OneMind Dogs was founded in 2012 by a group of passionate dog behavior experts, agility coaches, and innovators. The OneMind Dogs method was created by one of the founders, Janita Leinonen, when her Border Collie Tekla suddenly lost her hearing in 2003. Janita was no longer able to rely on verbal commands when training and competing with Tekla.

Janita’s research and experiments eventually taught her to see training from her dog’s perspective, and she realized that non-verbal commands were a powerful and underexplored communication tool. This quickly led to Janita and Tekla being recognized for their unique, silent understanding – they went on to win several championship titles in various agility competitions! Their determination and love for each other evolved into the OneMind Dogs method.