Louise
Head Coach Louise has a BSc in Canine Behaviour & Training which she achieved whilst working full time in an assistance dog organisation. Louise has dedicated over 20 years working within a variety of assistance dog organisations. Louise also ran her own small rescue helping rehabilitate and rehome Working Sheepdogs and Border Collies for several years. Louise was a School Governor for 7 years and has a good understanding of teaching and education practices.
Louise currently competes in dog sports to championship level with her dogs and also trains with her dogs herding sheep.
Niki
Niki has worked within the rescue setting for the past seven years and thoroughly enjoyed working towards finding dogs their new forever homes. Niki worked first hand with the adoptable dogs and completed the training, rehabilitation and socialisation needed for them to be as prepared as possible for their new forever home. Alongside this, Niki worked very closely with the trainer and behaviourist at her previous job and regularly volunteered helping assist and teach training classes. This is where her love of teaching developed! Niki caught the teaching bug and soon developed her skills in this area enjoying the opportunity to ensure that dogs who are already in their loving homes, stay in their loving homes.
During her time here at Dogs Trust, Niki has attended many of the courses available but she still says that her favourite course was the puppy course… for obvious reasons!
In Niki’s spare time she regularly enjoys taking her Border Terrier Milo on regular hikes and countryside walks and keeps everyone updated on the latest adventures with her very popular blog. Often her blog will include special guests from both the surrounding rescue centres and previous foster dogs. Alongside regular long walks and updating the blog, Milo also enjoys having fun in the agility ring (even if he is a little slow still).
Sue
Our Senior Coach Sue is a Registered Veterinary Nurse with 32 years’ experience in small animal practices both here and in Australia. Whilst living in Australia Sue attained a Certificate IV in Companion Animal Services (Canine Behaviour and Training) whilst running her own dog training business there. Sue has a keen interest in continued professional development and attends seminars and workshops and has also completed other animal related courses. Sue is a full member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and Pet Professional Guild Great Britain.
While living in Australia Sue and her Golden Retriever Barney were Pet Therapy Partners and visited the same residential home every fortnight for several years.
In her spare time Sue is an avid Rugby League supporter, a keen bird watcher and shares her home with 2 rescue cats and 9 rescue snakes.
Sophie
Sophie has been passionate from the start about having a career with animals, but her main focus is to work with dogs. Sophie started her journey to her dream job by completing a Level 3 Animal Management course following the canine pathway. This focused on the care and training of dogs as well as some other weird and wonderful animals!
Whilst she was studying this course, Sophie dedicated 300 hours to working as an apprentice assistant dog groomer where she learned how to fully prepare all kinds of breeds of dog for the head groomer. Here she picked up valuable skills on how to safely handle dogs as well as learning the beginning skills of how to maintain the various types of coats dogs can have.
Once Sophie graduated from college, she chose to study the FdSc Canine and Feline Behaviour, Training and Welfare degree to further develop her knowledge on dog behaviour and training.
Whilst studying, she carried out 150 hours of work experience in a rehabilitation kennel, learning how to train and rehabilitate dogs that had behavioural complications. Here she learned important skills on how to recognise dog body language as well as how to organise a training plan on how she would carry out her training.
Once Sophie graduated from higher education, she went on to teaching puppy classes and adult dog training workshops which focused on loose lead walking and whistle recall. When Sophie saw there was an opening for Dog School Coach at the Leeds centre, she couldn’t miss the opportunity! Now she has finally achieved her dream job and all the hard work has paid off!
Tracey
Tracey has enjoyed the company of dogs all of her life and for the past five years Tracey has developed her skills in training due to rescuing her first dog, Harvey. Harvey has inspired Tracey to come up with new and exciting training exercises to keep up with his bouncy, excitable energy which comes in handy when helping owners train their own ‘Harvey’ in class.
On the flip side, two years ago Tracey fell in love with a rescued Romanian called Bertie who was very worried about the world and has had to develop his confidence greatly since. Due to this, Tracey is compassionate and understands the training needs for dogs which are lacking in confidence.
Tracey originally volunteered for Dog School Leeds and gave up over three hundred and fifty hours of her time helping coaches in class which is where her passion for Dog School began. When a job came up to join the Leeds team she could not say no! Looking a few months ahead and Tracey is enjoying expanding her knowledge further and excited about her continued personal development.
