Good DogTraining · Heath Park, CardiffHeath Park

The trainers

The trainers, by name.

Every trainer is a full member of a professional dog-training association that requires reward-based methods, continuing education and insurance, and every one has worked with dogs for a living before they taught people. And Bracken, who deserves a page of her own.

A German shepherd watching another dog far across a park while its owner rewards it for looking calmly, a trainer beside them
Rhian Griffiths, a Welsh woman in her late thirties with auburn hair in a forest-green fleece and treat pouch, crouching beside a black labrador in a park

Rhian Griffiths

Founder. Puppies, separation and home visits

A veterinary nurse for ten years before she trained as a dog trainer and behaviour practitioner, and set up Good Dog in 2015 with a puppy class in a church hall. Full member of a professional dog-training association, Kennel Club Good Citizen instructor, Fear Free certified, and the person who takes the separation cases because, she says, nobody else is patient enough with the five-second absences. Owner of Bracken, the stooge dog, and Tomos, the trainee.

Dan Matthews, a bearded man in his mid-forties in a mustard waterproof holding a long training line with a border collie sitting at his feet in a park

Dan Matthews

Adolescents, recall, lead work and reactivity

Worked sheepdogs in the Brecon Beacons, then trained search dogs, then joined Good Dog in 2018 to run the park courses. Full member of a professional dog-training association, Kennel Club-listed Good Citizen examiner for other clubs (never his own courses), and the trainer for reactive dogs who need someone calm at the end of a long line. Has never been seen without a squeaky toy in a pocket.

On the field

Four more.

  • Cerys LloydPuppy classes, second trainerProfessional association member, puppy specialist · here since 2020
  • Owain MorrisAdolescent and Good Citizen, second trainerProfessional association member, KCGC instructor · here since 2021
  • BrackenStooge dog for reactivity workVery calm, very good at being ignored · here since 2019
  • Ffion ReesBookings, course groups, the WhatsAppThe person who answers the phone · here since 2017

What it means

Qualified, insured, reward-based.

A professional association

Full membership needs assessed practical skills, a code of practice that bans aversive methods, and continuing education every year. Ask any trainer for their number.

Insured, DBS-checked

Professional liability insurance for classes and home visits, and an enhanced DBS check for every trainer who visits homes, because many of the homes have children in them.

Canine first aid

Every trainer holds a canine first-aid certificate and there is a kit in the pavilion and in every trainer\'s bag on the field. The Heath vets are five minutes away.

Working with vets

New or worsening behaviour gets a vet check first, and we work with the Heath and Whitchurch practices both ways. Where a case needs a clinical behaviourist, we refer and say so.

Tell us about your dog. We will say what fits, and what it costs.

Two minutes on the form: your dog, their age, what is going wrong. We reply the same working day with the course or visit that fits and the next date, or book a free ten-minute call if you would rather talk first. Or ring Ffion in the office.

Book a class or a visitThe problem finder