Testimonials

These last 3 days spent together Louise Wilson and a small group of detection dog teams must be one of the most dense and impressive training sessions since a very long time for me– and God knows, I have participated at quite a few : fun, enthusiasm, inspiring, positive reinforcement, play, choreographing the handler’s support behaviour, relevant information, methodologically well organised, solutions for all of our hick-ups, understanding of the dogs’ behaviour and mind…. In one word: full immersion, a seminary to remember!! 

The participants were on different target scents: cell-phones, explosives or kong-snipples.

Louise is everything else than greedy with her sharing of her large-scale experiences and knowledge’s in the fields of dog training and scent detection (from substances to conservation). Her wide experience and love for dogs of all breeds, gives her an amazing instinct for how to help every handler-team to get the best out of each individual dog and their team-work. 

Her approach is very pedagogical: in fact, at the end of the workshop, each team was given a very detailed personal progress and training plan to follow in the future.

But more importantly: Louise is a very fine psychologist: She is very quick in understanding where and how a handler needs to be supported to get best out of her/his dog. Her feedbacks and appraisals are always positive and adapted to the needs and possibilities of each handler. Her global approach, teaches handlers not just to settle with improving the technical perfection, but to be aware of the wellbeing and welfare of the dog, in order to make the most of – and even stretch – the dogs potentials in the field.

Her training method is based on force-free training, set up for success. Her aim is to build handler-dog-teams who also in future will work with positive marker-based reinforcement and see shared value in collaboration with their dog. Her aim is show that we can enjoy the learning process together with our dogs and thus create a profound bond with the dog and a joyful and productive partnership.

The positive training methodology improves the lives, welfare and long-term working performance of all teams.

Personally, I just fell in love with her enthusiastic, swirly, positive, quick manner: she calls herself a “springer”-personality  I wouldn’t have found a better description She and her wiggly-bum-theory are just lovable – and convincing – to bits. 

I entirely support her training methods and can highly recommend her courses, seminaries and consultancy-services to anybody involved in scent detection.

I had the opportunity to meet and be a student of Louise Wilson during the course Detection Madness 2018 in Lugano last weekend.
From the beginning, I appreciated the great energy and expertise of Louise, her technical precision and her incredible experience in the dog world.
She is a super dog trainer and sensitive professionist, her working method is always directed to the well-being of the dog. During the seminar she gave me a lot of ideas and strategies, and she was always able to bring out the best from me and my dog, Naif.
Being able to work with her, with her incredible support, has been a great experience, I returned enriched and stimulated to do even better. Surely it is a great fortune to be able to learn from her.
Thanks very much Louise

I met Louise in Lugano last year, 2017. She wasn’t our trainer, but I could speak with her and understand a little bit about her wonderful personality. This year I could happily follow her detection lessons. Louise has strong knowledge and great empathy. She teached us how to reach the best results with the correct attitude to our strenght and weakness. Louise lessons are theory and work, psychology and exercise, positive vibrations and love emotions, for us and our dogs. The best and complete lessons I could ever expect. I have the feeling that my life with dogs just begun and can’t go on without her anymore.

Louise‘s way of teaching is all about natural indication. Where other trainers go for operant behaviour straight away and struggle to keep the dog’s motivation up in the long run, Louise lays a solid foundation by using classical conditioning and building a strong, positive conditioned emotional response. The only operant behaviour that I saw during the course was, that she went for duration, when the dog was already reliably showing his natural indication.

From the perspective of a pet dog trainer, I have to say, that this kind of positive and cooperative work is superglue  for the relationship between dog and guardian!

I had the pleasure to participate with my dog in February at my first conservation detection training with Louise Wilson of Conservation k9 consultancy  organised by Stéphanie Michenaud.
Louise is not only a great professional but also an exceptionnal person ; her learnig method is, as the same time, controlled, precise  and respectful of people and dogs. Louise take individual personalities of both human and dogs into consideration. Her process of training  enables the dyad  to learn with high efficiency and also with great pleasure.
I fully intend to continue the complete training with Louise in order to be able with my dog to join, if possible, a detection project.
I had a great time and my dog too during this first training course and I am impatient to do more.

I was one of the lucky people who attended the seminar Conservation K9 Consultancy gave in France not long ago and I had the chance to participate in a training that gathered everything I expected: professionalism, generosity, humor, deep commitment, passion, theoretical and practical skills. 

Not only Louise knows her subject by heart but she also shares it completely with both humans and dogs. She adapted to whomever she met and tried to help us move on with our dogs, with a lot of respect for both, at all times. 

It was not only a great seminar but also a very beautiful human encounter.

I had the pleasure of organizing and hosting Louise of Conservation K9 Consultancy in February for a seminar on Conservation Dogs in France.

This seminar was of great quality: tranmssion of knowledge in term of detection, training, motivation and behaviors, emotions of dogs… Louise is a great professional : teacher, trainer and handler. She is willing to help us make our dogs perform well while taking care of them, being vigilant to their welfare, their emotions. Which is so rare in the working dog world. She is also very attentive and sensitive to human participants, her approach is so brilliant. Her approach is fine and intelligent. I enjoyed this days spend together. I greatly appreciated Louise.

When she came to France, I also had a 121 Consultation to help me in my project to detect bat carcasses. We worked with my three (VERY) different dogs, including a puppy. And it was beautiful, very affecting to follow her proposals, her advices adapted to each of my dogs. Everu time in respect. I learned a lot and loved this moment. I look forward to our next 121 consultation and the next seminar in France !”

And then you meet a woman who works with all the passion she can give, who spends all her energy, who teaches you with love all the things you need, that understand the dogs at the first glance, that knows how to sew the perfect job for each pair.

A perfect dog trainer, a woman who even when tired, she smiles, smiles, smiles.

Thanks Louise Elizabeth Wilson

And Thanks Michaela Connolly for helping me and Mala, (and for the pictures), for teaching me with so much patience.

I’ve had a few days to digest the wonderful week we’ve just had with you and I’m still so happy – thank you so much for having me on your course, it was an absolutely amazing experience, and it was so lovely to meet you. I realised that I really love your way of training, your outlook on not only the jobs at hand but the actual dogs themselves which is my priority too. If I could eventually get to a place where you could mentor me, that would be my goal.

I recently attended a course with Louise at Conservation K9 Consultancy as I was looking for a training outlet for my spaniel. We had contacted and worked with several trainers but no-one truely understood the cause of her behavioural issue or a training plan of how to help. Louise quickly assessed her and worked with her beautifully over the two days to produce some amazing work I hadn’t thought possible, she taught us techniques to keep her engagment and focus in an outdoor environement, including a plan of action moving forward. Since being home, we have not only practiced these techniques and seen great improvement but we have booked onto further training courses to further our knowledge and can’t wait to head back for the next course at Conservation K9. I will be forever grateful to Louise for her knowledge and understanding and for starting us on our scent work journey.

The course was well structured and gave a great opportunity to learn about the subject. The amount of time with the dogs was fantastic and showed what was possible. It was relaxed but Louise’s experience really shone through, and both her and Kevin were able to target sessions and feedback to each handler’s ability and experience. There was nothing I didn’t like or enjoy and nothing I would like adding – I thought it all went well. From discussion with others, it may be beneficial to have a session on legislation of target species or those that might be encountered. The venue is fantastic and works really well. The course was relaxed but I think a lot of that is due to the experience and knowledge of Louise and Kevin, who were able to answer questions and show how things work. It never felt like just theory. It highlighted brilliantly for me what was possible but showed the skill and experience levels required to do it well and that there is so much more required than just attending a single course.

I liked the content, delivery and methodology focussing on professionalism and dog welfare. There was nothing I did not like. I would perhaps add a section on “dog handling” health and safety ie. putting on harness/correct kit/poo bags/bum bags/line handling basics. I enjoyed the personal nature of it, I gained valuable experience and felt the level of instruction was brilliant.  

I really enjoyed working with different dogs, breeds and types of searches. The variety of dogs and breeds has given me an insight in their different search styles. I loved learning about the different types of searches, such as hedgehog,  water vole, systematic, bat and bird. The course has taught me the basic fundamentals in wildlife detection dog handling which I can now incorporate into my own dog’s training.  The theory and practical aspects were nicely balanced covering lots of topics over the 5 days. it was a brilliant course! I felt lots was covered over the 5 days and not much more could have been added.

Louise is one of a few trainers with an amazing ability to see which training method suits an individual dog. She never uses a “one fits all” solution but adapts her training perfectly to every dog-and-handler team, whether it’s pet dog/owner or professional.
Her enthusiasm and positivity is contagious to dogs and handlers and her calm manner with less confident or young dogs (or edgy handlers) keeps everyone at ease any time. She always has a solution to any upcoming difficulty which is what I would expect from a professional like her. But Louise also sees with her heart and her sensitivity brings out the best in dogs and humans. She is able to bond easily with any dog (even those that disapprove of strangers, like mine). Her love of dogs and training plus her impressive knowledge and experience make Louise not only an outstanding dog trainer but also a very special person to me. Training with Louise is so much fun, so many things to learn, so much information on scent, olfaction, paired emotions and the dog’s brain – and so much love for what she is doing!

I’m very grateful to Louise at Conservation K9 Consultancy for a brilliant Super Sniffers course. My dog is a very sensitive 7yr old rescue Border Collie who needed very gentle and supportive handling to enable her nosework journey to begin. Initially she was very nervous and not venturing far from me, by the 2nd day she was using her nose and engaging with Louise with lots of interest, tail wags and curious ear movement.This was because the sessions were set up and adapted with her needs and welfare always in mind. Louise ensured both my dog and I were guided through every step with lots of homework advice too.  

Louise’s extensive experience, which she shared so Professionally illustrated the theory for me and made this an outstanding learning experience for both of us. I would highly recommend this training and I am looking forward to many more workshops and training days with Conservation K9 Consultancy in the near future.

The last two days I had the opportunity to take part in your terrific workshop. It was interesting, exciting and educational and I enjoyed it very much!
I learned so much about indication and much more. Your dealings with my Leika was absolutely respectful and attentive. Every dog was different and you got involved with each one individually – I liked that a lot!
My Leika needed a very individual program and you did it of course!
Leika had a lot of fun and your training enabled her to do well.
I can only say THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for the great days! I’m looking forward to see you next year!

I have just completed Conservation K9 Consultancy’s Super Sniffers II workshop, having done the first one last year.

I cannot recommend her workshops highly enough!

Louise has this amazing intuitive ability, combined with years of the relevant practical experience, which allows her to analyse and read your dog so quickly.

Her lively and engaging manner helps both you and your dog, to constantly improve over the duration of the workshop and end the weekend exhausted.

She is exceeding generous with her knowledge and experience, and you feel you are getting individual tuition, even within a workshop setting.

I leave these workshops with a big grin on my face and a dog who has enjoyed her time probably more than me.

Roll on next year, for the next stage in this fantastic journey.