For gundogs and their guardians, skill-building, instinct work, and meaningful outlets for natural drive

Private Gundog Training in Essex

Regulation First Model™ • Choice-based • Relationship-led • Holistic Training

Working gundog owners are welcome if my positive, regulation-first methodology aligns with your goals.

Every gundog needs an outlet for their instincts, that’s true regardless of breeding. But with more working-line cockers, springers, and other gundogs now living in pet homes than ever, the stakes have never been higher. A pet gundog without a job tends to become self-employed, finding their own things to chase, retrieve, hunt, or fixate on. A working-line or partial working-line gundog without a job often becomes unmanageable: too much drive, too much intensity, too little direction, unable to connect or switch off especially outdoors, and a guardian who feels overwhelmed, confused, and quietly defeated after trying everything the internet, the books, and other trainers had to offer.

It’s because most training applies the same method to every dog, and gundogs, especially working-line gundogs, don’t fit that mould.

“Most gundogs don’t need more training. They need someone to read them properly.”

Many of the dogs I work with have been called “too much.” Too intense, too anxious, too reactive, too sensitive. Often the people who love them know what that feels like themselves. My work isn’t about making the dog smaller. It’s about helping you both understand each other well enough that “too much” stops being the problem and starts being the thing you build the relationship around.

Private gundog sessions give those instincts a direction. We work on practical, gundog-specific skills, steadiness, marking, retrieving, focus, handling, channelling drive, always grounded in my Regulation First Model™. Regulation First doesn’t mean regulate first, then train. It means regulation stays at the centre of everything, even when training is going well. Your dog might be doing placeboards beautifully, and then their energy shifts, something pulls them, an emotion rises. We ditch the plan in that moment and return to regulation. Same on your end. The training is always shaped around what’s actually happening, not what the session plan said should happen next.

This is where my work looks different. Most trainers teach in a task-led way, how to get a dog to perform the desired cue/mechanical manoeuvre. What that approach forgets is that your dog is a living being having an experience whilst being trained, and my work treats them that way. Their experience is at the centre of everything.

But the dog is only half of that experience. I balance both ends of the lead, so you get the tools too, practical handling, but also energetics, mindfulness, and grounding practices that help you stay solid when things get intense. Because a regulated dog needs a regulated guardian. When both ends of the lead are steady, everything else starts to land.

Most of my clients are spaniel owners, cockers, springers, working and show lines. I also regularly work with retrievers, pointers, setters, HPRs (I own longhaired Weimaraners myself), and rarer gundog breeds and crosses. Every gundog has different instincts, different rhythms, and different needs. The training shapes around the dog in front of me.

My whole approach runs on Six Core Principles (the Six Cs) and Six Core Practices (the Six Rs), and each one applies to both ends of the lead.

The Six Cs: Calm, Confidence, Connection, Clarity, Consistency, Compassion. The Six Rs: Reward, Regulate, Revise, Reflect, Redirect, Register.

Part of how I work is also intuitive. Reading the energy in a session, in the dog, in yourself, perceiving the moment something has shifted before anyone has words for it. That’s not something I can fully put on paper, but it’s something I can teach you to notice in yourself and in your dog over time.

My 15 years across gundog work span working tests, rough shooting, beating, tracking, agility, obedience and showing. That breadth lets me recognise genuine working drive in your dog and give it a meaningful outlet. And in case you’re wondering, my own dogs sleep on the sofa and share my bed. Working background, family-first lens. Both, always.

If what you really need is recall, loose-lead walking, or help with a dog who switches off outside, one of the Confident Canine® Regulation First Model™ programmes is likely the better fit, and I’ll always point you in the right direction.

Not sure if private training is the right fit? Book a free consultation first and we’ll figure out the best starting point together.

What can you expect when working with me

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I won’t pretend to be a neutral, clinical trainer. I’m not. I’m a guide who’s been on the journey myself, with my own gundogs and successfully with hundreds of clients.

When we work together, you get someone who notices the small shifts before they become big problems. Someone who reads energy as much as behaviour. Someone who’ll change the plan halfway through a session if you or your dog needs something different based on what I am seeing and hearing. And someone who genuinely believes that the relationship between you and your dog is the foundation everything else is built on.

Most of my clients come to me having tried other trainers. Some have been told their dog is too much, too anxious, too difficult. Some have been told they themselves are the problem. Neither of those is usually true. Usually what’s missing is someone who can see both ends of the lead clearly and support you to help you find your rhythm together.

That’s what I do. Tell me about your dog and we’ll take it from there.

“Having tried several different trainers over 3 years for my lovely, super high energy, excitable and easily distracted English pointer I finally found Nina. ”

Emma with pepper

Programme Client

Training gives instinct a direction and purpose

Who these sessions are for

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Private gundog training is suitable for:

• Pet gundogs whose instincts need a meaningful outlet, even though they live primarily as companions.
• Guardians who want a deeper relationship with their gundog through purposeful work, not just obedience.
• Sensitive or “too much” gundogs who need a regulation-led approach, not pressure or correction.
• Working-line dogs in pet homes such as cockers, springers, labradors, spaniels, HPRs, and others.
• Working gundog owners whose methodology aligns with my positive, regulation-first approach.
• Programme graduates who’ve completed foundation work and now want gundog-specific skill development

What we work on:

Training is tailored to the individual dog, but sessions may include:

• Whistle training
• Retrieving skills
• Steadiness
• Placeboard Training
• Handling and directional work
• On and off lead work
• Engagement and focus
• Water Confidence (subject to availability)
• Cold Game (on request / subject to availability)
• Channelling instinct in productive ways

The aim is always to develop a gundog who enjoys working with you and understands how to use their instincts constructively.

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SESSION PRICING

Private gundog sessions — £120 per hour

An hour with me isn’t an hour of a group class divided between six dogs. It’s an hour of focused, tailored work shaped entirely around your gundog and what’s actually happening in the moment. You leave with practical things to take home and practise, and clients see real progress from the first session, a breakthrough in steadiness, a recall that starts to hold under distraction, or simply a clearer picture of where the gaps are and how to close them.

A note on socialisation: You do not need a group class for that. The skills we build at a session are designed to work everywhere, including your local park, around other dogs, in real life. That’s where it actually counts.

Sessions are designed to move you forward from day one. If you’d like ongoing support, written summaries and follow-up between sessions, one of the Confident Canine® programmes is likely the better fit, and we can talk about that anytime on a free phone consultation.

What a session looks like

Sessions last for one hour, unless introducing a puppy to gundog training, where if particularly young the session may only last for half an hour, this would be agreed in advance. We initially meet at a lovely fully fenced location that suits your dog, no busy parks or high-pressure environments to start out with.

Everyone starts my the fenced venue, so I can get a feel for you and your dog in a setting where there’s room to breathe and nothing to chase. From there, depending on your goals and your dog, we may also then move to my large location, a farmer’s field.

The first thing we do is a quick check-in to see how your dog is on the day, how you’re feeling, and what’s been happening since we last spoke. From there, the session shapes around what’s actually in the room.

You’ll leave with practical things to take home and practise. I’m not in the business of giving you twenty things to do at once. We focus on what matters most for your dog right now, and build from there.

“Working with Nina has enabled me to understand my dog”

Charlotte with Letty

Private Gundog Training

A gundog’s instincts were never the problem.
They were simply waiting for a purpose.