Meet the Gurus

Tracey is a qualified professional Canine Behaviour Counsellor, working on veterinary referral only across the North Devon area. She holds a Masters Postgraduate Degree in Companion Animal Behaviour Counselling from Southampton University, one of the best academic qualifications in the country with regards to canine behaviour. Tracey has been a Professional Dog Trainer for almost 15 years and is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (A.P.D.T.), a member of the International Positive Dog Trainers Association (I.P.D.T.A.), a member of the Society for Companion Animal Studies (S.C.A.S.) an affiliate of Gwen Baileys Puppy School and a qualified assessor for the charity Pets as Therapy.

For over 10 years Tracey was the Director and Founder of Canine Etiquette, North Devon's first ever Dog Training, Behaviour and Education Centre. Following on from this, Tracey founded 'Puppy Gurus', North Devon's first ever Puppy Centre based in Barnstaple. Tracey now runs the South West's first ever Puppy Consultancy, completely specialising in the training & education of puppies. Tracey feels very strongly about the importance of educating all dogs from early puppyhood and unequivocally believes that 'every puppy matters'.

Tracey grew up in a household literally full of German Shepherds. She took on her first very own dog, Judy, at 16 years of age - Judy was a staffy cross who Tracey fell in love with whilst working at her local RSPCA Centre. Judy became her loyal and best friend for the next 16 years. Tracey currently lives with her beloved rescued lurcher cross, Princess Laya, who has taught her so much about dog behaviour and her long suffering husband Mark, whose support, patience and caring does not go unnoticed!!

Hannah has many years of experience of working with a variety of animals at both animal sanctuaries and animal rehoming centres. Hannah has completed several courses in canine behaviour including Intermediate Canine Psychology and Think Dog! Advanced Behaviour and Training.

Hannah has been involved with dog training for over three years at Puppy Gurus, following the Association of Pet Dog Training (A.P.D.T.) methods as she firmly believes in using positive training methods. Hannah is a qualified Pets as Therapy (P.A.T.) assessor and has an interest in complimentary therapies and natural treatment for dogs.

Hannah lives with her three dogs; Timber, Breeze and Tor, all of which have come from rehoming centres. Timber is a labrador cross bitch who is about fourteen years old. She was born with hip dysplasia and for a while suffered from separation anxiety. Breeze is a pointer cross bitch who is about ten and half years old, who came to Hannah with aggressive behaviour towards people. Breeze is now a lot more sociable and even has visitors!! Tor, is the new arrival and is a four year old male retired ex-racing greyhound. Tor is so far fitting in well in his new home.

Hannah aims to work towards educating people to give them a better understanding of their dogs, leading to a more harmonious dog/owner relationship - Happy dog! Happy Owners!

Chris has been dog training with Tracey at Puppy Gurus for almost two years. Previously he had worked in a canine boarding kennels, which lead on to him becoming interested in canine behaviour. Chris has an NVQ in Animal Care and has done a Compass course in Canine Behaviour and Psychology. Chris is now studying towards a Psychology Degree with the Open University and wants to gain as many qualifications as he can.

Chris lives with three dogs. Candy is a thirteen year old collie cross springer ('spollie'). Lou, who is thought to be a working cocker crossed with a collie is from the Dogs Trust and is now about ten. Roxy, who is another rescue dog, is around two and half years old and is also a spollie. Roxy has a lot of behavioural problems because of a very confusing puppy hood. She is now slowly on the mend but still has some fear behaviour problems that Chris is working with.

Chris believes that positive, kind ways of training are the best way!

Sally has been a professional dog trainer for over 30 years and is a
member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (A.P.D.T.) and is a qualified assessor for the charity Pets as Therapy (P.A.T.). From 1999 - 2002 Sally was the behavior and training advisor for the North Devon branch of the Dogs Trust.

Sally has been a practicing canine behavioral advisor for over ten years and she specialises in canine aggression. She is also a rehabilitation trainer for problem dogs, working very closely with Angela Stockdale, one of the country's top canine aggression specialists. Sally also runs livestock workshops with Angela, helping canines who have livestock issues.

Sally has owned a mixture of dogs all of her life, especially collies and terriers. She is a great believer in alternative treatments for our canine companions.

Debbie (aka Debbie Dog) joined Tracey training in 2004, after attending a puppy class with her Bearded Collie Poppy. She went on to complete the advanced class and various fun classes and hasn't left since! Her official qualifications are a BSc Hons degree from Oxford Brookes University in Hotel and Catering Management, but her passion has always been animals.

Having enjoyed clicker training so much she was trained up in accordance to Association of Pet Dog Trainers (A.P.D.T.) methods and now teaches puppy and advanced classes. Debbie is a qualified Pets as Therapy (P.A.T.) Assessor and is currently studying to complete a Canine C.O.A.P.E. course.

Her family currently included two Beardies, Poppy and Ozzy, two cats, three goldfish, three alpacas and a husband! Debbie's latest addition to her family are the alpacas which she has already started to clicker train. Alpacas are a member of the camelid family so she recently attended a Camelidynamics course which is a proven and effective method to handle and train alpacas and llamas. It uses respectful, fun, efficient and kind methods to handle camelids. Its also incorporates some Tellington Touch training which can be used on all animals including tortoises!

She is particularly interested in dog nutrition, grooming, agility and activity toys. She loves all animals, but is a particular sucker for the fluffy ones. Alongside dog training Debbie runs Barking Happy, selling responsible pet products to keep pets and their owners happy. Her aim is to have an online store in the future so watch this space!

Steph has been working with Tracey at Puppy Gurus for over a year now and has loved every minute. Steph first met Tracey when she took on her puppy Molly, and decided to take her to Puppy Gurus training classes as she had heard very good things about it! Molly successfully completed the puppy socialisation course and the advanced doggy course. Steph has been helping at Puppy Gurus ever since.

Steph is currently in her last year of school and is interested in going on to higher education either in childcare or working with animals. Steph has had dogs all her life and would never be without them, as they are a huge part of her life.

Steph has three dogs; Harry a beautiful three year old golden retriever, her show girl Molly the golden retriever who is one year old, and Todd who is her fabulous nine year old collie cross retriever. Steph has been showing Molly since she first had her, as her breeder got her interested in the subject, and it has now become a regular day out as most weekends are jam packed with dog shows!

Amanda has been working with Tracey since she started at puppy classes with her Border Terrier Effy in 2004. She carried on through Advanced and Fun classes as she and Effy had such a great time!

Using APDT training throughout and finding their methods so successful and rewarding, she is keen to spread the word!
It is interesting how these methods follow a very similar philosophy to the techniques she uses for training the horses she works with, as an instructor and ride leader on Exmoor.

Amanda has recently started to offer one to one training sessions with owners and dogs in their own homes, which she greatly enjoys “I really want people to realise that although the training is simple, it sometimes takes a while to get the complete picture. There is nothing better than a dog (or horse!) that is a delight and pleasure to be with.”

As well as Effy and her partner Ian at home, she has two of her own horses, Kia and Fly, who she looks after along with the fifteen other horses at work.

Danni worked with Tracey at Puppy Gurus for 3 years, from 2007 to the end of 2009, when she then moved to Southern Ireland.

She has completed the Compass Course in Canine Behaviour & Physiology, holds a diploma in Cynology and is currently studying for the Advanced Diploma in Canine Behaviour Management. She is a member of the Institute of Animal Care and Education and has attended the Sheila Bailey course on Training the Trainer.

Danni lives with her partner Gary and their 3 dogs. Yoyo is now a 10 year old rescued collie cross that went through basic and advanced classes, Finley, a Doberman completed the puppy classes and the latest addition Gumpy, a 2 year old rescued Doberman, who has only recently joined them and is just learning for the first time with a clicker.

Danni is interested in helping owners and their dogs with behaviour problems to avoid so many having to be re-homed and is currently teaching one to one sessions in Co. Kerry using the same ethos as the Puppy Gurus. Danni firmly believes positive training methods are rewarding and effective and that training should be enjoyable for the owner and the dog.

Ruth has owned dogs for over 20 years and during the last 13 years she has both owned and worked with Northern Breeds, which include the Alaskan Malamute, The Siberian Husky, Greenland Dogs, Canadian Eskimos and the Samoyed. Ruth currently owns 5 Alaskan Malamutes and 4 Siberian Huskies, some from puppies, but many rescued who came with behavioural problems. Ruth has also had experience with raising littermates, is an Accredited Breeder of Alaskan Malamutes and also fosters for the Alaskan Malamute Club of the United Kingdom Breed Rescue.

During the past 13 years Ruth has organised many working events for both the ABSA (Affiliated British Sled Dog Activities) and also the Alaskan Malamute Working Association. She was Chairperson for three years for the Alaskan Malamute Working Association as well as serving for many years on the committee. All of Ruth's dogs are working dogs and in the winter months Ruth and her family attend races up and down the country. Her dogs have been very successful - Soldier has gained the American title of Working Team Dog for Alaskan Malamutes and Trooper has almost completed his. In the summer some of her dogs are shown and they also enjoy backpacking expeditions together.

Ruth first got involved in Reward Based Training in 2004 when she took her Rescued Alaskan Malamute, Rocky, to Canine Etiquette. They completed both Basic and Advanced classes. This opened a whole new door to Ruth. She realised that this type of training was fun and more important, effective for both owner and dog and that the previous dominance training particularly recommended for Northern Breeds, was not the way to go. Since 2004 many of her dogs have gained their Basic and Advanced certificates at both Canine Etiquette and Puppy Gurus. Ruth is convinced that her success in owning so many dogs, all kept in the house and not kennelled, is down to the Positive methods of training.

Over the years Ruth has become more and more interested in Dog Training and Dog Behaviour. She has recently started the 'Think Dog' Certificate for training and behaviour and is already looking forward to completing more courses on the subject once this course is completed.