About

Hey! 

I'm Justine.

Lover of power tools and coffee, I'm also a mum of two teens, and two dogs:  ZIGGY (my one-eyed, 12lb feisty little love-bug) and JUICE (an adolescent Working Cocker, whose name says it ALL!)

So, how did I get here?

I was the kid who begged for a dog as soon as I could talk, but didn't get one until the grand old age of 29... and immediately fell in love, with him, and training.

His arrival led me to ditch my pretty cool career as a TV producer/director for Nickelodeon, VH1, and MTV - and trade it in for grubby jeans and treat-filled pockets.

Four years and two dogs later, the kids came along, and my world was rocked again!

It took all of a millisecond to figure out that...

training dogs WITH KIDS in tow was NOTHING LIKE doing it kid-free!

Having taught classes for years at this point, it was clear that parents desperately needed a different kind of help that wasn't being offered ANYWHERE… so I started the Family Dog.

The company quickly blossomed; from offering in-home training to later creating online programs for families worldwide, and now, teaching dog trainers to coach families in their own communities.

Philosophy

My goal is to help families EVERYWHERE live happily and safely with their dogs — and have fun doing it.

And the reason I ABSOLUTELY LOVE working with families? 

Parents have KIDS already - so, when you relate pup-raising to kid-raising, they have SO much parenting experience to pull from - and they can knock it out of the park!

They intrinsically know that they need to give their new dog  patience, protection, and guidance on how to be successful in their new family life — because it's exactly what they're doing right now with their kids 🙂

Knowledge

I'm a member of the APDT, CPDT–KA certified, and now an LFDM (Licensed Family Dog Mediator).

But I'm NEVER satisfied and ALWAYS striving to be better.  Connected with the biggest players in the industry, I'm constantly educating myself to make my techniques better and both my family clients' and Pros' lives easier.

Experience

I've been training dogs for over 20 years now.

Since 2009 it's been "families only", laser–focusing on developing the most effective, efficient, and truly family-friendly training techniques.

In recent years, I've spoken at conferences in the US and UK, run workshops and webinars, coaching dog pros worldwide on how to work specifically with families. 

Guest Speaker at:

• Kim Brophey's L.E.G.S. in Motion Conference (2022)
• Victoria Stilwell's Dog Behavior Conference (2022)
• HeartDog International Wellbeing Summit (2022)
• Pet Professional Guild (2020)
• Pet Professional Guild (2016)
• APDT (2016)
• Victoria Stilwell's UK Dog Bite Prevention Conference (2015)
• Jean Donaldson's Academy:  2-day workshop (2015).
• APDT (2014)

In 2015, The Family Dog also launched Stop The 77, an online dog safety campaign for families. Our mission is to educate parents and their kids everywhere on how to live safely and happily with the dogs they know and love AND lower the number of dog bites to children.