Brenda Renou

Brenda Renou has been training service dogs since 2007 and living life as a handler since 2010, when she trained her own service dog for a breathing disability after months of searching turned up no program that could help. She is the founder of Paws with Purpose Coaching, where she now guides other owner-trainers through the journey she once navigated alone, and the author of Let's Start Over: A Memoir and Guide for Service Dog Owner-Trainers with Disabilities.

A Certified Nonprofit Professional, Brenda has worked with many organizations that serve the disability community. She is a former Chair, Vice Chair, and Commissioner of the City of Surprise Disability Advisory Commission and a former board member and treasurer of the Foundation for Service Dog Support. Her writing on service dogs includes public documents created for the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, distributed by the Council, other state agencies, and education professionals across Arizona. She also contributed to the Council's service dog blog post that university instructors have used to show students that not all disabilities are visible. She writes regularly at the Life With Service Dogs blog and in her newsletter for the Paws With Purpose Coaching community.

After many faithful years by her side, bringing smiles to people's faces whenever they saw him wearing his shoes in the hot Arizona weather, Brenda's service dog Oren retired in May 2026. She is now training her third service dog, Leo, who faithfully remains beside her and is learning to fill some very big paw prints.