About Us
Built From Working With Dogs in the Real World
We’re Jacob Moore and Carol Mota, owners of ThermoDOGnamics Canine Services.
Before ThermoDOGnamics, we worked together managing and training professional explosive detection teams. Our experience with dogs has taken us through working K9s, Explosive detection, animal control, rescue dogs, behavior cases, boarding and training, and everyday family dogs.
Those environments can look very different, but they kept bringing us back to the same question:
What actually makes a dog more capable?
A dog can know how to sit, heel, come when called, or lie down and still lose access to all of it when the world becomes difficult.
Excitement rises. Frustration builds. Another dog appears. The environment changes. Pressure increases.
Suddenly, the dog you had in the living room isn't the dog standing in front of you.
That became much more interesting to us than obedience alone.
Train the State, Not Just the Behavior
Behavior matters. We teach it every day.
But behavior also tells us something.
It tells us how a dog is responding to what is happening internally and around them. So when a dog becomes reactive, shuts down, loses focus, gets frantic, struggles with frustration, or becomes aggressive, we don't only ask:
How do we stop this behavior?
We also ask:
What is happening here that the dog doesn't currently know how to handle?
That changes how we train.
The goal isn't to create a dog that is permanently calm or dependent on commands to navigate every situation.
We want to develop dogs that can experience intensity without completely losing organization. Dogs that can engage with their environment, solve problems, communicate with their handler, express themselves appropriately, and recover when the moment is over.
Organized intensity. Behavioral flexibility. Efficient recovery.
That's the direction behind our work.
More Than One Way In
Training doesn't only happen through obedience.
We use whatever gives us a productive way into the dog in front of us.
Sometimes that's structured training. Sometimes it's movement and environmental exposure. Sometimes it's working directly through conflict or frustration. Sometimes it's play.
And sometimes it's scent.
Our background in detection work has given us a particular appreciation for what happens when a dog is allowed to search, investigate, make decisions, work independently, and organize its motivation around a clear problem.
Play can give us another window into the same things.
Frustration. Pursuit. Possession. Pressure. Cooperation. Release. Re-engagement.
We're not simply trying to get energy out of the dog.
We're giving it somewhere to go.
Building More Capable Dogs
ThermoDOGnamics isn't built around one type of dog or one narrow training system.
We work with family dogs, young dogs, high-drive dogs, reactive and aggressive dogs, dogs struggling with the environment, and owners who simply want to understand and develop their dogs on a deeper level.
The methods may change depending on the dog.
The underlying question stays remarkably consistent:
How do we increase what this dog is capable of handling without losing itself in the process?
That question continues to shape the way we train, the way we play, the way we approach behavior, and the larger framework we're developing around adaptability, intensity and recovery.
We don't expect clients to care about all of the theory behind it.
You may just need help with your dog.
That's enough.
We'll start with the dog standing in front of us and go from there.
Start Here
If you're dealing with behavior problems, looking for training, interested in scent work, or simply want to better understand what your dog needs, the best place to begin is an evaluation.
We'll look at the dog, the environment, the relationship, and the problem you're actually trying to solve, then figure out what makes sense from there.
