07957 191 865 chrissie@dogsmarts.co.uk

“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.”

Orhan Pamuk

My Credentials

The UK dog training industry is currently unregulated. That means that anyone can give themselves the title of Dog Trainer. I am not that person!

My name is Chrissie Hines and I have invested a lot of time and money gaining valuable practical experience and recognised professional qualifications.

  • I’m a Certified dog trainer, in an unregulated industry. I graduated from the Victoria Stilwell Academy (VSA) with a distinction
  • Behaviour and animals have both been life-long interests of mine. At University I graduated with a BSc in Psychology, the human kind
  • Straight out of university, my passion for music and people led me to a 14-year career in the UK radio industry. I enjoyed working with animals of another kind, and my time in media is filled with wonderful memories
  • In 2013 I left the corporate world to pursue my dream of working with animals, and founded my first company in 2013. This has given me several years of priceless experience, working daily, and out in the real world with a large variety of dogs
  • I’m a member of the IAABC, and a professional practitioner who subscribes to the UK Dog Behaviour and Training Charter. This means I have agreed to uphold high standards of animal welfare and professional conduct
  • VSA is one of the few academies that have been granted membership to the charter organisation, and this underlines my professional competence
  • I am against any training methods that would cause fear, pain, anxiety or any painful, forceful or punishment-based techniques.
  • Dog Smarts is committed to using the most up to date knowledge, and humane methodologies and tools

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I am delighted

As a first-time dog owner, I felt it was important to seek professional training for my puppy Dora. Once I did my research, I found Dog Smarts, and after 10 minutes of meeting Chrissie, I felt at ease about sending Dora out to learn and train with her.

Dora did the training walks with Chrissie across a few months, and I am delighted to say that she is now an attentive, friendly and relaxed dog.

Claudia and Dora

Thank you, Dog Smarts

As a household with children, when we decided to get a puppy, we knew they needed to be well trained to manage kids, friends and our busy lifestyle. Given limitations with work and schedules we looked to Chrissie for help with this process.

Poppy started with her at 8 weeks old and the progress was quick and steady.  Not only did Poppy learn commands but also socialization and we were able to supplement the training with video tutorials to teach us as well.

Now Poppy is a year old, is better trained than any other dog I’ve ever owned, great with dogs of all sizes, kids of all personalities and safe to explore parks off leads. Thank you, Dog Smarts!

Tracy, Bob and Poppy

Fantastic Progress

“Chrissie at Dog Smarts has been so helpful at showing us how to break the training down into bite sized elements. Which makes it much easier for both me and my pup, Tarquin, to master. Plus, she really listened to what we wanted to work on, and set us up with a great lesson plan to work on independently. Tarquin is making fantastic progress and I am so proud of him!”

Tiama & Tarquin