Meet Our Experts

Introducing Dr Susan Andresier BVetMed MFHom(vet) MRCVS

Susan qualified from the Royal Veterinary College in 2002 and worked in general practice for 10 years. She trained in acupuncture with the Association of Veterinary Acupuncturists (ABVA) in 2007 and used her acupuncture skills to treat animals in general practice.

In 2012 Susan founded Acupaws. In addition to running her own practice she has completed extensive training in both veterinary herbal medicine and veterinary homeopathy. She has completed five years of study at the Portland Center for Integrative Medicine and gained the qualification of MFHom(vet).

Susan is the current chairperson of the British Association of Veterinary Herbalists and is also an active member of the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons.

Susan also teaches acupressure to physiotherapists and sometimes runs other courses or workshops.

Susan is a memeber of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, British Association of Veterinary Herbalists, Association of British Veterinary Acupuncturists, The British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons, Faculty of Homeopathy, British Veterinary Association, British Veterinary Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Association, College of Integrative Veterinary Therapies, Raw Feeding Veterinary Society.

www.acupaws.co.uk

 

Also Introducing

Dr. Amy Watson MA Vet, MB MRCVS, CCRt, CVA(IVAS)

Amy graduated from Cambridge in 2005 with a masters in pathology and a degree in veterinary medicine. She started working in a large veterinary hospital in Wiltshire, where she stayed for nearly eight years. In 2012, 20202 and 2022, Amy was nominated for PetPlan Vet of the Year.  In 2013 she took the Association of British Veterinary Acupuncturists (ABVA) foundation course in acupuncture - and from there she was hooked! Amy has successfully treated numerous patients with acupuncture over the years. Despite impressive results, Amy wanted to deepen her knowledge of acupuncture to elicit the best outcome for her patients. She therefore spent over a year travelling to the Netherlands to train with Linda Boggie, a past president of the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS)and internationally renowned acupuncturist and worldwide lecturer on the subject and completed her international acupuncture certificate with IVAS in July 2017. 

Amy is also a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist (CCRT) after extensive study with the Canine Rehabilitation Institute (CRI). She has been trained by pioneers of the canine rehabilitation and sports medicine world, for example Christine Zink, Janet van Dyke, Laurie McCauley and Patsy Mich, all of whom lecture internationally and are recognised as experts in their field. She has spent time in Belgium, working with Ellen Maartens, a top rehabilitation therapist who specialises in neurological rehabilitation. In 2014 Amy was a guest speaker at the Canine Hydrotherapy Association (CHA) annual meeting.

Ever one for a challenge and with an ongoing passion for learning and expanding her treatment options for patients, Amy decided in November 2017 (with a 1month old baby) to start her advanced certificate in chinese herbal medicine with the College of Integrative Veterinary Therapy (CIVT). This marries beautifully with both acupuncture but also as an adjunct treatment for many disease processes being managed with conventional western medicine. She is a member of the British Association of Veterinary Herbalists (BAVH).

Alison Daniel,  Nutrition (Applied Science) Ad Dip, BSC Hons, Animal nutrition PD Cert

Alison, has specialised in canine and feline nutrition for over 13 years, helping owners and their pets all over the world.

Alison trained in Sydney, Australia with some of the very best, starting off with a degree in human applied science, leading into naturopathic nutrition and then specialising in functional medicine with a focus on new product development in the health sector for practitioners, and experts in the field.

Alison’s passion for natural sciences soon spilt over into pets after training as a small animal companion nutritionist and completing her studies in Australia in 2008. Keeping a foot in both camps of human and pet nutrition, Alison has honed her skills within the health sector, using her extensive experience in nutrigenomics and epigenetics, applying this knowledge to disease in canines, and having great success.

It’s the combination of working with healing foods, naturopathic principles and scientific research that formulates a winning combination for Alison’s clinical practice.  Alison and her team can be contacted through the website.  www.mypetnutritionist.com

 

 

 

Jake Boland, Recall and Engagement Specilaist

​Jake is passionate about working with difficult dogs. For some, it is easy to adapt, others find training a little boring and will often find their own means of entertainment. Jake taps into our dogs natural desires to bring the fun back to us and create a motivating, engaging and exciting means of communicating and training with our dogs.

 A number of years ago Jake introduced Crash, a welsh working Border Collie into the family. He was what we refer to as a ‘self-employed’ dog. Even when Jake had a pocket full of treats, Crash would much rather have fun on his own. Through harnessing Crash’s desire to play, chase, and herd, Crash went from a ‘couldn’t care less about you’ kind of dog to a dog that will choose Jake over anything in the environment. He now regularly demos in classes, and shows off the power of reward based training and motivating our dogs. Since then, Jake has been transforming the lives of ‘difficult’ dogs and their owners through these techniques, along with his in depth knowledge of dog training and behaviour this allows him to offer a unique perspective and insight for owners struggling with their dogs.

We specialise in working breeds in pet homes, recall, and dogs with behavioural issues such as aggression or anxiety. 

Working using kind and effective science-based methods that harness your dog's potential and allow them to blossom. We offer a number of in-person services from classes to training walks, as well as virtual classes and 121s via our online platform. 

Accredited with the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers, the Dog Training College & Absolute Dogs- Pro Trainer 

​Courses, Qualifications & CPD 

• Institute of Modern Dog Trainers (IMDT) Career as a Dog Trainer 2018

• IMDT Instructors Course 2019

• IMDT Perfect Puppy 2018

• IMDT Canine Body Language 2018

• IMDT Canine Aggression & Rehabilitation 2018

• Behaviour Case Studies IMDT 2018

• Therapy Dogs- PTSD with Rob Hewings of the UK College of Scent Dogs 2019

• Complete Canine Wellness with Dr. Isla Fishburn 2019

• IMDT Mind Your Own Business 2018

• Absolute Dogs Pro Trainer 2018- Jake Boland

• School of Canine Science FEAR course

• Institute of Modern Dog Trainers & Behaviourists (IMDTB) 2 Day Resource Guarding 2018

• Canine First Aid 2018

• Tracking Instructors Course UK College of Scent Dogs

• Craig Oglivie- Interactive Play Instructors Course 2020

• Herding Breeds Webinart Institute of Modern Dog Trainers 2020 

• • School of Canine Science - Puppy Lab                                                        ​

 

Gill Hornsby of Great & Small Canine Massage

I am Gill Hornsby and I trained with the fabulous Natalie Lenton at the Canine Massage Therapy Centre.
I completed a 2 year, intensive programme, with over 1200 hours of study, on anatomy, the law, physiology and then working hands on, developing the massage techniques that I use.
​I am a member of the Canine Massage Guild and complete CPD every year to ensure my knowledge and skills are up to date as well as learning new things.
​I discovered canine massage after seeing the benefits it had on a Newfoundland who was struggling with hip dysplasia and muscle wastage.  The monthly maintenance sessions gave him an additional year, without requiring pain relief, and having owned a Newfoundland myself, who had identical problems I then realised that I too wanted to be able to help dogs, and their owners, in the same way.

I undertook core conditioning training after discovering how much massage and conditioning complemented each other.
I completed a year's training with the Canine Conditioning Academy and am licensed to run Foundation, Intermediate & Advanced conditioning programmes for dogs.

I am also a Botanical Healing Practitioner - Botanical self-healing is the process of facilitating our ‘pet’ dogs to self-medicate from an array of therapeutic/medicinal plant compounds. Normally in the form of dried plants, leaves, flowers, roots, algae minerals, essential oils, hydrosols, fixed and macerated oils. They have the ability but not necessarily the opportunity due to domestication.