Helen is the owner of F.I.D.O. (Focussed Instruction for Dogs and Owners) based in South Wales. Her passion for dogs goes back to her early childhood and she has owned and trained many dogs over the years. Her degree in Psychology, Genetics and Animal Behaviour and experience in human counselling and coaching led her to setting up her full-time behaviour counselling business in 2005.

Her main aim at the time was to support struggling dog owners to build better relationships with their reactive dogs and to help them resolve their pets’ concerns.

Over the years her business has expanded to include puppy and adolescent training and the resolution of a wide variety of behavioural issues. Adolescence can be a stressful time of life for dogs, as well as for their owners, and Helen understands how to raise puppies and adolescents to become balanced, happy companions.

Owning her own troubled German Shepherd taught her a vast amount, not only about how to calm a seriously dog-reactive dog, but how to relate this knowledge to other manifestations of fear-based behaviour. Through her knowledge of human psychology and coaching, Helen supports dog owners to understand their own feelings and the impact they have on their relationship with their dog and how to adjust their approach to help them both.

Helen believes in continuing self-education. She is a full member of the Canine and Feline Behaviour Association as well as the Guild of Dog Trainers, has attended numerous seminars and training courses, reads the latest research and continues to learn on a regular basis. “The more I learn, the more there is to find out”, she says.

Helen runs courses for groups and programmes of training for individuals, at her training centre in the beautiful Wye Valley in South Wales.