We chose to create Heel & Home out of a desire to contribute our story to the lived-experience movement. We hope to bring people together that connect in some way to our story. We believe we can provide a gathering place for others to share their experiences. We will offer a location steeped in the wisdom of others to help you make informed decisions with confidence. And, of course, we are a source of inspiration around neurodivergent living, golden retriever love, and modern family life.

Our Core Values

• Honesty & Transparency are Vital
• Radical Acceptance for All
• Parenting is Challenging
• Everyone Has A Story
• Dogs Are Family

To live by these core values, we hope to do the following tasks with Heel & Home:

Advocate for Neurodiversity

As we've discussed, life for neurodivergent individuals is not always easy because the world in which they exist was not necessarily designed for their needs. Heel & Home will raise awareness of neurodivergent living as well as the benefits of service dogs for neurodivergent individuals. Our focus is primarily on the value of service dogs for individuals with various forms of anxiety including Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, and OCD. We will also include support suggestions for individuals that experience Depression, Tics/Tourette's Syndrome, Sensory Processing Disorder, HSP, PDA, Dyspraxia or other movement challenges, Autism, and ADHD.

Promote Transparency & Truth in Service Dog Experiences

We have traveled several paths towards attaining a service dog, some more traumatic than others. Now that we are on a new path, we want to build transparency in the real experience towards sharing life with a service dog. We will openly talk about the highs and lows of our journey without judgement. We appreciate that what works for some families may not work for others and hope that this place provides an opportunity for you to learn from the experience of others as well as to share your own.

Build Community

The life of neurodivergent parenting is one that often feels overwhelming combined with the sensation that you are trapped on an island alone. We want to crush that belief by bringing together individuals that share common experiences, common interests, or common loves. We are here to help you realize that your world is much bigger and more accepting than you may feel.

Support Dog Trainers that Embrace Neurodivergent Clients

Dog training professionals come with a wide variety of expertise, training styles, and personalities. While a great trainer may be great with a service dog, they may completely fail to connect with the owner and therefore the relationship will not be successful. To help, we plan to provide educational resources for dog trainers interested in embracing the needs of neurodivergent individuals. Readers are encouraged to have trainers check in with Heel & Home to learn more about how to better serve their clients. In addition, we will happily collaborate with trainers you identify to create customized training programs that meet their desires for dog training along with your strengths and needs as a neurodivergent individual.

We hope to drive innovation in the service dog training industry. As trainers become more aware of the needs of our community, we can support innovation in service dog tasks and the methods for building bonds between client and dog. Together, we can create approaches to training that align with everyone's needs. Through such innovative efforts, we believe that we may make service dogs more accessible to other families like our own.

Improve Service Dog Products & Services

As modern minimalists with a particular design aesthetic, we often find ourselves wondering why dog products have to be the way they are. As innovators, we often conceptualize new ideas that would improve the integration of the dog into family life and modernize service dog gear. We hope to share these products and services with you so that you may benefit from our expertise along the way.