About Me

Kelly launched her career with dogs in Maple Ridge, largely by mistake, when she began walking and training her neighbor’s puppy in 2015. Educated at UBC, she applied learning psychology to the training and management of her walk groups to include dogs of all temperaments and abilities. Before the end of the year, her clientele had expanded to dozens of dogs, spurring her launch of The Dog Nanny. In conjunction with walking dogs Kelly began a year-long apprenticeship with a certified professional dog trainer, learning the aspects of private training and group classes with a special focus on reactivity and aggression. 

In 2016, Kelly adopted her first dog, a rescue who had been returned several times for aggression. Continuing to work with her own dog, Kelly took a position as a trainer at a dog daycare, leading obedience classes, managing playgroups of up to 30 dogs and training staff in dog handling and behavior. She also assumed charge of integrating reactive and aggressive dogs into play groups as she learned to do in her dog walking endeavors. 

Today, Kelly offers private training to dogs on the North Shore and surrounding areas while expanding her experience with dogs in dog grooming. As always, her interests lie with showing owners of young dogs a way of raising and training dogs to prevent anxiety, destructiveness and aggression in adulthood, and in approaching problematic adult dogs with proactivity and proven, science-based techniques. 

In her spare time, Kelly enjoys volunteering with disadvantaged young adults, using hikes with her own “rough start” dog to connect over topics like mental health, boundaries and healing from trauma.