In 2013, Rain Jordan and her husband, Gerald, founded their nonprofit dog welfare program called Protect Them All.

The organization is focused on rescuing and protecting dogs — particularly sighthounds like whippets, greyhounds and borzois — on a national and international level. The charity centers on humane education, protection and prevention.

As a dog rescue and foster organization near the beach in Santa Cruz, they found themselves limited in size. They looked for a bigger place and quickly realized buying a bigger place in California wasn’t affordable.

Jordan liked Oregon’s fog and its cool, chilly weather. They looked along the Oregon Coast and in Washington state before finding their home in Warrenton.

She studied with mentors and earned numerous certifications in canine behavior before starting her local training and behavior business Expert Canine, specializing in fearful, feral and traumatized dogs. She’ll also get requests for help with dogs who are being reactive, or what the owner deems as aggressive.

Sometimes she works with puppies that need socialization and beginning training.

“I will explain to the client, ‘Here are your options,’” Jordan said. “Here’s what happens if you do this. Here’s what happens if you do this — and the possible ramifications of each option.”

Her initial consultations are via Zoom, at which time she will take a full history and explain principles to clients. By the time she gets to a clients’ house, they know what to expect.

“After teaching them each protocol, I’ll watch them work with the dog and I’ll talk them through steps and refinements,” she said.

Jordan grew up in Northern California and was raised with dogs, cats, birds and hamsters.

She pursued a career as a visual artist, painter and sculptor. She also taught English and creative writing at the college level.

She has clients locally and as far away as Denmark and Australia.

She recommends proceeding slowly and moving at the dog’s pace.

“The best thing I can tell any dog parent is help your dog feel safe,” she said. “If your dog doesn’t feel safe, there will be problems. Take a step back. Try to ignore all the stuff we were taught as kids. In the old days, people used to spank their dogs. Things like that are not very helpful, and will tend to make behavior worse over time, since it can cause the dog to distrust you and possibly come to feel that self-defense is the only choice. So any kind of punishment is likely to make things worse.”

Corrections don’t fix fear and other emotional responses, they only temporarily suppress them, Jordan added.

“They can also cause new fears,” she said. “Think about what can happen over time when a human is told to suppress feelings rather than get humane help.

“Understand the principles that all animals want to feel safe and have pleasant experiences,” Jordan said. “If you fulfill these needs, you’re on your way to building what we call a ‘trust account’ with the dog. That’s where the happy dog-human bond is found.”