Blue Heeler dog and Red Heeler dog lie next to each other touching paws. Happy dogs.
Utah Pet Dog Trainer Annie Phenix works with puppies and adult dogs.

Meet Dog Trainer & Behavior Expert Annie Phenix

Home » Meet Annie Phenix and her dogs Cooper and Finn

My two working line Cattle Dogs – Finn and Cooper – are 6 years old now and they are the happiest, silliest dogs I have shared my life with. That’s saying something because these brothers experienced enormous early life trauma that included being thrown into a backyard alone where they learned to fight over kibble left out once a day and they contracted two types of worms and were covered in fleas. Neglect at this critical time of brain and nervous system development can and does leave lasting emotional scars on dogs. My two have fully recovered and it was a journey we took together.

Two young puppies who had worms and fleas and had been neglected and left alone in a backyard
Dog Trainer Annie Phenix rescued two very young heelers who had massive early live trauma and today they are thriving under her care.

Finn and Cooper began their young lives in a state of trauma and intense fear with no feelings of safety. They were removed from their mother at the tender age of 5 weeks old – far too young. When I rescued them at 5 1/2 weeks, I knew I needed to lean on everything I knew about healing dogs over the past 25 years. Even with decades of studying dogs and learning from top experts around the world, it took me nearly 8 months to earn complete trust from Finn and Cooper in their bodies. The body keeps the score and trauma lives in dogs’ bodies and keeps them hyper-vigilant until we use somatic body work to heal and regulate the nervous system. My two Heelers lead me into the direction of healing dogs – vs. only training dogs – and I have never been more successful for my client dogs. Being trauma-informed literally changed everything I do with dogs. All of the top training protocols, anti anxiety medications and even all of the love in the world will not fix trauma – it requires an completely new approach.

I wrote my current bestseller – Positive Training for Reactive and Aggressive Dogs — in 2021. I had the remarkable opportunity to interview many of the worlds most progressive and brilliant canine experts for my book. Many of them were moving in to trauma recovery work and they inspired me to do the same. I have taken what I learned firsthand from my owns dogs in their recovery and from other world recognized experts and I have created online courses that have reached thousands of dog owners just like you. You can check out my self-paced courses here.

Today I help owners with everything from good manners to puppy enrichment to serious behavior concerns including aggression and biting dogs. I seek to understand the “why” of canine behavior and then set out to find a win-win solution that reduces or eliminates the stress for the dog and the owner. I bring back the joy of sharing our lives with our favorite four-legged friend.

After being heavily involved for more than 20 years in rescuing and retraining hundreds of dogs from every Central Texas animal shelter, I’ve seen just about every behavior that a dog can offer. I owe my deep understanding of canine body language and canine communication to those 400-plus dogs I have fostered and trained, as well as to the thousands of client dogs I have worked with. I’ve achieved a high level of training with my once semi-feral Border Collie siblings, Radar (CGC, CGCA, B.A. and Canine Masters with Honors, Birch, Anise and Clove ORT) and Echo (CGC, CGCA, B.A.,Canine Masters with Honors and a Certified Therapy Dog).

I am a graduate of an intensive, Schutzhund-based canine training academy where I was taught how to use the shock collar in punishment-based canine training (telling the dog what he is doing wrong). After learning the ins and outs of a shock collar and after witnessing all kinds of dogs endure this kind of training, I never again put a shock collar on a dog. I choose to be a positive reinforcement trainer (telling the dog what he is doing correctly/using a rewards-based system) because it is not only humane training, I see no need to harm or scare a dog when I am able to get a high level of obedience and understanding from dogs.

My Certifications Include:

√ Certified Canine Behaviourist through INTODogs

Certified Family Dog Mediator (FDM) Applied Ethology Professional Course®

Fear Free Certified Trainer as one of the first trainers in the country to obtain this certification through Dr. Marty Becker’s Fear Free Program.

Pet Professional Guild Member – the Gold Standard professional organization for force free trainers.

√ I was certified through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CPDT-KA) but I decided in 2020 to not renew with that organization because my values differ from this organization’s in terms of tools they allow to be used on dogs.

√ Retired AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. I achieved the advanced American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen CGC Titles for my own dogs and countless client dogs — including with formerly reactive dogs.

√ Former Trainer in Residence for the world’s largest on-line dog community, Dogster.com, as well as the author of a training column called SPEAK! in the nationally syndicated Dogster Magazine (replaced Dog Fancy). 

√ B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and have been a professional publicist and a working journalist.

√ Best-selling author of The Midnight Dog Walkers: Positive Training and Practical Advice for Living with a Reactive or Aggressive Dog (Lumina Media). The book sold out on Amazon from early pre-orders and was named the #1 best book in its category on Amazon. The book was nominated as a national finalist from the Dog Writers Association of America.

√ Best selling author of Positive Training for Aggressive and Reactive Dogs: Proven Techniques to Help Your Dog Overcome Fear and Anxiety (CompanionHouse Books, 2023) – an international best-seller.

√ Graduate of two Train the Trainer Courses one of the world’s top nose work trainers. I competed in nose work with my own dogs as well as trained clients who are competitors or enthusiasts of nose work. I retired as member of the National Association of Canine Scent Work. I competed in the sport.

√ I created the non-profit Phenix Advocacy Center for R+ Canine Professionals – a peer-to-peer support group that focuses on mental health education for dog professionals.