NATALIE SPENCER

I was born and raised in Australia and have worked professionally with many species of animals across the world.

I’m the Head Trainer at Leaps and Bounds and am a fully qualified and accredited Pro Dog Trainer and Behaviourist.

My passion is animal behavioural science, and I’m definitely the resident geek at the dog school. I’m the one reading research papers over the breakfast table!

Working at Leaps and Bounds for the last 10+ years as part of an incredibly professional team, has given me the opportunity to be hands on with thousands of dogs and help them and their owners through whatever struggles they are facing.

My expert field is in what we term as “brain reshaping”, whereby we teach the dog in very fun ways to strengthen certain parts of their brain that may be causing a particular struggle. For example, we can teach a dog to increase their capacity for focus, calmness, confidence, engagement, optimism etc.

These methods are at the forefront of modern dog training research.

I’ve had dogs my entire life, mostly working breeds like border collies, kelpies, Australian cattle dogs, terriers etcz

I currently have two rescues dogs.

Dobby the Jack Russell was a very challenging subject indeed. I took him on with severe aggression issues. He wanted to attack everything! People, cyclists, horses, other dogs and birds where all on his hit list. After a lot of hard work and dedication, he now lives with dozens of chickens, geese, turkeys and other animals. He even lays with them sometimes and goes to sleep in the sunshine!

My other rescue dog, Luna a Jack Russell/Patterdale cross, was a severely abused hunting terrier who never knew kindness. 

My background in Australia was in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation with orphaned and injured animals. 

Upon leaving Australia to travel, I worked with many species around the world, such as lions, tigers, bears, crocodiles, Asian elephants and wolves. Working with dangerous animals certainly teaches you to respect and become keenly observant of animal behaviour.

Now that I live in the UK, aside from working at Leaps and Bounds, I own and run Kingfisher Wildlife & Exotics Sanctuary, and rescue and rehabilitate foxes, badgers, deer, hedgehogs, birds of prey, reptiles, waterfowl, and all other bird species.

I utilise many of the training methods we use at the dog school in training some of the resident animals that live at the sanctuary.

I have trained the macaws to free fly outside and return, the kookaburras to laugh on cue and Jasper the fox to sit and give paw!

I have seen first hand how dramatically positive reinforcement training can totally transform aggressive and scared animals into absolutely wonderful companions.  

I am so fortunate to be part of an amazing team of like minded trainers, who continually strive to do the very best for the dogs we see. 

We want you to have a wonderful relationship with your dog, and look forward to helping you achieve that.
Nat

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