• About Us

Paula L. Phillips, FDM – Founder

Paula has spent over 25 years studying animal behavior, both in the field and academically. Her interest in apex predators has taken her all over the world, where she’s been fortunate to learn from pioneers and top researchers within their respective fields. While home-educating her daughter, she began volunteering with dogs at the local open-admission shelter. Within months, Paula was chosen to develop and manage the canine program under the Director of Animal Behavioral Services of Escondido Humane Society (EHS). The program she created eliminated euthanasia of adoptable dogs, improved quality of life while in shelter care, and reduced the length of stay for their larger breed dogs.

After helping EHS achieve the San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition’s (SDAWC) initiative of Getting To Zero (G20), donating her time for over a year to show what was possible, Paula took an opportunity to focus on dog/dog relationships. While working with dogs of all breeds and sizes, she successfully ran groups of 20+ dogs, specializing in dog/dog introductions and matching beneficial play styles. Paula has taught in-home lessons, classes, and workshops to individuals, shelters, rescue organizations, daycares, pet sitters, apartment communities, and private groups. In 2016, upon her daughter’s graduation from high school, Paula founded Inspire Canine.

While running her private practice as Head Canine Behavior Specialist, Paula also attends workshops and seminars on canine behavior, cognition, and ethology. Paula shares her life with her three adopted “boys”, Sirius, an American Pit Bull Terrier mix and former reservation dog, Ty, an Akita mix, and Throne, a Bulldog mix and former reservation dog, who remind her every day of all the possibilities…

How can we help you?

Paula has made such a huge impact on our family. Our dog Blue was barking at people, barking at dogs, running away and generally didn’t seem happy. Typically one of our kids would accidentally let him out and this created a cycle of anxiety, stress and embarrassment as we couldn’t get him back. He ran around the neighborhood barking at people, barking at dogs and chasing cars, not to mention running from us as we frantically tried to get him back. This created a lot of stress in our busy family of six. We love our dog but didn’t see how anyone could change him. Paula came in and she didn’t just “train” our dog. She works with our dog of course, but also has been educating our entire family on how to play, teach, and interact with Blue. She has provided us with so much insight and has given us countless tools to use with Blue. We have been working with Paula for almost two months now and the changes we’ve seen in our dog are incredible. We now have ways to play with him, and interact with him that are changing his behaviors. It’s truly like he is a changed dog. Paula is compassionate, caring and has been a true blessing to our dog and our entire family.
KellyCarlsbad, California
Working with Paula has been a beautiful experience. My wife and I have a Mastiff mix, mainly Mastiff, named Mr. Kingston. He had been left at a shelter in Los Angeles and because of his fear of humans (he wanted nothing to do with them) was going to be put down. My wife found him and fell in love. Mr. Kingston was a very fragile boy. Needless to say he had a lot of issues; he would bark and snap his giant jaws at anyone who approached him, including our children, and we saw that it wasn’t getting any better with time like we thought it would. My wife read about Paula online.  Meeting Paula was a great experience. The amount of knowledge she has and life experiences she has with other animals is amazing. Her professionalism is incredible. Mr. Kingston was very wary of Paula at first, as was I. After several training lessons Mr. Kingston loves playing with Paula, the beautiful part is the love she has for  animals. Along this journey Paula has taught my wife and I and our 4 kids how to work with Mr. Kingston. She takes her time  and teaches you how to communicate and understand what is going on with your pet. I have to say at first I wasn’t completely sure about everything Paula was saying. Well, she has made a believer out of me. I have a beautiful relationship with Mr. Kingston now. Like I said earlier, he has a lot of issues. However, he is no longer that fragile boy we brought home from the shelter that first day. We still have a long road ahead of us however, we could not have gotten to where we are today without Paula. If you take her advice and implement it you will have the best relationship with your pet because you will understand your pet and your pet will know it. Believe me, Paula is a first class trainer and professional and I’m honored to have her work with me and my family. Mr. Kingston is coming along beautifully. Paula, from the bottom of my heart thank you so much for helping Mr. Kingston to become the happy, confident boy he is and will become.

JasonEncinitas, California

It’s such a big world out there for a first time dog owner. You’ve got your vet giving you advice, the neighbor giving you different advice, google, YouTube, word of mouth…it’s hard to actually know how to teach your dog in the best way for your dog. For an entire year I had created an amazing bond with my dog, and we are inseparable. However, because I didn’t understand training, she had a lot of fear issues that turned into what would look like aggression at first, then an unnatural need to please. She needed help before her issues of barking, being defensive, and being afraid escalated to a level where she would intentionally “go off or after” another human who was a stranger. Paula connected with me and it was just the best possible experience ever. Paula is the type of person you just want to be friends with even after the lesson. She’s understanding and patient. I don’t even know if my dog would’ve done as well, had I gone with a different trainer/teacher. Within 5 weeks Zoey had improved immensely. And not just her, but me as well. I started to understand her behaviors and mannerisms and help her before she could even react negatively. I would tell all of my friends to go to Paula and would 100/100 choose her help with our dogs again.

AmandaCarlsbad, California
At 8 weeks, Drogo was the cutest puppy. And when you are a cute puppy, everyone wants to pet you. Trouble is, you might be a little shy and nervous about being the center of attention. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick up on this. But by the time he was 5 months old, I knew we had a real problem...my sweet puppy had morphed into Cujo. Enter Paula Phillips, a true dog whisperer. She understood and communicated with Drogo (and me) brilliantly. He loved her right away, and over time, she brought out the very best in his nature. And, just as important, she taught me how to keep it going. Three years later Drogo is a happy, confident, and loving companion. I wholeheartedly recommend this business!
JudeEncinitas, California