Meet Kent’s expert dog trainer & behaviourist
Gain Control of your unruly dog with a gentle hand!
Hi, I’m Rachel, your go-to dog trainer and behaviourist for reactive dogs and all things puppy. I have an Advanced Diploma in Companion Animal Training and Behaviour and over a decades experience working with dogs and their humans.
Let’s rewind a little, shall we? I’d love to tell you how I went from a clueless dog owner to developing my own SAFER® way of training and helping hundreds of dogs and their humans.
It might even help you see there’s a positive way forward with your own dog.
It started with a crash
I would not be where I am today, doing the job I love, if it wasn’t for my beloved dog Henry.
Henry bounded into my life in 2005 as a 12 week old Weimaraner and I had no clue what I was doing! After a sudden car accident 4 weeks later, everything changed…. And not in a good way!
I broke my back and was out of action for a while. Which meant I didn’t really have anything to do with Henry for the first 18 months of his life.
He really didn’t get what he needed at all…. No classes, training or appropriate socialisation. Through no fault of his own, he turned into a challenging, hard to handle dog.
My revolutionary SAFER® dog training method wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for him.
Rottie to the rescue… or not?!
Once I was back on my feet, we rescued a Rottie, Casey who was just over a year old. Stupid I hear you say? Yep, you’re absolutely right.
A few months later, I found myself on my own with 2 big, untrained dogs that I’d never actually walked by myself.
I was determined not to give up on these dogs and that’s where my dog training adventure began.
My dog training fascination unfolded
I basically had to re-parent my dogs. They missed out on key learning and experiences that I had to address. I had one extremely reactive dog and one dog that was so distracted by their environment, I was invisible.
These giant dogs hadn’t had the basic puppy training they needed to be nice, civilised adult dogs, the result was a nightmare!
If I wanted that to change, I knew I needed to go back and put in what was missing from when they were young.
As I did that, I became fascinated. I learned things I had no idea were important to have given my dogs, the more I learned the more this nagging feeling was there for me…,
if you don’t do these pieces right, you’re gonna have big problems.
Supporting your reactive dog for the long haul
The more complex I realised this journey was, the more compelled I was to help other people overcome their struggles, once I’d done it for myself.
I see clients today who have the same issues I had. I help puppy owners avoid the fall out of missing out on early training and support older dogs with addressing where things have gone awry.
So, over the years, through helping Henry overcome his issues, the SAFER® Way evolved and now underpins everything I do. Whether it’s working with fearful, frustrated and over excited dogs that are reactive or preventing puppies becoming reactive in the first place.
I lost Henry in March 2021 but he taught me more than any book, course or workshop I attended and has left a huge hole but his legacy lives on in everything I do and create.
Reclaim in your life today
Thanks
Highly recommended
The team at Canine Connection are fantastic!
Their desire to do their best for not just the owners but the dogs shines through everything they do.
I’ve used most of their services over the years, and despite having owned dogs for 30+ years, the first thing I did when taking on a puppy was sign up for their puppy classes.
That little monster is now in the Superstars class! Her big “brother “ comes along too and they both love it.
I can’t recommend highly enough.
Teresa Kavanagh
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