Emma Badger DTC-CDT

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've had the pleasure of owning sheepdogs most of my life.  I currently have two dogs of my own, a 13-year-old border collie and a 9-year-old Welsh sheepdog.

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  I sought the help of dog trainers who gave me quite outdated and aversive advice, making the problem worse.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.

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
The Dog Training College
Absolute Dogs
School of Canine Science
Institute of Modern Dog Trainers

I continue my CPD by doing online courses, attending workshops and listening to audiobooks and podcasts.

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 this 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.