Hi there!

I'm a devoted animal advocate and love hanging out with the furred and feathered, often preferring their company to people.

I'm so happy to have found Michelle and incredibly grateful we have such an accomplished trainer in our local area. What's notable in her training sessions is that Michelle sets everyone up for success - dogs AND humans.

10 years ago I stumbled on rewards based training for horses.

The relief and validation I experienced was immense when I discovered that positive reinforcement is THE most effective and powerful education technique we have at our disposal. Beautifully, it's also gentle, respectful and kind as well as based on solid scientific consensus.

It's the shared language I've been looking for, as every other training method hasn't sat well with me or missed the mark. It felt SO wrong and terribly distressing to be yelled at to kick my horse harder to get over a jump, or to throw a chain in front of my sensitive border collie puppy while shouting BAHHH, or sharply correcting with a check chain when training him to heel. This was "normal" training, and I felt a failure because I couldn't it. My life with these animals was lovely when we just hung out together. Away from situations that demanded punitive training styles, no "bad" behaviours occured, just mutual understanding and good company.

From horses to dogs and cats I've been told that I've been too soft. This isn't true! I am clear with them about what is and isn't acceptable, it just happens too quickly for most people to see. Having given basic training to many dogs for rehoming, my abilities came up short when our Jack Russell, Raffi, came into our lives. She was an assertive puppy with very sharp teeth, and at times she made me cry with frustration. Once I started with positive reward training only, though, she flourished. She's confident, clever and astute, quickly noticing and soothing distress in others. I'm proud to say that when we're out and about people often approach us with praise, as they've never seen such a well behaved Jack Russell!

And it's all due to a communication aid based in kindness, compassion and respect, and backed with solid evidence.

What's not to love? 🐶❤️

However...we still have much to learn together and some challenging behaviours to work through, and that's where Michelle comes in!