Our Story
Meet the Co-Founders
Christie Catan and Jessica Yergin met over three years ago, after connecting through Instagram. (Jess fell in love with Christie's dog, Otis, and had to meet him!) Before TOC, Christie moved from her hometown of Atlanta to Washington D.C. to work on big IT projects with government clients. Eventually she started her first business in fitness. Originally from a small town in Southern California, Jess followed her dream to attend college in New York City and then work as a broadcast journalist and a digital content creator.
Christie’s Training Journey
After spending thousands of dollars on training, Otis was still afraid of everything from feathers to the vacuum cleaner. Searching for answers, Christie poured over books and videos, and began to notice dogs wagging their tails during training sessions. Could training be fun AND helpful? She decided to try to capture that magic and train Otis herself for just five minutes a day.
A Dream That Began Over Coffee
In the spring of 2019, Jess had a job interview in D.C. and met Christie and Otis for coffee. Christie shared that their daily training sessions helped Otis transform into a much more confident dog and training is now a joyful part of their daily routine.
How Two Friends Became Business Partners
When Jess got home, she immediately called Christie, "What if the job I was interviewing for was really to work with you and launch this business?" she asked. That August, Jess and her husband moved to D.C. and TOC was born.
"It was overwhelming to find trusted resources, figure out where to get started, and decide what to work on everyday. What if we could help people figure this out, and bring some joy to their daily lives?" - Christie asked Jess
This Is Just the Beginning
Christie is a certified professional dog trainer, knowledge assessed (CPDT-KA) and a Lead Trainer at Dog Trained. Jess and Christie are so grateful that you are part of our #TOCFam and have joined us for the Tails of Connection Challenge, Attention Unlocked, Camp TOC, and whatever comes next! This is our chance as a community to create the training resource of our dreams. Nothing is off limits. If you have any thoughts or ideas, please reach out to us here.