About Judith

My present companions are an old boxer, a young cross breed (white fluffy with long legs!) and 4 cats: two cats are blind and another is blind and deaf.

I have been working with dogs since 1997.

I am a qualified veterinary nurse and secondary school teacher.

After getting my first puppy in 1997 and taking him to dog obedience classes I was inspired to learn as much as possible about how dogs learn, dog behaviour and how to train dogs in a dog-friendly way. I wanted a good relationship with my dog and did not see how pulling on a choke chain was ever going to give me the bond I wanted.

I stopped teaching and retrained as a vet nurse. During the vet nursing course I read just about every book there is on dog training and dog behaviour. I am a member of the APDTA (Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia) and have attended conferences and courses on dog behaviour. I have also completed Jan Fennell's Advanced Course in being a Dog Listener.

I started the Dog Daycare facility to provide ongoing socialisation for dogs of all ages.  I have experienced problems with my boxer being unsociable with other dogs and I can empathise with owners who have dogs that do not like to interact with other dogs. I aim to reduce the chances of this happening to you by continually socialising your dog with other friendly dogs at daycare.

I have owned cats for many years. I am a foster carer for the RSPCA and also foster cats and kittens from the Cat Haven when they are inundated with strays. I help run the Life and Protection Society for Cats (LAPS for CATS) in Perth. In New Zealand I ran a kitten quarantine service where I looked after up to 40 kittens at any time. My goal is to educate cat owners to realise that they do not have to put up with their cat behaving badly. Most so called bad behaviours are due to the cat experiencing stress in its life. So instead of putting up with the behaviour I want people to understand why their cat is performing this behaviour and what they can do to change the behaviour. Too many people just decide to keep the cat outdoors when it starts behaving badly eg. urinating on the floor, but this isn’t solving the cat’s problem and it ruins the human-cat bond.