About Me

My love for all animals has been present ever since I can remember, but dogs remain one of my favorite animals. I love them for their zest for life, devotion to their humans, and their adaptability. When I am with my dog I feel truly happy, it recharges my batteries, and gets me out every day.

I have been a dog trainer for eight years, volunteering my time at The Kintala Dog Club, and in that time I have worked with many breeds and all kinds of people. I started running The Gentle Modern School of Dog Training five years ago and this led me to dog training as a career. So much of my learning has taken place ‘on the job’ and reading (another passion of mine) hundreds of books. My training is based on the science of conditioning, a method of dog training pioneered (in that late 60′s) by the founder of The Gentle Modern School of Dog Training- the late David Weston.

I started this blog out of a drive to simply help any dog owner better understand their pet dog. I have found that clients were often coming to me utterly confused and sometimes hopeless about how to live happily with their dogs. These people did not want their dog to be the next obedience champion, they just wanted a dog that would fit in with their lifestyle.

I want to make dog training as simple as possible for people who often lead busy lives and are not as obsessed with dog training and behaviour as I am. I want to be a motivating force, telling you that you can be a wonderful dog owner with just a little understanding of your dog. My job is to help you so that you can help your dog, from that, will come the most wonderful relationship between you and your dog.

I spend most of my time training people not dogs- they already know what to do. My time before dog training was spent in Social Work and Childcare, so I feel I am well qualified to train humans (of all ages) as well as dogs- gently.

When I’m not training, reading or writing about training dogs I spend my time training for triathlons and playing tennis. Running is my strong leg in triathlons, and I wish I could hit the ball like Federer. I also love to watch sport on television.

Thank you for taking the time to visit, and I hope you enjoy reading my blog. I am also a mum, so my family needs to eat, and the house needs to be cleaned, but I will try to post every few days.

Recently, my puppy Ben passed away. Ben’s Vale can be found by clicking here. While I take time to heal from this great loss I will be caring for Seeing Eye Dogs. Visit the doglifetraining facebook page to see what I get up to with these special dogs who get to go everywhere with me.

Katarina