CRISTINE DAHL
Founder of Satellite™ Canine Behavior Consulting
Cristine Dahl is an entrepreneur, author, and expert in canine behavior whose work focuses on the relationship between dogs, people, and the environments they inhabit. She is the creator of Satellite™, an approach to understanding canine behavior that analyzes the interaction between dog temperament, human behavior, and environmental dynamics.
Over the course of her career, Cristine has worked directly with more than 8,000 dogs and their families, and her work has reached hundreds of thousands of dog owners through training programs, education, and writing.
Professional Background
A Seattle native, Cristine founded SoundPuppy (2001), Seattle Dog Training (2003), and Seattle Dogworks (2005), training and education studios that served as community hubs for canine behavior instruction and professional development during a period of significant change in the field. She also founded SeattleDogs and Northwest Canine, private behavior consulting practices.
In 2007, she founded the Seattle School of Canine Studies, later renamed the Northwest School of Canine Studies (NWSCS). Licensed by the Washington State Workforce Training and Education Board, the school taught advanced canine behavior theory alongside structured, in-person hands-on application for more than a decade and graduated more than 150 professionals worldwide. Cristine is also the author of the top selling book Good Dog 101 (Sasquatch Books/Random House; foreword by Jean Donaldson).
After almost twenty years in the field, Cristine developed the Satellite Method and Leadership Program with Regard, a framework for canine behavior that integrates human and canine temperament as the foundation for behavior change. The method was first introduced publicly in New Zealand in 2018 and is the subject of a pending patent application.
Her work has also intersected with public health and the legal system, including recognition by the American Medical Association for contributions to understanding dog bite incidents involving children, and she has been qualified and served as an expert witness in both state and federal courts. In 2019, Cristine was invited to serve on the Advisory Board of the King County Sheriff’s Office Foundation to focus on canine support programs within the juvenile and family court system. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the K9 Kuva Memorial Foundation honoring former law enforcement officer, K9 Kuva, with a focus on supporting law enforcement agencies and school districts.
Cristine’s work has been featured in publications including Sunset Magazine and Seattle Woman Magazine, and she served as in-house canine behavior writer for Seattle DogSpot. She studied at the University of Washington and The Evergreen State College and is a distinguished graduate of the San Francisco SPCA Academy (CTC). Earlier in her career, she worked professionally with horses before focusing on canine behavior.
Cristine now lives in the greater Pacific Northwest.