social media content for me. She is a certified dog trainer who thoroughly understands the benefits of positive reinforcement training methods, so she knows how to tailor content to my brand. Having her as a virtual assistant is great because we collaborate on the ideas for content, I provide photos and my educational scripts, and she makes them come to life. We post 3 times a week on social media, and I’ve found that consistency really is key to keep up with the algorithm and to keep your content on people’s feeds!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://trainingwithlindsay.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trainingwithlindsay

Image Credits
Eliza Sweet Photography