About me!

My name is Teresa and I run Seriously Dogs. I have been around dogs all my life but only really started to think about the workings of a dog's mind when I took on a particularly problematic rescue dog in 1994. Thanks to this complicated little dog, who really couldn't understand how the 'human world' worked I started to search out knowledge that would help me to interact with my dogs in a way that they would better understand. I became an Associate Member of The Canine Behaviour Centre in 2005 on completion of the 'Certificate in Dog Psychology' from The Canine Behaviour Centre and was selected as one of their Top Students that year. I am still completely fascinated by dogs and continue to learn from them. Over the years as I have learnt more I am more and more to developing the human –dog relationship to be a true partnership rather than one of ‘commands’ and coercion.

The saying "Patience will achieve more than force" could not be more true when working with dogs and I always bear this in mind. I am also a firm believer that dogs should have fun!

In the past I competed in dog agility with both my collie and my lurcher, who are sadly no longer with us. Both were rescue dogs who came to me from very different backgrounds and with very different challenges. I found clicker training to be the key to beginning to work with both of them. Agility training was the turning point that enabled my extremely timid collie to gain confidence and she transformed into a dog who loved to work. My ex-coursing lurcher approached agility with a very different attitude and a very big sense of humour.

Mog, a welsh sheepdog x kelpie pup joined us in May 2015. He is a bright, enthusiastic boy who is a joy to work with and loves obedience and hoopers. Teasel another welsh sheepdogx border collie arrived in 2018...she is a fascinating but challenging soul and is teaching me a lot about working with high arousal dogs. I train both Mog and Teasel in Competitive Obedience, Rally-O, Hoopers and Scentwork.

Completing Kim Bropheys L.E.G.S for Dog Professionals Course and becoming a Certified Family Dog Mediator has greatly influenced how I approach my work. I will firstly look at how we can improve mood and emotion by addressing any unmet needs, before going in for the 'training' solutions. Many 'behaviour problems' (which we are seeing increasingly in our pet dog population) have an applied ethological root.

CPD

I aim to keep up to date with the advances in training and regularly participate in workshops and online courses, and read current literature in order to keep up to date.

2019 workshops attended - Adolescent Dogs, Kamal Fernandez.   Clean Training, Kay Laurence. Canine First Aid course. HUK Hoopers Camp with Mandy van Laar (Dutch National Hoopers Champion).

Online Courses 2019 - Kamal Fernadez, Dog Sports Foundation. School of Canine Science, 30 days of Canine Science. Epic Dog Academy, Trick Training Masterclass, Coursera Duke University Dog Cognition and Emotion

2020 Online The School of Canine Science, Scent for Six

2021 - Canine Arthritis Management CAM Advocate Level 1, Clicker Expo, The Lemonade Conference, 

HUK Hooperlevels Instructor

2022 – The Lemonade Conference, School of Canine Science Behaviour Bible Yr 1

2023 Kim Brophey LEGS Family Dog Mediation Certification

2024 Resolving Challenging Behaviour Karolina Westlund Illis

Allwinds Dog 1st Aid