I’ve always loved animals and had a desire to work with them. In 2016, I decided to follow this passion and learn to become a dog trainer.
By 2018, I was well on my way to achieving my goal. I was obsessed with learning as much as possible from multiple global sources and determined to become the best trainer I could be.
It was during this journey that I discovered new versions of positive training that focused on game and concept-based training.
‘Absolute Dogs’ in the UK with Lauren Langman and Dr Tom Mitchell and ‘Dogs That’ with Susan Garrett in Canada were showing off their amazing training skills for everyday dog owners.
These skills weren’t based on traditional ‘obedience’ skills. Instead, they utilised games based methods of training to engage and motivate the dogs.
Training was no longer about pain and punishment or ignoring unwanted behaviour. It was about learning through fun games that build real-life and translatable skills.
Initially, I thought that these easy and fun games seemed too good to be true. Surely dogs needed structured approaches and repetitive training to successfully learn?
But no, I could see this method worked.
Through playing short, fun games and focusing on building missing links to the dog’s learning, this training was clearly successful.
Using concepts rather than individual actions, the dog could learn more effectively and transfer these skills to everyday life with remarkable results.
Over time, I grew to love this style of training and started to adopt it in my puppy classes.
As well as teaching basic behaviours, I started to add in boundary games and training for focus and disengagement and in 2019 I became an official Pro Dog Training partner through Absolute Dogs.
Since 2020, I’ve added pattern games to my repertoire of behaviour training skills, mentoring under the amazing Leslie McDevitt, the creator of the very famous ‘Look at That’ game that many trainers use today for reactive dogs.
The blending of patterns, games and concept training goes together like a lock and key. It opens the world of training where you can have fun, play games and still have the well-behaved dog of your dreams.
Training your dog has never been easier.
