About me

LET’S TRAIN TOGETHER!

I am based in Hawkes Bay (Clive) servicing Havelock North, Hastings and Napier. I have two gorgeous dogs - Storm (adopted 2020) Husky X German Shepherd and Otis (adopted 2022) Husky X Border Collie. Both dogs were rehomed to me at the age of 10 months and have taught me so much about training and living with challenging dogs. Storm has extremely high prey drive and Otis has a lot of reactive behaviours that we’re working on (big dogs, cyclists, joggers, vehicles and more!). They are both super smart and love training, especially Scentwork training that we compete in through Scent Sports Association of NZ (SSANZ).

We also have 3 goats and we had a beautiful cat who sadly passed away last year (aged 15), so I have worked through a lot of challenging training scenarios with all of the animals over recent years! We have a large, fully-fenced training paddock available here where I often hold training sessions and classes - the dogs love it!

MY CANINE CAREER CHANGE

My family have always called me a ‘dog magnet’ and they were one of the driving forces behind my career change. After 16 years in advertising I decided to pursue my passion to work with dogs!

I started my studies at Unitec with a NZ Certificate in Canine Behaviour and Training (NZQA certified). The dog training industry in NZ is not regulated, meaning anyone can call themselves a dog trainer or even a behaviourist without any formal education or qualification. It was important to me - and still is - that I was educated and gained qualifications based on modern, proven scientific methods. Like many industries, there are new discoveries and ideas every day. I dedicate myself to ongoing education, mostly because I love it, but also because it helps me to help more dogs and owners alike.

I have a passion for scentwork which I love sharing with owners as it’s benefits are amazing for dogs of all kinds! My dogs both enjoy their weekly training for this run by the awesome team Hawkes Bay Dog Training Club. This has been a fantastic opportunity to build our training relationship and also help them practice being calm and focussed around other dogs. I also have an interest in canine fitness and learning how to keep young dogs healthy and safe, as well as keeping active dogs in good condition. I have also started working on trick dog titles for both dogs and a dog sport called ‘Treibball’ which is essentially herding Swiss Balls into a goal! Both dogs have herding genes and a LOT of energy but none of us are cut out for agility so Treibball is great as it’s low impact and great mental exercise.

Other areas of learning and experience:

THANK YOU FOR FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT ME!

Whether it’s just through this website, social media or in person, I genuinely Iook forward to helping inspire more positive experiences between owners and their dogs through my proactive approach to training. It’s not only my job, it’s my passion and the best career choice I ever made.