Who we are:
Walk This Way, owned and operated by Renee Payne, opened for business in Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1999, and moved upstate in the spring of 2019. Renee graduated from the Animal Behavior Center of New York, is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, has been certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers since their inception in 2001, and has been a certified tester for the AKC's Canine Good Citizen Program. She's been interviewed as a behavior expert by NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, The New York Times, CNN, MNN, The New York Post, GOOD, Modern Dog Magazine (more than once), Pet360, Esquire Magazine, Health Magazine, and various other media outlets. The therapy dog class she taught for The Good Dog Foundation was featured by The Guardian, and the Brooklyn Dog Training Center's puppy party was featured on NBC's Today Show.
In the summer of 2015, Renee started work with The Good Dog Foundation in Manhattan and Brooklyn, evaluating, training, certifying and placing new therapy dog teams in facilities throughout the city. From May 2017 through January 2026, she worked full time as their Director of Training, overseeing the class curriculum and class trainers, developing new curriculum, and creating policy and procedure surrounding safety and best practices during therapy dog visits.
Renee and her previous dog, Jimmy, volunteered as a therapy dog team certified through Good Dog until Jimmy's retirement. Following in his footsteps, Renee's German Shepherd (Fonzie, pictured above) worked as a therapy dog from 2017 until his retirement in 2026, after over 300 therapy dog visits. In addition to doing weekly therapy dog visits to a courtroom, Renee and Fonzie worked in Good Dog's Crisis Response Division, responding to natural or man-made disasters or crises. Renee developed curriculum for that class and taught it to select Good Dog therapy dog teams.
Renee managed therapy dog teams for Good Dog and Pace University's Parenting, Prison & Pups program during their partnership, which ran from 2016-2020. She took Fonzie and several other therapy dog teams to Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan and Westchester County Jail during parenting classes for female inmates.
From 2019-2023, Good Dog worked with the NYC Department of Education, and along with their Comfort Dog Administrator, Renee created curriculum and taught classes specifically for therapy dog teams that wanted to apply for the DOE's Comfort Dog program.
Renee has evaluated the adoptability of dogs for local shelters and rescue groups, taught dog trainer programs to students from Japan for two years, has been a mentor trainer for the Animal Behavior College and for CATCH Canine Trainers Academy, and ran her own dog trainer internship program from 2002 through 2017.
Renee designed a written and interactive interview process for co-op buildings to evaluate potential canine residents, and was interviewed about the evaluation process by The New York Times. She wrote several articles about dogs and kids for The Nick Jr. Channel's website, and has contributed articles to numerous other print and web-based outlets.
Renee co-authored a children's book called Be A Dog's Best Friend about safe dog interactions, and conducted "How To Meet a Dog" seminars for young children throughout the NYC area.
Walk This Way worked for over 20 years with The Mayor's Alliance for NYC Animals as well as Animal Care Centers of New York City to offer discounted training to newly adopted NYC shelter dogs.
After doing extensive nose work with Jimmy, Renee started teaching nose work (Scent Games) to her clients. In 2014, she took the "for fun" nose work to the next level and began offering Medical Alert Service Dog training. She has trained Fonzie to alert her to an oncoming migraine.
Renee has also handled Fonzie during his time as a canine actor (you can see her dressed as a cop in several Dick Wolf productions). Among others, Fonzie's credits include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, FBI on CBS, Tommy on CBS, and Lost Girls on Netflix. He has also done photo shoots for dog crates, clothing, and car seat covers.
Renee has also volunteered as a puppy raiser with Guiding Eyes For The Blind. She shares her home with Fonzie, a released Guiding Eyes dog, and the (former) puppy she raised for Guiding Eyes who also chose the pet life over guide work, a German Shepherd named Gentry.
What we believe and how we train:
We use positive-reinforcement, reward based methods first and primarily, but also understand that no two dogs are the same and there is no one "right" approach for everyone. To give each individual dog and owner what they need, we offer a balanced approach. Based on 26 years of experience, we understand that not every dog in need of behavior modification will respond initially to the use of food rewards or other positive tools, and that sometimes there are steps to work through to get them to a place where they will. See the LIMA Humane Hierarchy that we follow. Still have questions? Email us.
Walk This Way, owned and operated by Renee Payne, opened for business in Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1999, and moved upstate in the spring of 2019. Renee graduated from the Animal Behavior Center of New York, is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, has been certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers since their inception in 2001, and has been a certified tester for the AKC's Canine Good Citizen Program. She's been interviewed as a behavior expert by NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, The New York Times, CNN, MNN, The New York Post, GOOD, Modern Dog Magazine (more than once), Pet360, Esquire Magazine, Health Magazine, and various other media outlets. The therapy dog class she taught for The Good Dog Foundation was featured by The Guardian, and the Brooklyn Dog Training Center's puppy party was featured on NBC's Today Show.
In the summer of 2015, Renee started work with The Good Dog Foundation in Manhattan and Brooklyn, evaluating, training, certifying and placing new therapy dog teams in facilities throughout the city. From May 2017 through January 2026, she worked full time as their Director of Training, overseeing the class curriculum and class trainers, developing new curriculum, and creating policy and procedure surrounding safety and best practices during therapy dog visits.
Renee and her previous dog, Jimmy, volunteered as a therapy dog team certified through Good Dog until Jimmy's retirement. Following in his footsteps, Renee's German Shepherd (Fonzie, pictured above) worked as a therapy dog from 2017 until his retirement in 2026, after over 300 therapy dog visits. In addition to doing weekly therapy dog visits to a courtroom, Renee and Fonzie worked in Good Dog's Crisis Response Division, responding to natural or man-made disasters or crises. Renee developed curriculum for that class and taught it to select Good Dog therapy dog teams.
Renee managed therapy dog teams for Good Dog and Pace University's Parenting, Prison & Pups program during their partnership, which ran from 2016-2020. She took Fonzie and several other therapy dog teams to Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan and Westchester County Jail during parenting classes for female inmates.
From 2019-2023, Good Dog worked with the NYC Department of Education, and along with their Comfort Dog Administrator, Renee created curriculum and taught classes specifically for therapy dog teams that wanted to apply for the DOE's Comfort Dog program.
Renee has evaluated the adoptability of dogs for local shelters and rescue groups, taught dog trainer programs to students from Japan for two years, has been a mentor trainer for the Animal Behavior College and for CATCH Canine Trainers Academy, and ran her own dog trainer internship program from 2002 through 2017.
Renee designed a written and interactive interview process for co-op buildings to evaluate potential canine residents, and was interviewed about the evaluation process by The New York Times. She wrote several articles about dogs and kids for The Nick Jr. Channel's website, and has contributed articles to numerous other print and web-based outlets.
Renee co-authored a children's book called Be A Dog's Best Friend about safe dog interactions, and conducted "How To Meet a Dog" seminars for young children throughout the NYC area.
Walk This Way worked for over 20 years with The Mayor's Alliance for NYC Animals as well as Animal Care Centers of New York City to offer discounted training to newly adopted NYC shelter dogs.
After doing extensive nose work with Jimmy, Renee started teaching nose work (Scent Games) to her clients. In 2014, she took the "for fun" nose work to the next level and began offering Medical Alert Service Dog training. She has trained Fonzie to alert her to an oncoming migraine.
Renee has also handled Fonzie during his time as a canine actor (you can see her dressed as a cop in several Dick Wolf productions). Among others, Fonzie's credits include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, FBI on CBS, Tommy on CBS, and Lost Girls on Netflix. He has also done photo shoots for dog crates, clothing, and car seat covers.
Renee has also volunteered as a puppy raiser with Guiding Eyes For The Blind. She shares her home with Fonzie, a released Guiding Eyes dog, and the (former) puppy she raised for Guiding Eyes who also chose the pet life over guide work, a German Shepherd named Gentry.
What we believe and how we train:
We use positive-reinforcement, reward based methods first and primarily, but also understand that no two dogs are the same and there is no one "right" approach for everyone. To give each individual dog and owner what they need, we offer a balanced approach. Based on 26 years of experience, we understand that not every dog in need of behavior modification will respond initially to the use of food rewards or other positive tools, and that sometimes there are steps to work through to get them to a place where they will. See the LIMA Humane Hierarchy that we follow. Still have questions? Email us.
