Positive reinforcement and methods associated with positive welfare! We use a mixture of classical and operant conditioning to help train your pet. We remove negative stimuli that create the undesired behaviour and replace them with positive stimuli and the desired behaviour. We like to tap into your animal's natural senses with their favourite foods and toys in order to motivate them. We don't just like to change the behaviour, but we like to get to the root-cause and solve that too, for long-lasting training. Training is simply creating a language that both you and your pet understand for clear, concise, confusion-free communication!

Here is my story. 
I have kept animals my entire life, by the age of 16 I was breeding reptiles, rescuing, rehoming as well as training my own animals with a minimum of 21 animals under my care! In my personal life, currently, I have three family dogs and many reptiles and fish, all of which I love and adore.

My experience has allowed me to work with small dogs, big dogs, small fish, big fish, small lizards, big lizards... the list goes on! I worked at and helped manage a pet shop for many years while completing my undergraduate degree. I have a Foundation Degree in Animal Science, awarded by the University of Brighton and a BSc with Honors in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, awarded by the Royal Agricultural University.

Along the way, I found my love for animal behaviour, which is essentially animal psychology. I then decided I wanted to do my Masters Degree to specialise in reptiles, but needed a bit of a brain break! So, in my gap year, I took up teaching (not much of a break though, mind you) which gave me extensive knowledge of so many more subjects!

I was the youngest teacher on my team (and still was when I left) beginning my journey at Plumpton College at 21, graduating on Friday, and starting my teaching on Monday! After my first year of teaching, I went part-time to pursue the Masters Degree. I enrolled to do a Masters of Science by Research with the University of Lincoln in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. 

For a further two years, I continued to teach and complete my Masters. During this time I also gained my level 4 teacher training qualification and taught a range of subjects such as biology, animal behaviour, and animal welfare as well as leading the research projects, business and exotics animal modules at my college for A-Levels, participating in some degree teaching.

During this period, I found my love for teaching, training and my thirst for knowledge. The time came for me to decide my future steps, take my Masters and run, or progress onto the PhD... I did the latter. I chose not to take my MSc and convert my hard work into the PhD I am now pursuing. With the grace of covid lucking out, I now had to move up to Lincoln to continue my studies, and I needed something more flexible around what I was doing. Despite my love for teaching, I was not ready to go back to a college environment, and alas, Animals and Learning was born!

Now, I am running a successful, fully licensed and insured business where I am booking in months in advance, sharing knowledge and training with success starting in ONE session, AND acing the PhD where I am bringing out my own research and publications in animal behaviour and welfare.​ So, if that doesn't qualify me... then I don't know what will!

I think the better question is what animals DON'T we work with! Cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, fish, small mammals... you name it!