I’m Lesley Saxton and I graduated from the VSA in-person Dog Trainer Course with distinction in 2017.  I started my business Waggy Dogs straight after graduating by being a dog walker, to give me more experience of handling a variety of different dogs.  I enjoyed it so much that it’s still part of my business, along with running group puppy and follow-on classes, and working with clients privately.

I work with a wide variety of behaviours, although the majority of my private work involves helping people to get more attention from their dogs, having better on-lead walks and recall, and understanding and changing their dogs’ overreactive behaviour. 

Once any medical issues have been ruled out, I always analyze the dog and family’s lifestyle first to make sure the dog’s needs are being met, as there is so much improvement that can be made before you ever get to training.  Things like a poor diet, or insufficient mental stimulation and physical exercise are huge influences on a dog’s behaviour – and I know from working with my own rescue boy the difference that adding mental stimulation has made to his (and our) lives! 

I don’t own a training facility, but hire a great local hall, barn and secure field for group classes and, where needed, private work.  I start work with private clients in their homes but as I live in an area with lots of green space there’s no shortage of places to work outdoors, near their homes, when we need to.  I have also successfully worked with clients virtually.

Group puppy classes remain a real love.  There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing shy young puppies become more and more confident with other pups, people, and the training room (to the extent that they’re very excited to get into the hall!); than seeing people’s lightbulb moments when the realise how clever those young puppies really are; seeing what brilliant trainers the children make; and seeing how proud those puppy parents are on graduation day.  I keep group classes small (up to 6 students) so I have plenty of time to get to know them all and they have chance to talk 1:1.

The world of social media (or at least the Facebook groups I choose to be a member of) is fantastic for continuing to learn, whether it’s researching other trainers’ experiences and recommendations, or asking questions and getting helpful responses.  I’ve done some online courses and am constantly adding to my YouTube playlist of videos that I’ve found helpful over the years, not only for my own education but that I share with clients to help demonstrate concepts to them too.  And going old-school, my doggy library is always growing.

Studying with VSA made me appreciate the many benefits of positive reinforcement training, now I'm lucky enough to see the changes that this makes in action every day with the people I work with.