Courtesy of Sabrina Thurlow Photography
Carol is a Registered Animal Health Technician and Pet Nutrition Consultant with a B.Sc. in Psychology.
She is an experienced trainer who has worked both in the veterinary field and as an instructor at a service dog charity, where she trained therapy dogs, hearing dogs, and dogs for people with physical disabilities.
Originally hailing from Canada’s East Coast, Carol holds a science degree in Psychology from Mount Allison in New Brunswick; Canada’s top-ranked undergraduate university.
Carol has always been an ardent animal lover. She originally intended to major in Biology, but found herself increasingly drawn to Psychology as she discovered a fascination with how we learn and how we behave.
Carol took every course she could on behaviour and learning, including:
- Behaviour Modification
- Cognitive Science
- Personality
- Conditioning
- Emotions
- Biopsychology
- Psycholinguistics
- and Advance Topics in Conditioning, a gruelling 4000 level course.
After graduating, Carol went on to study Veterinary Technology at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus in Ontario, one of Canada’s best vet tech programs. There she studied under Dr. Irene Moore, then president-elect of the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, learning:
- animal nursing
- animal nutrition
- radiography
- anaesthesia
- emergency medicine
- laboratory analysis
As part of her final practicum, Carol was granted a fantastic opportunity to study at the Vancouver Aquarium. At VanAqua she was privileged to oversee and participate in the care and treatment of the dolphins, belugas, sea lions, and harbour seals, as well as reptiles, fish, and even marmosets!
Carol graduated from Guelph with distinction in 2007, and is now a registered member of the Animal Health Technology Association of British Columbia.
Before she moved to Vancouver, Carol worked for several years at a veterinary clinic in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Her love of animal behaviour and training shone through, and she was often called in by the veterinarian to give behaviour advice to clients with difficult pets.
Eventually Carol moved West in the hopes of finding work as an animal trainer. She was delighted to be hired as an apprentice instructor at Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS) in Burnaby. At PADS, Carol trained and placed assistance dogs for individuals with physical disabilities, hearing dogs for the Deaf and hard of hearing, and facility therapy dogs.
Her graduates include:
Spirit, a Certified Therapy Dog who works with LST students in Surrey, B.C.,
and Poppy, a Certified Therapy Dog who works at Canucks Place Children’s Hospice, and who has been featured on Global News.
Training assistance dogs is exciting work, and includes teaching skills such as:
- Opening and closing doors
- Turning on and off lights
- Pulling manual wheelchairs
- retrieving objects like car keys and credit cards
- alerting people to the sound of a phone or fire alarm
- and, perhaps most difficult of all – behaving well in malls, movie theatres, and restaurants!
Carol was also responsible for running puppy classes for PADS puppy-raisers, where she helped them in the daunting task of raising well-trained and well-socialized future service dogs. Carol loved coming up with lesson plans and helping the fantastic volunteers with their puppies.
She believes that all animals – not just dogs – are capable of learning new things, and loves to train everything from rats to cats. Carol lives in Port Moody, B.C., and is now facing her most difficult training challenge of all – raising a well behaved toddler!
Carol is an enthusiastic, positive, and gentle trainer who combines her knowledge of animal health with her experience in behavior modification.
Carol loves to show animals – and their owners – what they are really able to achieve. She can’t wait to meet you, so she can show you what she means.
