“We asked Michelle to help us with our 4 year old Weimaraner Polo who was displaying a number of worrying behaviours including dog on dog aggression and resource guarding. Michelle came over for the first visit and was so friendly and personable and really filled you with confidence. Polo absolutely adored her especially when she started feeding him treats when showing us an example exercise. She asked us lots of questions and played with Polo and Natalie, she then wrote us a detailed report which outlined the background root causes of his issues and also gave us a number of exercises to do with him each day/week. We made a plan and followed it with Polo which he absolutely loved (as did Natalie as it meant more treats!) and we had a two month follow on appointment with Michelle last week. We are so impressed at the change in his behaviour, he is happier, calmer and an all round more reliable dog. Michelle has given us the tools, knowledge and confidence to help Polo and as with any training we acknowledge importance of putting her plan into action, following through and staying consistent. We still have a way to go but we are definitely on the path to success due to the sessions and reports from Michelle. Thank you Michelle for all of your help and we are looking forward to the next follow up so that Polo can show you even more improvement in his behaviour!”
“I adopted Roxy, a German Shepherd, ten months ago and very quickly realised that I needed help to turn her into a controllable dog. She pulled, lunged and barked at other dogs – a nightmare. The first person I tried did everything online, was not qualified and turned out to be a fairly expensive mistake. So I asked my vet if they knew anyone and they gave me Michelle’s name. I had to wait a few weeks until Michelle could see us but she was well worth waiting for.
Michelle was a complete contrast to my first experience and a fully qualified behaviourist. She came to my house and met Roxy, who gave her a big friendly welcome, talked to us as a family, asked questions, made notes and finally took us out with Roxy. Michelle showed us what we had to do. A written report was emailed to us two days later with recommendations for dealing with Roxy.
Four months on from that initial visit Roxy is a different dog. No pulling or lunging at other dogs and on the odd occasion she barks I no longer panic, as I used to, knowing that I can now handle the situation. The secret to this change in Roxy is that I followed Michelle’s instructions and did so consistently. I now really enjoy my daily walks with Roxy.
Michelle doesn’t go away and forget about you, she keeps in contact by email for three months and is always offering further help should you require it. As a dog behaviourist I cannot recommend Michelle highly enough. Thank you Michelle from both myself and Roxy.”
“Michelle is fantastic! We realised something wasn’t quite right with our puppy Tess’s behaviour, so we searched online for a ‘specialist in Dog Behaviour’ and discovered Michelle (Co-evolve dog training). It was very reassuring to see that along with her wealth of experience and knowledge Michelle’s approach was based on the latest scientific research. Her wonderful approach with Tess (and us!) has been a life-saver! After meeting us at our home, Michelle put together a detailed case report with an easy to follow plan (with positive reward training tasks) to help us understand Tess’s background, breed characteristics and a way forward to help us overcome her complex separation anxiety. We have been so impressed with Michelle and her lovely one to one approach and dedication, that we have also met up with her (and her own dog Tully) for lead training. Tess loved it and her confidence is growing!”
“I cant recommend Co-Evolve Dog Training and Michelle enough. We are the proud owners of Capote, a French Bulldog puppy, and having tried and failed to get him into Puppy Classes (it would have been easier getting him into Clifton College) we came across Michelle by doing an internet search. Her website is very clear and its obvious that she is highly qualified and loves dogs. Co-Evolves pricing is very competitive and remember that this is a 121 session, you are not part of a big group where you simply don’t get the individual attention you need. Michelle is also flexible with when she comes to see you which fitted in well with us and our busy lives. When you first meet her she is very personable and friendly, which lets face it is as important as often we the owners are the ones that need the training! We did some very simple straight forward tasks both here at home and also in the local parks which were fun for all of us. Michelle really brings her background in animal behaviour to her sessions and makes you think like a dog and what they relate too. We have ended up with a very well behaved little dog who we can take anywhere, he is great with other dogs and children and this is in no small part thanks to Michelle and her intuitive training methods. We have already recommended her to friends who had adult dogs and she has also helped them too. When Capote’s little brother arrives in the near future we have already arranged for further sessions with Michelle to help integrate him into our family ‘Pack’. Thanks Michelle (the real dog whisperer).”
“Hi I am Poppy a nine month old WH Fox terrier and I have this super trainer called Michelle.
She is very kind and patient and that is just with my mum and dad..
She has taught me so much , doorstep behaviour, more appropriate response to barking , lead work and free running and much more ….I may not have got it all right yet, but Mum , Dad and I are doing plenty of training homework , which I enjoy…so I can show Michelle how well I am doing.
I look forward to Michelle coming to see me again soon…Love Poppy”
“We were struggling with our dogs behaviour – pulling on the lead, barking at other dogs, barking at our cats, etc. Michelle came in and could immediatley see what the issues were. She offered simple, yet practical solutions and in a very short period of time, his behaviour improved tremendously. Michelle was professional, helpful and a great sense of support. We had regular follow up training sessions and she was also available via email to answer any questions or offer advice. She also sent us very useful summary documents of our training sessions. My only regret is that we didn’t get her help sooner! Thanks Michelle!”
“My golden doodle was driving me mad. Constantly barking, jumping up, nipping me for attention. I got to the point where I was crying in the vets. They recommended Michelle to me. I was sceptical at first as had lots of dog training sessions but took their advice as I needed help. Michelle instantly put me and my autistic son at ease. She didn’t judge or make me feel bad in anyway. We took her advice and cannot believe the instant difference it has made to us all. My dog is a completely different animal after just one session. Don’t get me wrong , we have hiccups but to be honest that is usually because we have forgotten to ignore. I cannot recommend Michelle highly enough. Worth every penny. Thank you Michelle for saving us all ! I genuinely mean that. X”
“We got Michelle in to help with our anxious girl Willow, and she instantly put our minds at ease and made us all feel very comfortable. She gave us some amazing steps to follow, which we feel have really worked and help us (and Willow!) grow in confidence. We wouldn’t have been able to progress like we have without her help and support, so we can’t thank her enough! She is always just an email away for any help/tips/advise, which we feel is a great help and really comforting to know. Thank you so much brilliant Michelle! Jack, Izzie & Willow x”
“Hello my name is Ri and my caring calm human found me at Holly Hedge Dog Sanctuary Bristol. I have been with my human for 3 years but lately life has been like a roller coaster and my anxiety has become more intense. I experience, anxiety in all areas of my life from meeting new humans to having a strange thing called a lead that is attached to me when I go out for walks ! I also don’t like to leave my caring calm human and can’t imagine what her day would be without me ! My human decided to introduce in my home to a lady called Michelle Lorde.IMAGINE THAT ! I met Michelle and she felt very safe to be around . Michelle showed my human new skills to help me be more brave around people who enter my home. Michelle came up with lots of solutions to help me overcome my anxiety. After my time with Michelle I am starting to feel a lot better and would like to say thank you to Michelle for all her hard work and support. I would definitely recommend Michelle to hang out with you to help overcome the complexities of the human world.”
“As failed fosterer’s we knew we were taking on a lot and initially had no idea how to cope and where to start. Our dog is a 2yr old great dane, who is so loving to us but was not socialised at the correct time as a puppy therefore she is nervous of everyone and everything. Michelle helped us understand why the dog did certain things and once you can understand the dog’s way of thinking it all feels like a load has been lifted from your shoulders and you can actually start to make progress.Our dog has come on so much, if it wasn’t for Michelle I’m not sure if the dog would still be with us. We still have a long way to go but I know Michelle will there to guide us through every obstacle that we encounter.”
“Michelle gave us advice with our dog because he was being very reactive to people and especially children on walks which was concerning and embarrassing. After a relatively short time and following Michelle’s advice Dex is quieter at home and passersby no longer seem to trouble him. Michelle was very patient and understanding and Dexter loved her immediately which I think says a lot. She always followed up afterwards so I wouldn’t hesitate to contact her again should we need her. Given we live very near 2 schools I’m happy to say the children are now safe!”
“I highly recommend Michelle. My dog and I were having problems after a firework went of near her at our local park. After that she refused to leave the house and became afraid of loud cars and even people. Michelle was empathetic and extremely knowledgeable. She taught me how to read Lolas responses more accurately and how to create an environment and set behavioural patterns that have set Lola on the path to recovery. She now happily leaves the house for walks and is much less frightened with unexpected loud noises. We’ve both come a long way and Michelle was instrumental in that. I cant thank her enough and know if I need any advice or have any issues in the future she will be my first contact”
“Michelle really helped us with our rescue JRT/patterdale mix – he’s quite a high maintance high energy dog, and a real character, and we’d had other training and advice over the years but Michelle spotted exactly what we needed to do to to help satisfy his intense prey instinct, he now hunts for his food and he loves it. What was amazing though was how supportive and positive Michelle was, she made us feel that we’d done a really good job with a lot of areas and gently steered us in the right direction on areas we hadn’t quite mastered. I truly believe a good relationship between dog and owner is about being calm and confident and we came away feeling really positive and saw some real result with his tendancy to sometimes be reactive on the lead. I would recommend her unreservedly!”
“We picked Frida up from a rescue centre just before Christmas 2014 and within minutes we discovered she had issues. Every time she saw a dog when on the lead she would lunge and bark even if the other dog was miles away, and the more dogs she saw on her walk the worse she would get. (Off the lead she was no problem at all). After just a couple of days we resigned ourselves to night time walks where we were not in danger of seeing other dogs and avoiding any public areas during the day. She was thankfully never aggressive (she just needed to say hello to every dog she saw) but she could often appear that way. As first time dog owners we felt completely out of our depth and contacted Michelle. We met a week later and she taught us a distraction technique that we have employed ever since. In the year and a half since then Frida has transformed into a different dog. We can now walk her wherever we want, even North Street in Bedminster, which was a big no-no for us and also take her to dog friendly pubs and restaurants – something we never dreamt possible. We’ve passed several milestones in the year and a half since first bringing her home and our walks are, at last, uneventful – she’ll now look at us for a treat whenever we spot another dog and will happily walk past even barking dogs with no signs of reactivity, all thanks to Michelle’s advice and a lot of perseverance!”
“From the moment Michelle walked through the door, I knew everything would be okay. Previous experience with some very well meaning amateurs had left us feeling confused, even accused on occasion. Michelle is the real dog deal – a fully qualified behaviourist of the highest pedigree (pardon the pun) and also a people person. She showed tremendous empathy and respect for all the efforts we’d put in to trying to help our dog, helping us understand what we’d been doing right, not just wrong! Her written recommendations following the session were clear, pragmatic and achievable; and subsequent follow up sessions completely sealed the deal. Thanks to Michelle’s incredible knowledge, support and encouragement, the progress we’ve made has been incredible. Our dog is now so much happier and more confident – as are we! I couldn’t recommend Co-Evolve highly enough.”