“For gundog guardians whose dogs need more than just training, when daily life has become harder than it should be.”
Gundog Behavioural support in Essex
Nina Fotara KCAI (WG) – Kennel Club Accredited Instructor, Working Gundogs.
Holistic trainer and behaviourist working with reactivity, recall, arousal, anxiety, and the adolescent gundogs who have lost their way.
Contact me for a chat about your needs
*If you need to speak to me before book please visit my contact page or call me on 07917 445830 for a chat
🏆 Award Winner 2026 — Holistic Gundog Training Specialist of the Year & Canine Behaviour Excellence Award | Pet Products & Services Awards
What’s actually happening with your gundog
Most behaviour isn’t defiance. It isn’t stubbornness. It isn’t your dog choosing to ignore you.
What you’re seeing on the surface, the reactivity, the pulling, the spinning, the barking, the dog who can’t switch off, is usually the visible part of something deeper. A nervous system that hasn’t learned to settle. Instincts that need a different kind of outlet. A communication gap between the dog and the person at the other end of the lead.
Behavioural support isn’t about teaching your dog to suppress what they’re feeling. It’s about helping you understand what’s driving it, and giving you the tools to work with your dog rather than against them.
Prey drive is a good example. Most courses treat prey drive as the problem. In my work, prey drive isn’t the problem, dysregulation is. A regulated gundog with strong prey drive can hunt, focus, and still listen to you. A dysregulated gundog with the same drive can’t access any of that. The drive isn’t broken. The system around it just needs steadying.
That’s the difference between behaviour change that lasts and behaviour change that doesn’t.
Contact me for a chat about your needs
How behavioural support works
Behavioural work doesn’t follow a fixed template. Every dog is different. Every guardian is different. What we do, and where we do it, is shaped by what’s actually going on for your dog.
Most clients start with either a free consultation call or a full home visit. From there, depending on what your dog needs and where you’d both benefit from working, we may move into offsite work, online support, or one of my structured programmes.
Before any offsite work or programme begins, your gundog will need to be assessed at home or at my site. This isn’t about sales, it’s how I make sure we start work in the right environment, at the right pace, for both of you. Public spaces aren’t safe environments for every dog, and I won’t put your dog into a situation that’s wrong for them.
When a programme may suit you better
Some behavioural challenges aren’t going to be resolved in a handful of sessions. If your dog needs sustained, structured support, with accountability, follow-up, and a clear path through the work, a programme is likely the better fit.
Programmes go deeper than ad-hoc behavioural sessions. They give us the time and structure to address what’s actually driving the behaviour, build the foundations the dog has been missing, and embed the changes so they hold beyond the training field.
Each programme is shaped for a different starting point:
Not sure which fits? Have a free chat with me and we’ll figure out the right starting point together.
Not sure where to start
If you’ve read this page and recognised your dog somewhere in it, but you’re not sure whether to book a home visit, an online session, or look into a programme, that’s exactly what the free consultation is for.
We have a chat. You tell me what’s been happening. I ask the questions that help me understand where you actually are. By the end of the call we’ll have a clearer picture of what your dog actually needs, and the best place for us to start work together.
No pressure. No sales pitch. Just a chat between you and someone who’s seen this many times before.
Why train with me?
- Holistic, regulation-first behavioural work — looking at the whole picture, not just the symptoms
- 15+ years working alongside gundogs — and the experience to recognise what’s actually driving behaviour
- Kennel Club Accredited Instructor, Working Gundogs (KCAI WG) — formal credentials (currently also studying at Level 6 Clinical Canine Behaviour)
- Creator of the Regulation First Model™ — a complete methodology, not a collection of techniques
- Award Winner 2026 — Holistic Gundog Training Specialist of the Year & Canine Behaviour Excellence Award
- Force-free, relationship-led, choice-based — no aversives, no corrections, no shortcuts, only calm, present support from someone who genuinely cares about getting you the results you came here for.
- Both ends of the lead — your wellbeing matters as much as your dog’s
- Proven results — see my 5★ Google reviews and client testimonials
Behaviour is communication. My job is helping you hear what your dog has been trying to say.
