DANIELLE TODD
Certified Professional Trainer
Danielle has had a passion for dogs since she was a young girl and as her love for dogs grew, it drove her to pursue a career as a professional dog trainer. In 1998 she attended Canada West Canine Centre and graduated as a Certified Master Trainer. She obtained her canine expertise from walking dogs as a child, to working in veterinary clinics, boarding kennels, dog daycares, and professional grooming. Danielle's natural ability to connect with dogs put her where she was meant to be!
Danielle strives in helping people build a happy and balanced relationship of trust and respect between owner and dog. She enjoys teaching people how to communicate in a fair, clear and consistent manner so their dog can feel comfortable and confident. She believes in working with each dog as an individual and always trains according to the dogs own personality with a balanced approach as they are all so different. Our training at WCCA is based on the relationship between handler and dog while using positive reinforcement and verbal markers to communicate to the dog clearly with appropriate timing. The marker system reinforces the behaviors we like by providing rewards that are motivating and fun to the dog. Rewards can be food or toy depending on what motivates the dog. Danielle believes that building engagement and play within our training is crucial to having a good relationship with our canine friend!
Danielle has titled several dogs in Canadian Kennel Club obedience, French Ring Sport, Sporting Detection, Dock Diving, and training dogs for film as well as handling them on set. Danielle believes that training never ends and we learn something from every dog and client. She attends ongoing educational seminars to extend her training as much as she can. The seminars she has attended have been from top trainers around the world involved in French Ring Sport, competitive obedience, and behavior modification. In 2009 Danielle attended and successfully completed a training workshop in advanced explosives and terrorist activities, and passed a K9 explosives course consisting of military and commercial explosives detection field training, 8 hours of K9 based detection class, and a final exam. Danielle has also attended several continuing education seminars in the veterinary industry while working in veterinary clinics and received additional training in emergency and critical care nursing in small animals. She has also had the pleasure of directing 5 dogs during the making of a short film called Envy, four of those five were trained in Danielle's classes.
Certified Master Dog Trainer (reg. 098-502)
Certified Trick Dog Instructor
Member of the Canadian Kennel Club
Member of Doggone Safe
Member of Sporting Detection Dog Association
