The London Dog Lady – Dog Trainer & Behaviourist

Meet the Devon Dog Lady: I’m Judy Comer-Calder
Helping people with puppy and dog training and behaviour

In fact I don’t train dogs, I train people – to understand and communicate with dogs.  And it turns out that this is a really effective way to help their dogs with all sorts of behaviour problems.

For the past 20 years I’ve been working with people and dogs to help owners understand dog’s needs and guide their dog’s behaviour, and create the optimum environment for their dogs to thrive.  I want to set both sides up to succeed.  

My work comes out of a lifetime of living with and loving dogs, and a great curiosity about what makes them tick.  Also about what makes the human and animal relationship work – or not work.   I can help explain the difference between human and dog psychology, between human and dog communication, and remind us of some of the differences in human and dog behaviour. 

  Simply put – its all about cross species understanding.  The reality is that there is Dog and there is Human. And we are not the same.  We are not born with an understanding of Dog.   It’s a miracle that both species manage to live together.  And this is where sometimes things can get complicated.. 

The good news is that once we understand Dog, we can see why our beloved dog is behaving in a given way.  And we can also see how sometimes we might have accidentally given our dog the wrong idea.  We can understand what we need to do differently, and then make those changes – setting things up in the best way for our canine friends an ourselves to get everything just right.  

Its about understanding the difference between Human and Dog, we can change what we are offering to best help our dogs feel safe, relaxed and get everything right. This is what helps our dogs behave how wed like them to. And this is what helps us humans behave how dogs would like us to. The changes can be fast and long lasting for both humans and dogs.

My journey to help people understand and communicate with their dogs has also been enriched by training in human psychology and psychotherapy and human human thinking and communication.   It has also been inspired /enriched by my study of horse psychology and behaviour and horse whispering.

I have had an affinity with animals since I was very small, and I seem to have been able to understand dogs and their experience.  This special relationship has deepened and clarified over the years.  I love sharing this knowledge with people, and seeing their relationships with their dogs blossom and the behavioural issues with their dogs transformed.

I have been helping people with their dogs for the last 20 years.  And these people and their dogs have been my teachers.  Helping me get better at supporting  humans and dogs to live together in harmony.

Dogs are still my teachers. Dogs have taught me all about them – and of course I’m still learning.  

I live and work on my smallholding in South Devon and come to London where I am based near to Regent’s Park

ONLINE PUPPY & DOG TRAINING

All my work starts with a phone call and I often use Zoom calls for the introductory training session. This is convenient for owners who can sit in comfort of their home and tell me about their dog and the behaviours they’d like to change. I will explain why your dog does these things and what you can do and what needs change in your relationship.

For people who are very busy or travel a lot working on Zoom for the whole training programme works very well indeed and the results are every bit as good as with one to one in person work.

Here’s what one of my Devon clients wrote:

Judy has been brilliant, we have worked on Zoom together and she has been so clear about the steps to go through with our dog Hector. His behaviour is much better, we have have made changes we thought were not possible.