Looking for a dog trainer in Swansea?
I’m not really a dog trainer. I’m a Dog Owner trainer!
Emma Badger DTC-CDT
I've had the pleasure of owning sheepdogs most of my life. I currently have a young border collie.
I first became interested in dog behaviour when my Welsh sheepdog became aggressive to strange dogs when she was seven months old. I sought the help of dog trainers who gave me quite outdated and aversive advice, making the problem worse. It took me a while to find modern and ethical advice, but when I did, it opened a whole new avenue of research for me and lead me to start to understand how a dog’s emotion affects behaviour, how a dog’s hormones affect behaviour, how a dog’s diet affects behaviour, even how the mother’s pregnancy can affect the behaviour of the pups she has.
This then lead me to understand how dogs learn and it gave me a path to modern, scientific dog training. Modern dog training is a much kinder way to train your dog than the more traditional methods of training, which often rely on punishment and fear, which at best adversely affects the relationship you have with your dog, and at worst has a detrimental impact on your dog’s mental and/or physical health.
My aim is to help you understand your dog and to help you both build a strong bond so you can enjoy a harmonious life together.
I specialise in concept dog training and puppies, adolescents and herding breeds. My background was originally in IT, more specifically software training. I was the first Apple Creative in Wales. I put skills that I learned in software training to use by providing online content to complement each of my dog training courses. We only remember about 20-40% of what we are told, so the online element of the course is invaluable and is accessible for 6 months.
Fun, ethical, modern dog training
My training methods are fun. You can change your dog's behaviour by playing games!
I'm keen to promote ethical dog training using positive reinforcement and if you join one of my courses, I'll help you understand why rewarding your dog is far more productive than punishment.
I find how a dog's mental state affects their behaviour fascinating! I do lots of CPD to ensure that I'm bringing you the most modern, science-based training methods.
The dog training industry is not regulated, but I am A qualified Dog Trainer
I'm a DBS checked, Dog Training College Certified Dog Trainer (DTC-CDT), a Certified Pro Dog Trainer (PDT) and a Certified Pro Dog Trainer Geek (PDT-Geek) living in Swansea in South West Wales.
I keep up to date with modern dog training by doing courses with dog trainers that use ethical, force-free, scientific, and modern training methods.
I have studied with some well-known organisations such as
I continue my CPD by doing online courses, attending workshops and listening to audiobooks and podcasts
Life skills
Rather than focusing on strict obedience, my training courses focus on giving your dog great life skills. Rather than having to tell your dog what to do all the time, your dog will learn the value of making good choices, for which they'll be rewarded.
"Emma is a wonderfully positive and encouraging trainer in Swansea! She really takes time to understand and help identify how best to train both you and your pup, then provides such great training in person which is supported with additional resources tailored to our needs! The activities are always easy but fun and have helped grow even stronger bonds with our own dogs as well as help us understand and resolve underlying issues with them!I always feel comfortable and very much look forward to working with Emma and both our dogs adore her! I've also seen how successful she is working in puppy classes with a whole range of other dogs (from reactive to excitable to nervous and quiet dogs). She's quite the dog whisperer!I cannot recommend Emma enough, we have worked with a number of trainers previously and found Emma has just the right balance and approach. Not only that, she's super lovely and friendly too!Calm, relaxing, fun and friendly! Thank you again to Emma for all your ongoing help and support with our pups!"
Clare Farrah
Swansea
