Our Instructors

Wagging School is pleased to offer classes taken by top quality instructors, who have a depth and breadth of knowledge of reward-based training methods.

Kaye and Razza, from the Dogs and Psychotherapy class, 2012

Kaye and Razza, from the Dogs and Psychotherapy class, 2012

Kaye Hargreaves is the founder of Wagging School and its Principal Instructor.

See our Instructors Gallery, below.

We have an excellent Team of Instructors.

  • Rob Youdan

Rob instructs at Keilor Dog Training Centre and has been a member of my Mentoring Program for several years. He is highly skilled and when available instructs in the Reactivity Program as well as seeing clients 1-on-1. He is looking after Moto, his three-legged dog who needs special care.

  • Julie Merriful 

Julie instructs at Keilor, and contributes to our Treibball, pet dog training and Reactivity programs. She also competes in Flyball and Noseworks.

  • Melissa Carfax-Foster

Melissa is a doggy massage therapist and an active member of Pets For The Homeless.

  • Meg O’Hehir

Meg has Certificate 4 in Companion Animal Studies (Behaviour stream) and has been with Wagging School since Dec 2014. Meg has taken Puppy Class and assisted with Practical Pet Dog training classes, reactive dogs classes and Tricks Training. She is also a pet photographer. She is now employed by Guide Dogs (VIC). 

  • Max Schellekens

Max is a very experienced instructor at Keilor Dog Training Centre. He competes in Flyball and is training several rescue dogs of working breeds in Flyball, Treibball and social skills. Max instructs in Practical Pet Dog training classes. He is the most experienced member of our team for working with reactive dogs. I entrusted him with Paris (the Feral French Foster), a Belgian Malinois, who is a challenge even to Max. However, she absolutely aced it at Flyball! 

  • Debbie Karandais

Debbie has trained and instructed at Croydon Obedience Dog Club, has completed many courses and has her own puppy training school. She assists with practical pet dog training and Reactivity classes.

  • Campbell Barclay

Cam has been with us for two years, having made a mid-life career change from banking to dog training.  He is on a huge learning curve. He is very knowledgeable, and has been employed in the Lost Dogs Home behaviour team. He is a sessional instructor, when available.

  • David Rowe

David has trained with the Kintala Club and is committed to gentle methods. He has been part of the Wagging School team for several years, being involved with social and recreational skills classes as well as the Reactivity Program.

Other members of Kaye’s Mentoring Program who are developing their training and behaviour skills will be joining the team, They sometimes observe and  assist in classes.

INSTRUCTORS GALLERY

Other resources

Kaye has a close relationship with Melbourne’s veterinary behaviourists, and will sometimes be asked to do follow-up training with their clients. She will also suggest to you that you might benefit from consulting one of these people if your dog’s issues warrant this.

We also link in with other trainers, where this helps you. 

We co-operate with dog training Clubs:

For example, if a club instructor has a member in their class who is having difficulty and needs more one-on-one help, he or she may discuss the matter initially with the Chief Instructor, who might then suggest that the member have some private lessons with Kaye. This might be followed by participating in our small group class, so that the dog and owner can gradually get used to more and more distractions. When they are ready, we help them to go back into the Club environment and re-integrate into the regular classes. In this way, we are not competing with clubs – we are providing a resource which they, as a volunteer group, do not have.

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