Meet
Hollie
I'm Hollie, the founder and owner of Kent Animal Training Services.
I have experience with many different dog breeds with different backgrounds, including small and large dogs. My love has always been big dogs, but I have worked with many breeds, ranging from Shi-tzus and Jack Russells, to Staffies, Labradors and Cockapoos (the list goes on)! My family has a history of breeding gundogs such as Weimeraners and Hungarian Viszlas, and I was a young handler in dog shows during my teens (including Crufts), during which I started to familiarise myself with professional dog training. I am always keen to learn the evolving science of animal training and welfare, applying these methods and techniques with other owners’ dogs. More recently, I have volunteered my time with Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, working in the community to help rehome dogs. I take pride and enjoy helping as many dogs (and their owners) as I can. I am currently the proud owner of a Rottweiler named Darwin (age 6 and pictured above).
Wider Animal Experience
My life has always revolved around animals. I have worked in the Zoo industry for 15 years, working with a huge number of different species, including Horses, Chimpanzees, Tapirs, Parrots, Bison, Bears, Tigers (and others). I am able to assist owners of horses and birds who need training. I have worked as a manager in some of Kent’s most recognised zoos. I have led and developed the first training programme for a number of animals in a local Kent zoo. Training should always have a purpose to improve the animals’ welfare. In zoos, this is often to make sure the animals are comfortable and provide voluntary behaviours to allow for stress-free health checks. A practical example of this would be training big cats to present their back leg to allow for hand injections (removing the need for a dart gun, which can be stressful, painful and costly).
Through using positive reinforcement training, I am able to train not only health check behaviours (open mouths, foot presentations and tail presentations) but also active medical procedures (like hand injections and blood draws) . Improving animal welfare is always the primary aim of training animals in zoos, and I have won awards for my training accomplishments.
In addition to my own dog and animal training, I currently work as an Animal Training Officer at the Wildwood Trust (home to UK Native species), where my sole responsibility is to create and implement training programs to better the lives of the animals at the zoo.
Trusted and Qualified
I am proactive in seeking out the most up to date methods and protocols to ensure my animal training is compassionate and science led am an accredited trainer with the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers (IMDT). I am also currently gaining accreditation through the Animal Behaviour and Training Council (ABTC), the regulatory body in the UK that maintains the standards of knowledge and practical skills needed to be a qualified animal trainer and behaviourist (beware, there are other dog trainers who do not hold any qualifications). Positive, reward based methods have been shown to be the most successful when training animals, whilst also keeping welfare at it's highest. The techniques I use follow this ethos, with your animal's health and wellbeing being my highest priority. I am fully insured and DBS checked.
