About Us

Our mission is to give a happy life to dogs by helping people become amazing dog owners.

We’re passionate about increasing the mutual understanding between the dog and the owner, and making a life together more enjoyable for both.

How it began

Tekla, the deaf dog that taught us to listen

OneMind Dogs was founded in 2012 by a group of passionate dog behavior experts, agility coaches, and innovators. The OneMind Dogs method was created by one of the founders, Janita Leinonen, when her Border Collie Tekla suddenly lost her hearing in 2003. Janita was no longer able to rely on verbal commands when training and competing with Tekla.

Janita’s research and experiments eventually taught her to see training from her dog’s perspective, and she realized that non-verbal commands were a powerful and underexplored communication tool. This quickly led to Janita and Tekla being recognized for their unique, silent understanding – they went on to win several championship titles in various agility competitions! Their determination and love for each other evolved into the OneMind Dogs method.

Watch the video about Tekla below

Our team

Want to get in touch? Write us at firstname@oneminddogs.com

Coaches and instructors

Niki
Chief of Customer Experience
OneMind Dogs Coach Niki is our customer happiness expert and is rarely seen without a smile. She lives in Australia with her husband, daughter and 5 dogs, the dogs are the most well behaved!

Stephanie
Customer Service
OneMind Dogs Coach Stephanie works in customer service, is a OneMind Dogs Instructor and professional dog trainer. She lives in CT, USA with her husband and 4 dogs.

Katelyn
Customer Service
OneMind Dogs Instructor Katelyn currently works in customer service and is in charge of putting together international training week videos. She lives in South Carolina, USA with her husband and 6 dogs.

Elina
Customer Service
OneMind Dogs Assistant Coach Elina is part of our Customer Service team. She’s been doing agility with her pumis since 2000, and today she is competing with pumi Heili and border collie Teme. Elina is a OneMind Dogs Assistant Coach herself.

The masters of OneMind Dogs way of training