About Us
Our Business
Paws Plus is a dog training business based in South Auckland, NZ and was established in 2016. Our services include behavioural consultations, owner coaching and training walks and we are now expanding into producing online learning content for new and existing clients. We specialise in working with reactive and aggressive dogs and providing owners with the skills to safely and confidently handle their ‘difficult’ dogs. Our training methods aim to be kind and humane while still being effective and backed by modern science and evidence. We create solutions to problem behaviours primarily through the use of positive reinforcement techniques and using rewards such as food, play and praise to create a strong, positive relationship between dog and owner.
Our Trainer
Natalie McDougall is the owner and trainer at Paws Plus. She holds a certificate in animal management, majoring in canine behaviour and training from the Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, completed in 2016. She is passionate about ongoing learning and professional development and since then she has continued her education, attending conferences and seminars, completing online courses and engaging in self-directed study in the form of webinars, podcasts, DVDs, books and other online resources.
Natalie has been working professionally with dogs for 4 years and her speciality during this time has been helping owners of dogs with behaviour problems like reactivity, aggression and anxiety. Natalie currently has two mixed breed dogs named Spooky and Peanut. Working through her own dogs’ behaviour problems, including reactivity, dog aggression and resource guarding, is what inspired Natalie to pursue a career in canine behaviour modification so that she could help other dog owners to understand, manage and resolve behaviour problems with their own dogs.
