Happy Tails Dog Training
From the founding owner, Angelika Cawte
The seed of force free training you planted in me was during a workshop/presentation you gave at the Whangārei Dog Training clubhouse and you talked about Susan Garrett‘s game. It’s your choice. At the time I had Moko our Alaskan malamute and Frankie and I could absolutely not imagine how I could train her without telling her off or putting her in her place but your words and the concepts you presented never left my mind and slowly began transforming my actions. The final bump was given to me by Frankie, who one day gave me the saddest look when I yanked his lead and that was it. I never went back. Force free philosophy has changed my life in the sense that I not only work with animals in that way, but I also try and look at life that way using management to prevent unwanted Things as much as possible and focusing on the positive in life and in people. So there. You have changed my life for the better.
Puppy Foundation Skills – Private Training
I highly recommend Rebecca Roper at okk9s dog training. As a first time puppy owner I was overwhelmed and unsure of what to do. Rebecca gave me the confidence to know what to do and what behaviour to expect. This made everything so much easier and rocket and I have made great progress. The lessons were fantastic and I was able to contact between if I had any questions. Apart from the adoption fee this was the best money I spent.
Joelle & Rocket, Kerikeri May 2025
Private Training
Thank you so much Rebecca. The change in Awa is amazing. She is gaining confidence each walk and her aggressive anxiety barking is improving daily. Your gentle sound advice during the individual classes was fantastic and I think gave both myself and Awa confidence. She is more relaxed and so am I!!! Thanks again – really appreciated your sessions.
Michelle, Bay of Islands May 2022
Puppy Foundation Skills – Private Training
“It’s been great working with Rebecca both in the Puppy Classes and the Private Training sessions.
The puppy training really helped us and our pup with socialising and guidance on what we could do to start training our new family member.
However it has been the private training sessions that have really turned around our behaviour and also our pups.
It was always a struggle to get our pup ready for her walks and game playing getting the harness on, became tedious before every walk. With Rebecca techniques within a day the pup (and owners behaviour) changed and getting ready for a walk is now a pleasure for both parties.
Setting goals at each training session and working on these between the 2 weekly sessions is great motivation for all parties and our pup has come along very quickly with her walking manners and other skills. We look forward to more training sessions with Rebecca as our pup develops and grows over the next year.”
Kaye & Ruby, Kerikeri Dec 2021
Puppy Foundation Skills – Private Training
“Thank you – on behalf of our whole family – for the terrific puppy-parent training program. We liked your rich curriculum & the excellent post-class follow-up emails that had words & videos to amplify the class learnings. These materials will be great for us going forward with Koru’s training. We also enjoyed to several ‘strategic’ lessons you taught us: keeping communications crisp & clean; managing the pup’s natural instincts… & ours; &, keeping a focus on those commands & disciplines that suit OUR lifestyle.”
Joan & Koru, Kerikeri Nov 2021