About Jane

I am originally from the UK where I grew up in the countryside with multiple dogs in my life. I used to sleep with my Grandfather's English Setter in his basket when I was tiny, so it's not surprising that I should end up working with dogs.

I came to New Zealand to work at Weta Digital as a Computer Animator - Lighting TD on the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. I ended up staying and worked at Weta for 19 years working on many blockbuster movies! (25 yrs in the industry) before moving up to Ohau for the rural life and to support dogs and their guardians in the Kapiti and Horowhenua Region.

My first personal dog, Scuba, was a big doofy Briard and so started my journey into dog training. He was huge, but scared of everything. I wanted so much to help him, so started looking into behaviour and training to make our human world a less scary place for him. He was a work in progress for his whole 10 years of life. He competed in Rally O and even did a wee stint at Paws to Music, so anything is possible! He was gorgeous!

From that moment on I was hooked and welcomed my 2nd dog when Scuba was 3 years old. Ruku, a Large Musterlander became my heart dog over the 13 years and 8 months that he was part of my life. He was a tricky dog to train, as he was soft-natured, though with a strong natural urge to chase.

He excelled at being a demo dog for showing tricks and helping with instructing and a great partner working with reactive dogs.

We competed in agility, and although I retired him at just 4 1/2 years old we continued to train in Obedience, Rally O  and tricks for the rest of his life.

We are currently living with our 3 dogs, Tink, 9 years old (Cocker Spaniel x Heading dog), Potter, 6 year old (Large Munsterlander x Border Collie) and Torin, 2 year old (Working Cocker Spaniel)​

• Tink (9yrs) used to compete in Agility in Starters/Novice and moved up a grade to Jumpers B. Tink is a fabulous scentwork dog and competes at Novice level with Dogs NZ and at Intermediate level with SSANZ. She is also an Expert Level Trick Dog!

• Potter (6yrs) is my soft-natured loveable boy. He is my demo dog, so if you are doing classes with us, he is the one that will show you how things are done and also likes a quick snuggle to say Hi before we start! He competes at the highest level of Senior in Agility and Jumpers A. He too is an Expert Level Trick Dog! He is a fabulous around sports and companion dog. 

• Torin, (2yrs) is our youngest pup. He is a Working Cocker Spaniel and is an April 1st pup. He is starting to become a lovely wee demo dog for my classes and video content. We have not settled on a sport for him as yet. We are training in Agility, though this is not really his thing. We are exploring scentwork and other options and we will be doing more trick training with him to take him up to expert and beyond. He is currently at Advanced Level in his Trick Dog training.​​

​Interests​

My learning interests lie in puppies and adolescents, starting them off with strong foundations.

I have a great love for all areas of dog sports, Trick Training and the Human Mechanics of training to bring clarity to all the interactions with our dogs. I also spend much of my spare time upskilling in as many areas as possible including canine/animal health and behaviour.

Training History

I am proud to be one of the founding members of both the Association of Pet Dog Trainers NZ (APDTNZ), and the NZ Association of Rally Obedience (NZARO).

I instructed for many years at Central Allbreeds Dog Training School in Wellington, teaching multiple grades of pet dog classes, as well as introducing Rally Obedience classes to the club. I also instructed Agility at Dog Agility Wellington, (DAWG) for a number of seasons.

 I am a certified UK Pro Dog Trainer.

I am a certified Trick Dog Instructor through Do More With Your Dog.  (USA)

In Feb 2023 - I became a Predation Substitute Certified Instructor (working with High Prey Drive dogs)

I regularly attend seminars, work through online training, as well as listen to behaviour podcasts to keep up to date with current training methodologies.

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• In 2019 I joined over 3000 other trainers worldwide with the fabulous online 30 Days of Canine Science Challenge through The School Of Canine Science, UK.

• I attended a 3 day practical Tracking and Scenting workshop by the amazing Steve White in Auckland (ProActive K9 (USA)).

• In 2019 we went on a road trip to the Wairarapa to a fabulous Megan Bell (Epic Agility (AUS)) agility workshop. Working all 3 dogs at their different levels.

• I was a long term member, of Susan Garrett's H360 and Agility Nation programs and have previously completed her Recallers program, based around training through games. I would consider Susan to be one of my main Mentors!

• In 2020 I completed Scent for Six by The School Of Canine Science (UK)

• 19th Nov 2024 - The Gun Dog Retrieve : A 7 Day Challenge - Jane Adern (SOCS) (UK)

• 10th March 2025  -  'Puppy Lab' by The School Of Canine Science (SOCS) (UK) 

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Current & Future Learning - 2025

• Jan 2025 - IGP Heelwork : A 7 Day Challenge - Corinne Wrend - The School Of Canine Science (SOCS) (UK)

• Feb 2025 - Shaping Skills: A 7 Day Challenge - Kamal Fernandez - The School Of Canine Science (SOCS) (UK)

• Continued learning through High Performers Membership - The School Of Canine Science (SOCS) (UK)

• The Behaviour Bible (3 year behavioural course) - The School Of Canine Science (SOCS) (UK)

• Continuing to advance my learning through various FENZI classes, webinars and workshops

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Over the Rainbow Bridge: 

• Scuba, was a big doofy Briard and so started my journey into dog training. We played with Rally O and Paws to Music. I lost him at just 10 years old.

• Ruku, a Large Musterlander became my heart dog over the 13 years and 8 months. We competed in Agility, Rally O and Obedience

• Mono used to compete in Agility at Senior and Jumpers A level, in Rally Obedience at Advanced level and Flygility at Advanced level. We miss her every day. We lost her at 10 years old to DCM (Dilated Cardiomyopathy & heart failure)