How I Ended Up Doing This Work

My route into dog training was anything but straightforward.

Before I ever picked up a clicker, I spent twenty years as a hospital pharmacy technician. Then I switched tracks to study natural health and nutrition. Different halves of the same health field. And the same question running underneath both: what's causing this?

Then my own dog, Wolly, came along. Frightened. Extremely hard to vet. We needed help. I started working with a behaviour consultant, more out of desperation than any grand plan.

Watching him change as we learnt new skills and to communicate with one another properly threw me. I learned more about what was driving his fear... and then we found a health issue that had been sitting there the whole time. Complete reframe about dogs, behaviour, the meaning of life. I was hooked. I retrained. I haven't looked back since.

Is it any wonder I’m hyper-focused on your dog’s health and movement? Is it any wonder Wolly became the face of Your Whole Dog?

Annie and Wolly have yet to refine the art of the selfie ... 

How this relates to your dog

These days I work with dogs who are nervous, anxious, reactive, and lacking in confidence. Usually hard to live with in ways that quietly wear a household down. 

The majority of them have pain or a health issue sitting underneath the behaviour too. Taking that possibility seriously isn't optional for me. It's the first question.

Could pain or an unmet need be part of what's going on with your dog? It's always worth asking, even if the answer turns out to be no.

I bring training and behaviour work, canine massage, and fitness and mobility therapy into the same relationship with you and your dog. Not handed off to someone else once things get complicated. One dog, one picture, one person committed to looking at all of it.

What working together might look like

Sessions happen in your home, because that's where real life happens. After each one you get written notes plus whatever resources, videos, or handouts are relevant to where you're at.

I check in by email every week. I also share a plain-English summary of whatever I'm currently studying, because I'm still learning, and you should know what's informing my thinking.

The plans I build with you are meant to be doable. Not a curriculum you're failing at by Tuesday, but something built at a pace that works for your dog and your actual life.

The things people tell me, later

People often come back and tell me, sometimes years after we've worked together, that the biggest shift was that they finally understood their dog. What they were seeing. What it meant. What to do about it.

That understanding is what I want to hand to you.

Next time your dog does something that doesn't quite add up, ask yourself: is this behaviour, or is there something else going on underneath it?

Your Whole Dog offers in-person, in-home behaviour and training consultations in and around the Wellington region. 

You can read more about my behaviour services here: Behaviour and Training 

If you have questions you can email me: annie@yourwholedog.co.nz