Who we are and how we can benefit you

Paula Ford owns Karuna Animal Behavior Therapy, based in Elizabeth City, NC. Since 2010 she has devoted her passion, time, and efforts to working and volunteering with animal care and rescue organizations and guiding and managing a small business and nonprofit dog rescue. Running through each different setting, Paula saw common threads of behavior challenges and frustrations experienced by people and their animals, often resulting from unmet expectations and miscommunication. The good news is that both are within our ability to learn to do differently.

Paula is a professionally certified dog behavior mediator and trainer using choice-based, agency-reinforcing teaching methods for dogs and their guardians. She is also the area’s only certified teacher of the Let Animals Lead® method of Animal Reiki, an animal-guided, meditative healing modality developed by Kathleen Prasad.

Also an ordained animal chaplain, Paula provides compassionate, interspecies spiritual and “whole-istic” care, inclusive of all species and belief systems. She serves individuals, families, animal rescue organizations, sanctuaries, shelters, hospice organizations, veterinary professionals, and other animal-related groups, offering care for animals and their caregivers, and assisting in welcoming new animal companions.

Combining these science-based approaches and interspecies, interbelief spiritual care for learning, cooperation, and healing, Karuna Animal Behavior Therapy guides clients and their animals toward a shared language to make meaning in their lives together by cultivating compassion, trust, and confidence. With fewer frustrating miscommunications, people and the animals they work and live with learn together toward experiencing more harmony, friendship, and cooperation as they enjoy daily life.