"I have experience with many different dog breeds with different backgrounds, including small and large dogs. My love has always been big dogs, but I have worked with many breeds, ranging from Shi-tzus and Jack Russells, to Staffies, Labradors and Cockapoos (the list goes on)! My family has a history of breeding gundogs such as Weimeraners and Hungarian Viszlas, and I was a young handler in dog shows during my teens (including Crufts), during which I started to familiarise myself with professional dog training. I am always keen to learn the evolving science of animal training and welfare, applying these methods and techniques with other owners’ dogs. More recently, I have volunteered my time with Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, working in the community to help rehome dogs. I take pride and enjoy helping as many dogs (and their owners) as I can. I am currently the proud owner of a Rottweiler named Darwin (age 6 and pictured above).

My life has always revolved around animals. I have worked in the Zoo industry for 15 years, working with a huge number of different species, including Horses, Chimpanzees, Tapirs, Parrots, Bison, Bears, Tigers (and others). I am able to assist owners of horses and birds who need training. I have worked as a manager in some of Kent’s most recognised zoos. I have led and developed the first training programme for a number of animals in a local Kent zoo. Training should always have a purpose to improve the animals’ welfare. In zoos, this is often to make sure the animals are comfortable and provide voluntary behaviours to allow for stress-free health checks.  A practical example of this would be training big cats to present their back leg to allow for hand injections (removing the need for a dart gun, which can be stressful, painful and costly). Through using positive reinforcement training, I am able to train not only health check behaviours (open mouths, foot presentations and tail presentations) but also active medical procedures (like hand injections and blood draws) . Improving animal welfare is always the primary aim of training animals in zoos, and I have won awards for my training accomplishments. 

I am proactive in seeking out the most up to date methods and protocols to ensure my animal training is compassionate and science led. I am an accredited trainer with the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers (IMDT) and an instructor and an ambassador for The College Of Scent Dogs (TCSD). Positive, reward based methods have been shown to be the most successful when training animals, whilst also keeping welfare at it's highest. The techniques I use follow this ethos, with your animal's health and wellbeing being my highest priority."