Katrina Boyd

Area: Sydney Northern Beaches

I’m Katrina Boyd and I am a proud member of the Dogtech team. Being a behavioural training therapist is one of the most rewarding things I do everyday of my life.

I believe you must respect all dogs in order to receive respect back. There is a  saying that you must earn respect –and that really rings true with dogs.

My specialty: My business focus is on puppies, and I believe it is essential that all owners receive the  correct information on how to train their puppies early in the puppies lives in order to get the best from their new little addition to the family. My most satisfying classes are the ones where the owners really take on board my advice and see straight away the change in behaviour of their new puppy. The thrill of seeing the joy on the owners faces when their pup is running around playing with the other puppies is priceless.

Fun & Educational: My classes are fun, as well as extremely educational. Our gentle, reward based methods and our great training locations really set Dogtech apart from other trainers and puppy classes.

Socialization: We understand that socializing is very important in a pups life , so we provide plenty of off lead play time at our puppy classes.

In Home Puppy Set Up: The ideal way to give your pup the best start in life is to have me come to your home and ensure the set up is correct. I will look at everything that is happening at home from sleeping, toilet training, feeding, backyard safety, along with overall leadership and discipline. It doesn’t take much to stress and confuse a little pup and getting the right advice early can be the difference in your dogs behaviour going forward. Understanding your dog ( or putting on your dog hat) will ensure  you enjoy your new little pup. I will show how!!

Stressful? If you are finding it all too overwhelming and stressful, it’s best to deal with it straight away (i.e. between 8 and 16 weeks). If you do feel stressed, remember this is a common feeling for new puppy owners–don’t hesitate to call--I can help!

Please note this special service is offered at a reduced fee for puppies between 8 and 16 weeks.

Leadership: I will also share with you the importance of leadership in your dog’s life, as well as how you can continue training your dog throughout its life while reinforcing  your role as the leader of the pack.

Adolescent classes: I also teach Adolescent classes. This is the next stage up from puppy classes in your dog’s training program. Once your dog reaches 5 months they are mature enough to start their obedience training. You will see a difference in your dog’s obedience on lead from week one to week three. You will be surprised at the improvement… During Adolescent classes, we share the secrets of how dogs learn, which helps owners better understand their dogs. This truly is a great course and if you are serious about maintaining your dog’s training this is the course for you and your best friend. Remember, your dog relys on you as the head of the pack to continue training. Having a dog requires a commitment to their well being and happiness. Often the importance of this type of obedience course is underestimated –but you will be pleased you continued your dogs training with this important class.

If  you are planning on raising the perfect puppy, give me a call–-I can help.

Contact Katrina

Testimonials

28 August 2010

Re- Katrina Boyd/ DogTech®

The puppy classes I attended were absolutely brilliant.

We had not a clue what to do with our hypo, nippy pup. Katrina was fantastic– and unbelievably in 3 lessons taught us so more than the basics. We learned how to turn wild behaviour into ‘sit’, ‘stay’, ‘lie down’, — and so much more.

Our pup learned to socialize with other people. We believe every new dog owner should do this puppy training. You will gain so much confidence in all aspects — Katrina will answer all your queries, organize life with your new puppy, and teach you how to go forward with a calm, controlled pup.

Thanks Katrina – Virginia Kemp/Sydney, Australia

21 August 2010

To: Whom it may concern

Re: Katrina Boyd/ DogTech® Northern Beaches

Having participated in one of Katrina Boyd’s puppy training schools, I throughly recommend her as an effective and reliable puppy & dog trainer. From my personal experience of Katrina and her DogTech® Puppy school I have formed the following opinions:

• Katrina is a warm and friendly person who speaks in an audible and pleasant tone with loads of charisma
• She impressed me with her knowledge and ability to handle & train puppies from the smallest to the largest
• She has the gift of making shy puppies less timid and to become more sociable with other puppies
• She demonstrated her ability to make more aggressively tempered puppies to be less tense and calmer with other dogs they meet outside their home territory
• She demonstrated the correct way to walk puppies on a leash and to encourage them in the technique of walking well with their owners

In addition, Katrina is willing to come to owners homes to sort out with them any special problems they may have with their dogs.

May I suggest if you experience problems with your dogs you do not hesitate to ask Katrina to help you and watch your troubles fly away.

Yours sincerely, Ruth Scott

4th July 2010

We had Katrina Boyd from DogTech® teach our two little pup puppies, Hank & Harriet, the social and obedience basics at Puppy School.

Katrina equipped us with the tools to help us train Hank, one originally very shy boy, and Harriet, one very little rambunctious girl, into being two very well-balanced and happy puppies.

Putting the hard work from Puppy School is making a huge difference to their ‘terrible teens’!

Thanks Katrina

20 May 2010

I have recently had the pleasure of meeting Katrina Boyd through her assistance with socializing and training our golden retriever puppy, ‘Daisy’.

Daisy is now 15 weeks old and so far we have had three sessions with Katrina in our home, plus attended her Dogtech® Puppy school. Katrina helped us to set up our house ready for the puppy, with advice on what to expect in the first weeks, setting up house rules, and with simple and gentle early training techniques & socialization.

Katrine also provided fantastic advice in how to ensure that my 4 year old daughter can play confidently with a large, boisterous puppy without fear of being bitten or bowled over.

Her Dogtech® Puppy school was really fun, as well as being very informative and very helpful. We have booked Daisy in for her adolescent obedience classes starting in July 2010.

As a result of  Dogtech®/Katrina’s help, Daisy is a confident, social and well behaved puppy, and we are very proud of her. Also thanks to Katrina, my little daughter is a confident and happy dog owner who is able to control a puppy that is already the same size as her!

Katrina’s help and advice has been invaluable and I would highly recommend her and Dogtech® to you.

Yours sincerely, Lisa, Eloise, and Daisy Trueman

18 February 2010                                         

Dear Katrina,

As you know, our Pebbles is a 16 week old mini Fox Terrier cross Jack Russell. After getting married in September my husband and I decided that we would like to fulfill the family dream to buy a puppy. The first time we saw Pebbles we knew she was ‘the one’. Cute, tiny, loving, – and we both knew that we were going to spoil her rotten. Keeping in mind we had no idea the repercussions that were about to occur.

Pebbles got quite sick only a couple of weeks after we got her, which only made me want to spoil her even more so I knew she was happy. Therefore, my husband and I thought it was a good idea if I stayed at home with her to keep an eye on her so I didn’t have to worry. Again, not knowing that we were actually disadvantaging not only ourselves, but more importantly, Pebbles.

After many, many long months of not being able to have visitors, not work, nor have any sit down dinners with my husband, and constant stress and worry about what Pebbles is barking at, biting or crying at, it was time I made a call to Dogtech, as it was just becoming so overwhelming and too much.

I am telling you this phone call I can say definitely, no questions asked, has now changed our marriage and lives for the better. I must admit I was very skeptical about how a trainer could come to our house and somehow change our over anxious ‘terror’ of a puppy.

Then along came Katrina Boyd. Katrina also owns a Jack Russel, which I thought may make the situation a little easier. Basically to sum it up, we were spoiling Pebbles so much that she was running the house – she was the pack leader and as Katrina put it, ‘ Pebbles is like a stranger coming into your house and helping themselves to everything, she has no respect for the both of you.

To be honest it was very difficult to hear this, as all the love and everything we were doing for Pebbles had turned her into this anxious puppy that was so dominant we could hardly live with her. We had to change everything from sleeping arrangements, food habits, separating ourselves from her and basically showing her what ‘tough love’ was.

The first two days Pebbles refused to eat her kibble; here she showed her dominance again and it wasn’t easy at all to see this happen, but I remember Katrina telling us to stay strong and all I had to keep thinking that this was for Pebbles, this will inevitably help her in the end, and we wanted the best for her. Pebbles will eat – she just had to realize that we were in charge now.

A whole two agonizing days later, there was a major breakthrough and Pebbles began to eat. This brought such delight to both my husband and I — and there were many more changes to come.

In a matter of days Pebbles started to calm down a lot more, she seemed to be able to keep herself company, play with her toys on her own, just go and sit in her bed instead of having to sit on one of us to go to sleep. These changes that Katrina pointed out and helped us follow through with have now changed Pebbles, no questions asked.

She is a seriously like a completely different puppy.

Other family members cannot believe the change in Pebbles. We now can go to other peoples houses and not worry about Pebbles being too highly strung and over anxious.  She is a calm puppy who plays on her own, sits in her bed when we are eating, and now knows how to walk on a lead properly– even to make her stay and drop is all too easy for Pebbles now!!

Katrina, we honestly cannot thank you enough for the training you provided us with. The belief and strength that you possessed in us only guaranteed that we would all pull through. You saw for yourself how much happier we were on our second visit — and it has only gotten better.

For those people that are unsure about this type of training, please do yourself a big favor and call Dogtech now, as it will only make your puppy/dog happier. I assure you!

Emma Paul  — 18/02/10

9th January 2010                              

Hi Katrina,

Finally I have grabbed a moment to send an email to you! I am currently enjoying a quiet moment with Teddy (whilst the rest of the family is out) –he is such a delight and pleasure to be with- in no small measure due to implementing your sound dog training methods.

Teddy is 17 weeks old now and has been part of our family a mere 4 weeks – interesting how 4 weeks can feel like a lifetime! (I mean that in a positive way!).

We have found it SO rewarding to implement the training that you talked us through, initially with your visit to our home and subsequently with the 3 wonderful nights of Puppy School, numerous phone calls and the ‘The Dog Whisperer’ information (what an excellent book – I ‘devoured’ it!).

As you know, I basically knew NOTHING about how to train a puppy or the psychology of a dog when we brought Teddy home. I was pretty nervous! After puppy-setting Teddy for one night and even before we had committed to paying for Teddy, I was on the phone to you to check out what this ‘Puppy Training’ business was all about. You happily and generously answered every question that I had, setting me on the right path. When I got off the phone from you I wrote in my ‘Teddy Journal’ – ‘I have to remember Teddy is a PACK ANIMAL (not my baby!). He will walk all over me and be aggressive/protective if I let him – I must be the ‘ALPHA DOG!’ So from the start I was able to implement your techniques for minimizing barking, aggression, and fussy eating - even before I’d met you!!!

I think it was extremely fortunate that you were able to come to our home early the very next morning (our 2nd morning with Teddy) and talk us through your dog training methods in greater detail, with demonstration and the opportunity for us to implement techniques under your guidance and before we had a chance to develop any bad habits. It was great that our whole family could be there to promote consistency. Your advice regarding his best place to sleep, play etc. was invaluable – the thought of Teddy sleeping on the front balcony had not remotely crossed my mind, and it has turned out to be an insightful and safe option. After you left, I wrote in my ‘Teddy Journal’ – ‘Katrina Boyd is BRILLIANT!!! … SO good at her job at reading/understanding a dog and then effectively communicating to us how to handle him’.

I really do marvel at your expertise with what you do and your dedication to your work. You have an exceptional talent! It appears your primary concern is passing your skills on to dog owners so they can provide the best possible life for their puppy. I think it must be your love of dogs and their well-being that motivates you so much – but whatever it is, you’re really doing an outstanding job! Also, not only do you relate well with the dogs, but you take the time to relate to the owners and pick up on when they are nervous or whatever and take that into consideration when delivering your training — good at reading people as well as dogs I’d say!

I really appreciate that even though I was seeing you each week at Puppy School, you were still more than happy to take (and return) my phone calls during the week, with further questions and clarification just to put my mind at ease and encourage my efforts, for example, I distinctly remember when I rang you practically in desperation the morning after you had visited us and said, ‘Teddy’s STILL barking!! He’s been barking for 55 minutes!! He’s in his pen and I’m completely ignoring him – I have my back to him at the moment – THIS IS SO HARD!!!’ and you just calmly said words to the effect of, ‘You’re nearly there – he’s about to give up – you’re doing a great job’ – and sure enough minutes later he stopped barking and was completely calm! Even more amazingly, he remained calm once I unceremoniously lifted him out of his pen. All together Teddy would have barked like that for 3 or 4 times in total during our first week with him, however, just as you promised, he has learnt that barking is a complete waste of time and he never barks now!!! (not when we put him to bed at night, not during the night, and not even in the morning when he hears us stirring but we haven’t gotten to him yet). In fact, when he wants to be let out of his pen, he quietly sits down and if that doesn’t work he lies down and looks like he’s trying to disappear into the floor! His quick response to training is remarkable and has made him such an EASY addition to our life. Within 3 days of buying Pet Loo and putting it on the balcony he was using it consistently (even going out there to use it in the rain!). He has learnt that he isn’t allowed downstairs and will stop and wait at the top of the stairs until I come back (even though there is no physical barrier stopping him) etc etc etc – Yes… I’m proud of him! and I am VERY grateful to you Katrina, I absolutely know that I couldn’t have done a fraction of this without your help.

So…..

For all you new puppy owners (especially the ‘first timers’) out there… I only hope that you have the good fortune and good sense to contact a professional Dog Training organization such as DogTech, to benefit from their invaluable, expert advice. When ‘Teddy’ joined our family he was a lively, free-wheeling 13 week old Maltese X Shih Tzu puppy with boundless energy and enthusiasm. He loved nothing more than to pass his time jumping and running, nipping excitedly around our feet, barking at will and leaving  little yellow puddles in random locations until collapsing in a deliriously happy, exhausted heap and falling asleep. In effect he did what he liked, when he liked, and it was all very entertaining. Now 4 weeks later, having completed 3 weeks Puppy School with Katrina Boyd (DogTech), he is completely toilet trained (we use ‘Pet Loo’ on our balcony), doesn’t bark when left alone, and is learning commands as fast as we can teach him (sit, stay, down, give, come, heel, find,etc). Even when an 18 month toddler visited our home, Teddy allowed her to pass him his toys and pat him without nipping at her once!

When DogTech says their training is ‘Effective FAST Training’ they are not exaggerating!

Teddy’s just had his third vaccination today and we are about to launch into the world of ‘meeting other dogs’. Thanks to the socialization skills Teddy has been learning with Dexter, Zebedee, Maxi, and Roxy at Puppy School, your explanations of dog body language, your slip collar and the techniques we’ve been practicing for walking him on a lead, we feel equipped and ready to take on this next (somewhat daunting) phase – brace yourself Katrina– I’m bound to call you!!!

So, please give yourself a big pat on the back – you’ve done an awesome job!!!

Yours truly and with extreme thanks, Anne Horton (and Teddy)

12th January 2010

Hi Katrina,

We enrolled Olive in the DogTech adolescent group course with trainer Katrina Boyd a few months after completing Puppy Pre-school.

We found Katrina’s classes invaluable as Olive is a strong willed little dog. Katrina gave us many insights into how dogs can easily gain top-dog position over us  and soon become difficult. Over a number of weeks she taught us what and how to train Olive in fun and engaging ways. Olive went from being easily distracted to being focused on us, eagerly awaiting our next command. And treat, of course!

The group class was small enough for individual attention yet large enough for social interaction with other dogs and owners. It was amazing to see the improvement in every dog each week, not to mention in each owner, too.

We now have a very happy, secure and sociable dog who fits in with our lives very well. What we learnt in the course, we’ve been able to build on ourselves. Now our cat is happy and we can even leave our shoes out! That’s thanks to Katrina Boyd and Dogtech.

Cheyne de Beer

6th January 2010

I was referred to Dogtech by a friend of mine with a superbly behaved Labradoodle. Katrina came to my home for an initial In-home training session where she also advised me on the safety of my garden and some very useful potty training tips which were catered specifically to our environment at home. We followed this up with 3 sessions of Puppy School, which were not only fun and informative, but also invaluable with regards to letting my Border Collie puppy Zebedee learn how to work side by side with all ages of people and all dogs. I am looking forward to the adolescent training sessions and would not hesitate to recommend her for any new puppy family– in fact I think it is essential!

Liz Park                                                             

10th January 2010

Katrina

I wanted to write and say a massive thank you to Katrina for all her advice with Byron. We were very nervous puppy owners and Katrina has taught us how to have our dog as part of the family without having him rule the house. We enjoyed going to both the puppy classes and the adolescent classes, however, found the home visit imperative. The advice you have given us will be with us for life and even our children can use the commands.

Thanks again, Katrina Johnson

22nd September 2009

Our dog Bentley has just completed the puppy training course with Katrina Boyd of Dogtech Training.

We found the course to be invaluable as it ensured that we were taught the correct skills necessary to make sure that Bentley is well trained in all areas so that he integrates well into our family and is a happy and well rounded dog.

Katrina also offers an ‘In-home’ service, where she will come to your house to assess how to best accommodate your dog in YOUR home and highlights things such as fencing and any potential dangers, where the dog would be most suited to sleeping, etc. This was excellent and has made our life so much easier and Bentley is  very happy  with his new sleeping arrangements and we feel more confident that he will be kept safe and secure.

Without any reservations, we highly recommend both the puppy training and the in-home visits.

Thanks so much Katrina.

Kind regards, EW