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Jen Ballerino, BSc (Hons), PPG

Senior Trainer Chertsey, Surrey

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📚 Qualifications & Expertise: Jen is a dedicated Senior Trainer with a BSc (Hons) in Animal Science, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Adolescent Dogs team. Continuously expanding her expertise through practical experience, courses, and seminars, Jen stays at the forefront of dog training and behaviour.

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🏡 Home Environment: Jen lives in a peaceful, child-free home in Chertsey, alongside her well-trained Spaniel mix. Her dog is an excellent role model for the pups who come to stay. With easy access to a bustling town centre, diverse walking locations, and even goats, children, and cats (when visiting Jenny & Mike at Headquarters), Jen personalises each dog’s training to ensure it's proofed in real-world environments.

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🐕 Specialisations: Jen specialises in working with small to medium-sized dogs, addressing a variety of breeds and training challenges. She has a particular passion for training working breeds.

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❤️ Personalised Care: By only taking 1 or 2 dogs at a time, Jen ensures a bespoke training program for your dog, offering a loving, home-from-home environment. She loves capturing moments, so you’ll receive plenty of photos and updates throughout your dog’s stay, keeping you closely connected to their progress.

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🌟 Professional Affiliations: Jen is a proud member of the Pet Professional Guild (PPG), advocating for force-free training methods. She is committed to continually updating her knowledge with the latest training techniques and research.

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Courses & memberships

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  • Member of the Pet Professional Guild (PPG)

  • Adolescent Dogs Senior Instructor Certificate (2024)

  • BSc (Hons) in Animal Science (Animal behaviour, welfare & nutrition)

  • Ian Dunbar - Out of control dog summit - 2024

  • Sarah Whitehead - Sex, Hormones and Castration - 2023

  • Sarah Hedderly - The Border collie summit - 2023

  • Xtra dog - Tellington touch camp - 2023

  • Predatory behaviour in dogs - Jean Donaldson 2023

  • Advanced Training Skills Seminar with Anna Herzog - 2023

  • Reinforce Strategies Seminar with Anna Herzog - 2023

  • Canine Principles - Canine Coaching Foundations - 2022

  • Canine Principles - Canine Anxiety - 2023

  • Canine Principles - The Dog Rescuers Guide - 2022

  • Canine Principles - Loose lead walking - 2022

  • Dunbar Academy - Professional Dog Trainer Programme - 2022

  • Mike Newland - Basic Instructional Techniques Course - 2022

  • Jo Rosie Haffenden - Separation Anxiety Webinar

  • Adolescent Dogs Online Academy member

  • Mike Newland - Simple Solutions to Common Training Struggles Webinar - 2022

  • Mike Newland - Food Rewards 101 Webinar

  • Mike Newland - Resource Guarding Webinar 2022

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IJen B did a brilliant job with Finley, not only in his training but in the genuine love a
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Apollo the Labrador Puppy | 2 Weeks Residential Dog Training
03:59

Apollo the Labrador Puppy | 2 Weeks Residential Dog Training

Apollo has completed his two week residential training stay, and we’re thrilled with the progress he’s made! This little guy came to us with boundless energy and a love for saying hello to everyone and every dog. Now he’s leaving with a solid foundation in place. Over the course of his stay, Apollo has made great strides with his recall, and he’s now enjoying more freedom off-lead. His loose lead walking has improved, and he’s learned some excellent manners for greeting people and other dogs in a much calmer, controlled way. It’s been such a pleasure watching Apollo grow and develop these essential skills, and we’re excited to see how he continues to progress at home. Well done, Apollo—we’re so proud of you! Good luck, little one! We’ll miss you! www.adolescentdogs.com 08002229007 Info@adolescentdogs.com
Stanley the Cocker Spaniel | 2 Weeks Residential Dog Training
03:26

Stanley the Cocker Spaniel | 2 Weeks Residential Dog Training

Stanley has completed his 2 week residential training stay with us! He came to us with a few challenging habits that his owner wanted to address. Over the past two weeks, we’ve worked really hard to break Stanley’s habit of jumping up, and taught him some new calmer behaviours. We focused on training techniques to help him greet visitors politely and keep his paws on the ground. Additionally, we tackled his pulling on the lead and Stanley is now walking more calmly, making walks much more enjoyable for both him and his owner. Stanley also had some concerning obsessive behaviour around any high-pitched noises. We’ve implemented strategies to help him cope better, and preventing him from fixating on these noises so he able to stay calmer on walks. This will be an ongoing training process but we will continue to support his owner with this now he is back home. Stanley has made great progress overall and we’re confident that with continued practice, his owner will see even more improvement. www.adolescentdogs.com 08002229007 Info@adolescentdogs.com
Rudy the Labradoodle | 3 Weeks Residential Dog Training
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Rudy the Labradoodle | 3 Weeks Residential Dog Training

Rudy the labradoodle has returned home after his 3 week residential training stay. The main reason for his stay was a recent change in his behaviour. Rudy had started reacting to joggers, children and bikes by barking and lunging on occasion. This was really concerning his owners so they wanted to get some help as soon as they could to get to the bottom of the issue. During Rudy’s stay we worked out why this was happening, and have worked though some new techniques to help change his emotional response to his triggers. Instead of barking and lunging he has now learnt to look to his handler when he sees a distraction so they can support him instead of him feeling like he needs to deal with the scary things himself! In addition from this we worked on Rudy’s recall, loose lead walking and general obedience. Rudy was also very fearful of new people coming into the house. Therefore, we have put into place some management strategies so he doesn’t feel so overwhelmed when new people enter the house as well as showing his owners how to introduce Rudy to new people without putting pressure on him to help build his confidence. www.adolescentdogs.com 08002229007 Info@adolescentdogs.com
Jasper the Hungarian Vizsla - 4 Weeks Residential Dog Training
04:20

Jasper the Hungarian Vizsla - 4 Weeks Residential Dog Training

Jasper the 8 month old Hungarian Vizsla has completed his 4 week residential training stay to get on top of some difficult adolescent behaviours and for general training. Before Jasper arrived he refused to eat anything but human food and would constantly jump and mouth his owner. He’d also steal food and counter surf relentlessly. Jasper was being difficult on walks, he’d pull on the lead and run around his owner in circles not coming when called! Now Jasper is responding reliably on walks with and without distractions. We have taught Jasper a solid ‘down’ cue that can be used when he’s getting too excited and likely to jump up. As well all the other basic obedience cues including heel, middle, recall, send to bed and loose lead walking. We will continue to support his owner as Jasper is at a really tricky stage but now the foundations are all in place things should be much easier going forwards! www.adolescentdogs.com 08002229007 Info@adolescentdogs.com
Buddy the Cavapoo - 3 Weeks Assistance Dog Residential Stay
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Buddy the Cavapoo - 3 Weeks Assistance Dog Residential Stay

Buddy the Cavapoo is heading home after his 3 week residential training stay to help him with confidence building to give him the best chance of becoming an assistance dog for his family one day. Buddy is a very anxious little boy and struggles in new environments, by roads and different noises. We’ve carefully exposed Buddy to a variety of environments and worked hard on desensitising him to roads. He’s done really well and has progressed significantly with his confidence but it’s going to be a long road ahead to keep this up and get give him the best chance of maturing into a well rounded adult. We also worked on all of the bronze assistance awards so buddy is able to complete this. We will continue to support Buddy’s owners on his journey to hopefully becoming an assistance dog in the future! www.adolescentdogs.com
Arlo the Mini Goldendoodle- 2 Weeks Assistance Dog Residential Stay
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Arlo the Mini Goldendoodle- 2 Weeks Assistance Dog Residential Stay

Arlo the 9 month old mini Goldendoodle is heading back home after completing his 2 week assistance dog residential stay to help with his behaviour around other dogs and general confidence. As Arlo is maturing he’s been showing some conflicted behaviour around other dogs where he feels very worried when other dogs approach and will bark but he also wants to say go over and say hello. When other dogs come into his space he doesn’t know what else to do but to run frantically which looks at though he’s playing but he really panics. Therefore, during Arlo’s stay we’ve worked on changing his emotional response when he sees other dogs so instead of fixating and worrying, he now looks to his hander for support. We also worked on Arlo’s recall, loose lead walking and focused ‘heel’ cue. He’s made great progress but will need ongoing training to help him around other dogs, especially when they’re in close proximity to him. Arlo’s owner now has the tools to keep up his training and we will continue to support them going forward. We will see them in a few weeks for a second handover session. Good luck Arlo! www.adolescentdogs.com #assistancedog #goldendoodle #dogtrainer
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