Meet the Team

Our trainers, behaviourists & stooge dogs

The Trainers & Behaviourists

Sarah Easterbrook

Director & Head Dog Behaviour Specialist

Monday - Friday 10am - 6:30pm Saturday 10am - 5:30pm

The Guild of Dog Trainers Master Professional Dog Training Instructor

Sarah is a fully qualified Dog Trainer and Behaviourist and she has been working with dogs for over 30 years, having started her journey at the National Animal Welfare Trust and then at The Dog’s Trust. She became fully qualified with the College of Pet Animal Studies in 2005 and is a Master Trainer with the Guild of Dog Trainers. She has also been a Professional Member of the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP) for over 10 years, affiliated with Cesar Millan - The Dog Whisperer. She is highly experienced with all breeds and all issues and has carried out over 6000 behaviour sessions to date. She is also a qualified Cat & Parrot Behaviourist! Sarah is your first point of contact as she deals with all bookings and enquiries and is always happy to speak with you.

Kimi Sturmey

Dog Behaviour Specialist & Digital Media Manager

Kimi has been working for Natural Balance Dog Training (previously The Pet Experience Training and Behaviour LTD) since 2016 after completing her Dog Training & Behaviour Counselling qualifications at TPE.

Tara is Kimi's Staffordshire Bull Terrier who came to Kimi with aggression to men, dogs, severe chase drive and seperation anxiety. Tara is fully rehabilitated and now attends sessions with Kimi as a stooge dog.

Kimi has attained vast experience both running classes, training puppies and working with difficult behaviour cases. Kimi is our Bull Breed Specialist here at Natural Balance Dog Training. She has worked with many dogs but has a particular specialist skill set with 'bull breeds'. Kimi comes from a working dog background as her Dad used to breed and train border collies to be working sheepdogs. She has also owned and worked with horses her whole life. Previously Kimi has also worked as an Animal Control Officer.

Kimi runs our website and social media at NBDT so you will likely see her on our social platforms or talk to her via the website.

Dave Evans

Dog Behaviour Specialist

Monday - Sunday 8am - 7pm

Dave was brought up with working-line GSD’s then moved on to Rottie’s thirty years ago. Dave has always been fascinated with the training world and has been committed to training his own dogs to an extremely good standard. In 2014 he started to follow & shadow some of the top trainers in the UK and then decided to train full time. He completed our Training & Behaviour Academies and has been working with us since 2019.

Working-line dogs are his niche along with aggression cases. "The satisfaction of helping dogs through their issues and helping people enjoy ownership is massively satisfying."

Dave is a great believer that the understanding of boundaries and the building of relationships is everything.

"Having the opportunity to join up with Sarah and the team was priceless as behaviour work is so different to just training."

Dave is lucky enough to take Khaleesi and Kai with him on jobs - his four year old Rottweilers - who act as stooges. He finds it especially useful to be able to have the option of which dog to use depending on each situation.

Dog Behaviourist and his highly trained Rottweilers

Paige Hall

Dog Behaviour Specialist

Paige has always had a keen interest in dogs, from watching dog behaviour TV shows to researching and learning about dog breeds as a hobby. Paige has previously worked in the childcare industry, and has achieved a Bachelor of Science with Honours in (human) Psychology & Child Development. Deciding as an adult to return to her true passion, learning about & working with dogs, Paige has been a wonderful addition to the team since 2022.

Paige owns four dogs. Thor, an Akita mix who is now 12 years old, came to her with significant behavioural problems and really helped to take her interest in training and behaviour to new levels. Paige has a real passion for large breeds, and her stooge dogs are Cane Corsos. Nova, Aster and Lyra are all well balanced dogs trained using balanced methods from puppyhood and all love their jobs!

Jake Horwood

Dog Behaviour Specialist

Jake has completed his dog behaviour training with Natural balance, spending time shadowing the whole team to experience how they work and what techniques get the best results. Jake has also spent a number of years working part time at rescue centres where he has had the luxury of handling hundreds of dogs, becoming familiar with a wide range of breeds and developing an awareness in their behavioural differences.

Jake came on board with us in January 2023 and is great asset to our team with his wealth of experience and dedication to helping dogs live their best lives.

Jake’s dog Brutus is a five year old husky GSD cross. Re-homed at the age of one, Brutus came with severe separation anxiety and an extremely high prey drive. His behaviours took a lot of time and energy to resolve but ultimately gave Jake the passion he has to help other people with their dogs.

Carolynne Amey

Dog Behaviour Specialist

I first fell in love with dogs when my grandad had what seemed at the time, a huge black German Shepherd, Max, who I loved and regularly looked after. Although he was supposed to be a guard dog he was the most friendly, amazing dog and was the reason I fell in love with the German Shepherd breed. Over 30 years ago, I got my first own GSD and since then have owned another four of them. My current GSD is the reason I am now training with Natural Balance. Hemi has always been hard work, being nervous and reactive to both people and dogs, it is through training him to get over his fears that has made me realise how much I love learning about dog behavioural issues, how to overcome them and being able to help others owners. I now have a wonderful Rottweiler called Shelby, who I am training up to be a stooge dog with Natural Balance. I successfully completed the Training & Behaviour Academies with NBDT, shadowed intensively with Dave and Sarah and have been part of the team since 2021

Hector Taylor

Dog Behaviour Specialist

Hector began training gun dogs as a boy in Ireland alongside his veterinarian father and has trained his own non-working dogs for the last twenty years. Whilst studying and training with Natural Balance, Hector also took up dog-boarding and became familiar with a wide range of breeds and their behavioural differences. He has shadowed and worked with different trainers across the company to ensure a great understanding of the best techniques and approaches in training both dogs and their owners.

Hector currently has two stooge dogs; a Sprussell called Lochie and a Jackapoo called Chula. He gets huge satisfaction witnessing owners, who were at their wits’ end with their dog’s behaviour, now seeing their dogs and their own lives transformed by our work.

The Stooge Dogs

Khaleesi

Dave's Rottweiler

Both Khaleesi & Kai were purchased as pups and as you can see only two months apart in age. The first year was a massive challenge to avoid the famous “littermate syndrome” becoming an issue.
Both such different animals, so have needed a totally different approach with training methods. At just over four years old they have matured into well rounded dogs loving the stooge role that they now do.
That’s not to say they haven’t had issues to deal with along the way.
Khaleesi has insane drive and loved to chase, specifically livestock. She will now walk through a field of sheep off lead and is totally engaged with me and has no interest in livestock at all.
Both became parents six months ago so there are now five fantastic pups out there who will be as great as mum and dad, provided the work is put in. Relationship is everything.

Kai

Dave's Rottweiler

Both were purchased as pups and as you can see only two months apart in age. The first year was a massive challenge to avoid the famous “littermate syndrome” becoming an issue.
Both such different animals, so have needed a totally different approach with training methods. At just over four years old they have matured into well rounded dogs loving the stooge role that they now do.
That’s not to say they haven’t had issues to deal with along the way.
Kai, who is an intact male, has had reactivity issues with certain other males which we have worked through together and he has made so much progress with this, he makes me so proud.
Both became parents six months ago so there are now five fantastic pups out there who will be as great as mum and dad, provided the work is put in. Relationship is everything.

Cute Rottweiler showing off her training skills

Tara

Kimi's Staffordshire Bull Terrier

Kimi has owned Tara since 2016 after she was given up for adoption.

Tara was aggressive to men, dogs, had a very severe chase drive (mainly squirrels), separation anxiety and a severe phobia of the car. She also pulled on the lead and had previously been on a harness which has caused her to now have arthritis in both her shoulders.

Kimi has resolved all of these behaviours and Tara works alongside Kimi as a stooge dog where she has demonstrated for all class levels and is used to help rehabilitate aggressive dogs.

Beautiful face of rescue Staffie, trainer's working dog

Nova

Paige's Cane Corso

Nova is a purebred Cane Corso who is friendly with people and dogs, enjoys her training and mostly is happy to attend almost anything! She is well balanced with people and animals, enjoyed her foundations of scentwork training and is undergoing further obedience training. Nova will be joining Paige on pack walks, and will be training to become a stooge dog when she is mature.

Lochie

Hector's sprussell (Spaniel Jack Russell cross)

Hector has had Lochie as a puppy and he is named after the epic Scottish poem Lochinvar; "So faithful in love, so dauntless in war, there never was a knight like young Lochinvar." Lochie lives up to his name by being very calm and helping socialise reactive dogs. He lives at home with Chula, who is a fox poodle cross. Just kidding, she's a Jackapoo, but she thinks she is a fox, and needs a bit more training before she is sensible enough to be a stooge dog.

Meet the Team

The Trainers & Behaviourists

The Stooge Dogs

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