About Us
Mindful Canine was founded in 2021 by two friends and colleagues who wanted to make an impact in the lives of dogs and their people. After working years in the retail pet industry, Emmah and Brandi wanted to do more for pet owners without the limitations of mass corporate retail constraints, including offering unbiased information backed with years of education and making effective dog training less mysterious and costly for everyday owners. Emmah and Brandi share values in building genuine community relationships, volunteer work, personal and professional integrity, animal welfare, and continuing education and professional development. Through these values and a desire to do more in the world, Mindful Canine was born. Mindful Canine strives to deliver excellent customer service, measurable training results, stress-free and trustworthy pet sitting, and other services to make life with your pet easier such as dog-walking. Mindful Canine is about helping dog owners everywhere enjoy life with their dog to the fullest extent, bringing together all lifestyle factors in harmony. We believe in the sentience of dogs and their potential to become mindful, responsible decision-makers…. And the same goes for their owners!
Brandi Kern
Co-Founder
Brandi has loved animals since childhood and has cherished a number of pets including dogs, cats, rats, fish, lizards, snakes, insects, guinea pigs, and birds. Although her interest in animals has always been a special focus, Brandi studied literature, creative writing, and education in college and earned a BA at SUU in English Creative Writing. After graduating, Brandi took a part time job as a sales associate at a retail pet store in order to make ends meet while deciding where her career would take her. Brandi rekindled a deep passion for animals, and after two years decided to take a long term position as the General Store Manager, where she spent the following five years studying the needs and habits of average pet owners. Brandi gained a unique and detailed perspective of multiple pet care disciplines such as training, animal husbandry, and companion animal nutrition. During this time Brandi also partnered with local rescues to place hundreds of pets for adoption, and served on the board of non-profit group FFCK9s. As Brandi continued working in pet retail, her passion for animals grew and she to commit to helping animals as her long term passion. When Brandi adopted a two year old Pitbull/Australian Cattle Dog mix named Boo, she saw the true value of dog training in a new light as she struggled to deal with his history and behavioral challenges! After eight years of dedicated service to pet retail customers, Brandi decided to broaden her horizons and pursue her passion for dog training and nutrition in a more meaningful way and work more directly with people and their pets. Brandi’s goal is to make dog training common sense and change the way that people understand and interact with animals for the better. Brandi's passions are volunteering at the local animal shelter and she has an emphasis in puppy development and the creative use of positive reinforcement methods with a focus on animal choice and control. Brandi’s training influences include Dr. Ian Dunbar, Leslie McDevitt, Grisha Stewart, Michael Shikashio, Hannah Brannigan, Denise Fenzi, Pat Stuart, Chad Mackin, Jay Jack, Brian Callin and many others. In her spare time, Brandi enjoys spending time outdoors, cooking and preserving food, reading and writing poetry.
Emmah Ort
Co-Founder
Emmah Ort has been interested in both pet and livestock animals since childhood, and started her training journey teaching her pet dogs to do tricks. It was not long before Emmah experimented with “clicker training” horses and cats, and went on to train a stud to barrel race and broke three colts. Emmah has earned a portfolio of achievements and ribbons with the Color Country Equestrian Club and now has more than 16 years of equestrian experience. Because of Emmah’s love for animals, she entered the workforce in pet retail and worked for two major retailers over the course of five years, where she promoted quickly to a management position as well as launched a successful dog training department at one of the retailers. Emmah became one of the top trainers in that company and devoted three years of research and expertise to the program. Emmah’s passion and experience exploded when she adopted a mixed breed dog, Oscar, with special needs from the local animal shelter. Emmah is passionate about straightforward communication between dog and owner instead of just teaching tricks, and is competent in a variety of approaches with an emphasis in play ranging from positive reinforcement to more balanced and direct methods. Emmah left the pet retail industry to pursue a more meaningful and involved experience with pet owners. She earned a Bachelors Degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology in 2022 to reach her full potential as a career animal behaviorist.
