Nicole has always had a strong affinity for animals of all kinds, with a particular fascination for dogs. Initially, she pursued a career in Emergency Management after graduating from the University of Toronto and Fleming College and then worked for many years for a worldwide humanity organization.
Many who knew her, frequently asked her why she was not working with animals. After realizing her passion for dog training, she began her own personal study, reading every recommended training book and watching every training video she could get her hands on. She attended workshops for the Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers and the Professional Animal Behaviour Associates, and then became a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (Knowledge Assessed) with the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers.
After attending many training courses and workshops she decided to open ‘The Pack Way’ dog training business where she could do what she loved. Nicole quickly became a highly recommended trainer after proving herself by working on the tougher cases and resolving issues where other trainers were not successful. Not only is Nicole good at speaking dog, but she is one of the best in the field at helping clients understand dog behaviour, also possessing excellent teaching skills.
Learning to Lead
Most pivotal to Nicole’s career was training under Cheri Lucas and Brian Agnew during the Lucas Agnew workshop in Templeton, California May 2013. This was an extensive hands on Dog Psychology course geared at rehabilitating and solving the “tough cases”.
Cheri Lucas is a Protegee of “Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer” and is frequently featured on both The Dog Whisperer show and the Leader of the Pack show assisting Cesar with challenging cases. Due to Cheri’s high skill level and after many years of mentoring alongside Cesar, she is one of the few people in the world Cesar trusts to personally assist him with challenging cases. Both Cheri Lucas and Brian Agnew are previous trainers for Cesar Millan’s “Training Cesar’s Way”, a training workshop for both dog trainers and dog enthusiasts. Cheri is also a past director of the “Training Cesar’s Way” workshop and personally designed the course.
In addition, Nicole has attended renowned Dog Behaviourist Chad Mackin’s “Pack to Basics” an advanced socialization course for dog-dog, reactive/aggressive dogs. Chad is a past Director of Education for the International Association of Canine Professionals and considered one of the leading experts in the field of dog-dog reactivity/aggression. More recently, Nicole had the opportunity to complete a Dogmanship training course with the world renowed dog trainer Tyler Muto. The art of dog training is beautifully presented by Tyler in this course, one where students learn to master their leash handling skills and utilize training methods that foster a truly cooperative state of mind between human and dog.
Most recently Nicole became certified as a SATS Trainer in Perception Modification Level 1 with exotic animal trainer extraordinaire Kayce Cover. Kayce has become famous in the dog training world and has developed one of the most humane and innovation training systems out there teaching animals how to cope with stressors, reactivity issues, excitment, and overcome fear based issues. This is training system is totally unique and is producing impressive results where other training methods often fall short. This past summer Nicole has taken workshops with dog socialization expert Heather Beck, a trainer who caught the eye of Cesar Millan "The Dog Whisperer" and was hired due to her excellent reputation at rehabilitating difficult dogs. In addition, Nicole had the priviledge of training with Geoge Cockrell one of the most respected and experienced dog trainers in the USA.
By studying methods of the industry experts Nicole has quickly become an expert in her own right, and believes that life long education and learning is key to staying ahead of the pack. However, if you talk to Nicole she will always tell you that is has been the dogs that have taught her the most. “It’s the dogs that teach me how to speak dog and then I have to transform that conversation so that the client understands what it means.” Dogs often make the best teachers when it comes to solving behaviour issues, what can take weeks for a person to solve another dog can achieve in minutes. This is why Nicole believes in staying intuitively close to the dogs she is working with, this enables her to see things that others may pass over, helping her to achieve quicker and more lasting results by truly understand each dog's state of mind.
By working with various behaviour issues you learn that not every method works for every dog, sometimes you need to even use the animal training secrets from the world’s Horse Whisperers or Bird Whisperers. Nicole is happiest when out walking with a pack of dogs or seeing a dog hit its big break through, letting go of its issues to finally achieve balance, just as nature intended.
In addition to owning The Pack Way, Nicole is also the owner and trainer for “Wings over the Rainforest” a performing parrot show. This sparkling entertainment/education show, features parrots performing tricks, such as; animal impersonations, playing basketball, matching colours, roller skating, putting coins in a piggy bank, skateboarding, and much more. Click on parrot shows for more information.
