Canine Care Ōtautahi

Clara is a bona fide dog whisperer. She really understands your dog and helps you to see things from their perspective so that you can understand them better, which helps them understand you! She approaches her training with an aura of calm and kindness that has dogs eating out of her hand, both literally and figuratively. Her advice has helped us successfully introduce our dog and cat so that we can now feel safe and comfortable leaving them alone together. She gave us some fantastic tools to help our young boxer learn to walk nicely on a lead and combat her territorial barking.Clara is super knowledgeable about dogs and what goes on in their doggy brains. She is the perfect person to teach both you and your dog the skills you need to gain a mutually trusting, loving relationship.Whatever you need solving, from small annoyances to anti-social behaviour, Clara’s wisdom, insight and patience will help iron out the kinks, soothe growing pains, and make dog ownership the joy it should be!

Clara has been a lifesaver. I had previously owned a siberian husky so I knew about the breed's strong will and generally how to train them but I wanted to train my new puppy, Chase, a very different way to my first husky boy. I wanted the training to be completely force free. My main goal with the training was for me to learn new techniques and to bring joy into the training as much as I could. I contacted a lot of different trainers and groups and even tried out a few but nothing felt right for me. There was so much stigma around the breed, which I hadn't really encountered before with my first husky. Clara was completely open and had no worries about his breed at all. It was actually Sit Happens (awesome for puppy socialization classes) that recommended Clara to me. Even from our first online session due to lockdown, I knew that she was the right trainer for our family.She was very understanding and respectful of my wishes. She explained everything to me (sometimes more than once ha, ha) in a very easy way. The print outs of different training steps were really helpful. She was very patient with Chase and myself and I could see she that she cared deeply for Chase and put all her heart into helping me. I would happily recommend Clara to anyone who is looking around for a dog trainer. I still trust her completely and would jump at the drop of a hat if she started another doggie business, ha ha :) It was a sad day when she told me that I've pretty much graduated from her sessions.Clara helped me to achieve all of my training goals (some are still in progress, Chase is only a year old though) but best of all she showed me different techniques for how to make training fun and rewarding for Chase and I. Every time I think about something else I would like to train Chase to do, I just remember all her advice. Training is part of our every day life and it isn't a chore, it's a joy, a success that can be celebrated.If you are looking for the most caring, professional and intelligent trainer in Christchurch, then look no further. You won't regret it. Thanks Clara for everything (Chase says thanks too).B Sheppard.1st photo - Chase around 8wks old when I got him.2nd photo - Chase now, 1 year old, just as cute.

What can I say we are so so very grateful for Clara. When we had exhausted ourselves of energy and effort to try and train what we were describing as a destructive dog, we had almost lost hope... however Clara came in and truly revived us! Clara helped show us what our dog was needing from us to be fulfilled and when we did this we began noticing positive changes in our dogs behaviour. Clara made it simple and fun... she is reliable, efficient, a great communicator and seems to just love her work making happy dogs and people everywhere! We are stoked to say without mentioning everything, we now have a dog we can both walk with a loose leash now and her destructiveness has decreased to every now and again as opposed to 20 times a day! We actually enjoy our dog like we were supposed to these days! Thank-you again Clara, you truly are a star!

Roxy the German Shepherd’s life is better for meeting Clara! Clara has helped Roxy to be calmer and more confident. Roxy’s humans have learned how to help too!Clara is incredibly knowledgeable about dogs and has shared some of what she knows with us in ways which are easy to understand and implement. We have found her to be easy to communicate with, professional and flexible. Clara has walked Roxy and also provided us with some coaching. We feel like she knows our dog well. We would definitely recommend Canine Care.

Clara was such a help when our dog Bowie started showing signs of dog reactivity on walks. I had become really nervous while walking him because he would bark and pull.Clara talked us through the process and how to support Bowie not to get to this heightened state.Bowie loves his time with with Clara and I feel so much more confident and in control on walks. Would definitely recommend Clara to anyone struggling with dog behaviour.

Clara is amazing. My dog adores her and his behaviour has improved remarkably since she started. He no longer pulls on the lead and is much more responsive and enjoyable to take walking. When it is Clara day he waits at the window for her and is super happy to see her. Highly recommend.

Cannot recommend Clara enough!We were having behaviour problems that appeared pretty much out of the blue. Our wee pup started bring very reactive to some dogs and there were incidents where he would be very aggressive to the point where we were nervous to take him for walks.It was very clear immediately that we had come to the right person. She was calming and confident and in a very short space of time got us our sweet wee pup back and we started enjoying walks again.We had two sessions with Clara and many messages and status updates. She also gave us tools and homework (not too much) and guidance. You get a lot when you work with Clara. Not just the sessions. She really cares about her clients and would check in on us after our last session.Thank you so much Clara!

Clara has a fantastic approach to dog training and behaviour, and always puts the dog's needs first. She explains various behaviours very clearly, in a way that lets you understand what your dog is feeling and why they might act a certain way. She is constantly helping us learn how to give our girl Brixton the opportunities to be her best self! I'd highly recommend her services ⭐️

Clara is brilliant. She is incredibly knowledgeable about dogs, but also a wonderful teacher. Clara has really helped us to understand why our dogs behave and/or react the way they do, but also how to teach them (and us!) to be better in a kind and gentle way. George and Frank love Clara's visits and so do we. It is also really helpful to have the support and ability to ask questions outside of lessons. Thanks so much, Clara :)

Can’t say enough about the love and caring and life changing training our dogs received from Clara. She truly is the dog whisperer.