Help for you and your dog’s BEST LIFE

Kristan Dael

Lifelong dog lover Caroline Spark spent her professional life helping people live their best lives.

“I wanted to be a vet as a kid,” she says, but life led her into psychology. Initially a counselor in Australia, she eventually moved to America and continued private practice for 20 years. Then, she says, “As the dog world became more integrated with human families, the love of my own dogs morphed into wanting to help families live their best lives with their dogs.”

In 2008 she formed “City Dog Country Dog,” offering private consulting, training, board/train and dog camps — the latter becoming the business’s signature offering. Caroline’s 36-acre property in Yachats, with trees, streams and fields, was a canine wonderland for running, playing and exploration. “At the peak we had 70 dogs and their people coming for a weekend camp with 20 trainers and support staff,” Caroline recalls. To this day, when she bumps into a past participant, they invariably ask her to bring back the camps.

While she loved her work with dogs and families, the demands of running the business itself such as administration and marketing were heavy. Eventually she began wanting a lighter workload. “I knew I had to slow down, draw breath and take care of myself,” she says. he did just that, deciding to “see how life reshaped.”

And reshape it did. “Good things happened and then more good things,” she says. One was the opportunity to partner with Dr Chris Pachel, owner of the Animal Behavior Clinic, in establishing Instinct Portland. The business would be a franchise training and behavior company dedicated to “supporting a kinder world for dogs and humans,” which fit Caroline to a T.

But getting the business off the ground was a crooked road, due to a second diagnosis of breast cancer for Caroline, then the pandemic. As with anything meant to be, however, the delays and challenges of both were managed, navigated and, finally, overcome.

After four years of planning, seeking the ideal property and getting beyond Covid and Caroline’s treatment and recovery, Instinct Portland celebrated its grand opening in July. Its services are designed to help families live their best lives with their dogs through “seeing into a dog’s world” to help them thrive in the human world.

The cornerstones of Instinct’s philosophy are Environment, Relationship, Wellness and Learning. What does that mean?

“The human world is often stressful for dogs,” Caroline explains, saying that Instinct’s focus around environment includes understanding what a dog needs to feel happy, content and peaceful. This varies by dog; while some thrive in a small, urban space, others need room and time to run, explore or work.

As to relationship, Caroline says, “It is so, so important.” She says it’s about being a dog’s best friend on their terms — knowing what makes them tick, building rapport, and having balance between being active and chilling together.

“It’s how you feel about each other, how you communicate with each other,” she says, pointing out that while dogs and people speak different languages, “It’s important

to be bilingual. We don’t come with this installed, but we can learn.”

Wellness deals with routines — around exercise, sleep, feeding and training. Dogs are creatures of routine, and predictability helps them be less anxious. “Many people don’t realize the importance of routines for dogs,” she says.

For example, in her 50s, Caroline and her large-breed dog Ranger walked — a lot. Their routine went out the window when Caroline developed Achilles tendonosis. Swimming became her go-to, but not Ranger’s — he didn’t swim.“I had to find an exercise we could do together,” she says. “For us that ended up being nose work. He loved to sniff, I loved working with him, and our new routine made us both healthier and happier.” It wasn’t long into their new routine that Caroline could see Ranger was happier.

To illustrate the fourth cornerstone, learning experiences, Caroline recalls training a Husky who didn’t like treats, toys or any of the usual options for play or learning. Discovering the dog had a keen interest in elk scat, she began carrying a soiled stick while teaching him to walk well with her. When he did, he was rewarded with — yay! a sniff! The dog was happy, and learned the desired behavior, which made them both happier together.

The teams at Instinct and the Animal Behavior Clinic work with people and their dogs in all of these areas, through assessment, teaching and collaboration. For anyone struggling with difficult behaviors, connecting with their dog or just feeling like they and their dog aren’t living their best life together, Caroline says that reaching out to someone — at Instinct, ABC, or one of the many local resources available can really help. Services typically include at-home consultations, safe, comfortable boarding, board/train programs and more.

The first step with Instinct is to set up a free discovery call with Caroline or a member of her team. “We’ll discuss your needs, struggles and questions, and go from there.” Caroline says.

Many agree: life is better with dogs. Those in the know understand that life with a happy, fulfilled, contented dog is a joy like no other.