How I Can Help
I teach you to understand your animal companion and how to best meet their needs and maintain their health throughout their life. I am inspired by my dear friend and colleague Dr Isla Fishburn‘s wise words “make healthspan equal lifespan”.
I use modern scientific methods whilst taking a holistic approach combining more than 30 years’ experience as a Registered Veterinary Nurse with additional training in nutrition, behaviour and homoeopathy. My most valuable teachers have been my own animals, the majority of whom have been rescued.
The focus is on your animal’s wellbeing and helping you to make the best choices you can to promote their physical and mental health. The earlier I teach you how to understand and communicate effectively with your pet, the easier life is for you and for them!
In an ideal world, we would meet as you’re thinking about a bringing an animal companion into your life to make a plan in advance and ensure that you and they are a good match.
I’d like to emphasise that I teach YOU what to do, so you can support your pet forever, and our goal is to empower you to make good decisions throughout your pet’s life.
Services
I offer consultations beginning with an on line session to set the scene and ensure that you have all the necessary background information to support your pet (for life!). Once that is all in place and you’re happy, we can then meet in person. Often, the stimulus for a consultation is behaviour which you are finding difficult, worrying, embarrassing or even dangerous. Together, we will work out what support your animal companion needs and to give them a more appropriate option, where that is right for them. We will start with a management plan to keep everyone safe whilst you and they are learning. Sometimes, this means safe from harm (often due to inappropriate equipment being used), sometimes, safe from learning things which may become a problem to either you or your pet. In time, we develop a plan for the future and support you whilst you implement it. Usually, this involves teaching skills you and your pet need to coexist happily and healthily, sometimes it is more a case of explaining WHY things are happening and that they are, in fact, entirely normal, just not appropriate or even safe in certain situations. In that case, we work together on ways to avoid such situations from occurring whilst finding ways to provide outlets for that normal behaviour safely.
A typical pattern might be an initial on line consultation, followed by an in person meeting with your animal companion, and then a number of sessions working together on building up a set of skills to allow you to continue to work together for life. Often, I will recommend particular checks by your vet (as very frequently, what are seen to be inappropriate behaviours are caused by pain) and/or other therapists such as veterinary chiropractors, acupuncturists as required by the individual. The needs of each animal are different.
Training Services
- Advance preparation for a puppy arriving
- Advance preparation for a rescue or “second hand” pet arriving
- Puppy training (the most important!)
- Rehabilitation support for rescue dogs
- Teaching for children about safety around dogs
- Teaching for children about training animals
Specialist Services
- Support for reactive dogs (and, vitally, their humans)
- Specialised training for dogs who are uncomfortable with husbandry procedures such as grooming, injections, veterinary examinations
- Accompanied vet visits
- Teaching how to help an aging pet maintain a great quality of life
- Practical support at and after the end of your pet’s life
Common Problem Behaviours We Work With
- Barking
- Separation disorders
- Livestock chasing
- Poor/absent recall
- Chewing
- Pulling when on the lead
- Loss of house training
- Age related disorders (CCD)
- Introducing new pets
- Appearing aggressive on lead
- Fearfulness
- Biting
We are proud to be members of and work with the following:
