Looking for help with your puppy? What about a senior dog with dementia? Or a hyper canine who's also shy? If you live in NoPa, help is right next door (and if you're elsewhere in San Francisco, it's only a phone call away). Meet Shoshi Parks, owner and trainer at Modern Hound. 

It's not odd to find entrepreneurs in San Francisco who've started in one field, and ended up in quite another. Shoshi Parks fits that category. With a degree in anthropology, she was traveling for weeks at a time throughout the world, following her educational dreams. But what seemed like an adventure started to wear thin. She missed community, being at home in NoPa, and most of all, dogs. 

Shoshi has now lived in NoPa for eight years, and says the sense of community she's discovered makes it feel like home. Having moved from Boston, she was initially drawn to the neighborhood's access to parks, not realizing that it would soon cater to her next career path. 

A decision to foster Muttville dogs when she was home from her travels led to a few dog training classes at the SFSPCA, and Shoshi was hooked. Abandoning her on-the-move career, she turned her focus to dog walking and training. And in 2012, Modern Hound opened its metaphorical doors. 

Although Modern Hound offers traditional services like group walks and basic obedience training sessions, it also specializes in some unique issues. For instance, Shoshi is well-versed in the training of puppies. She runs Adolescent Manners, New Dog 101, and Just The Basics at the San Francisco SPCA. Each puppy is a unique challenge, and "sometimes they have to learn how to learn," she explained. 

Shoshi has also found her calling working with special needs, such as dogs who are deaf, blind, or in their senior years and suffering with dementia. "For older dogs, it's often playing therapist with the human," she said, acknowledging that training goes both ways. She's happy to work on obedience with dogs when their owners are at work, but will always do a session to make sure communication is happening correctly between pet and human. Similarly, with dogs with dementia it's often about working with owners to adapt the house and family to meet the dog's new physical and emotional needs.

Modern Hound also caters to those dogs who may not do well in large dog play groups, for anxiety, over-stimulation, or poor recall reasons. In those circumstances they're put in a smaller playgroup of four or fewer dogs and taken on a full hike, avoiding busy dog parks. According to Shoshi, this tactic has proven to lower stress and increase the opportunity to train dogs.

You can find out more about Modern Hound's walking or training services on its website. To set up an appointment with Shoshi or to learn more about what her company offers, contact her directly at modernhound [at] gmail [dot] com.