Anthrozoologist, Dog behaviour consultant, certified dog trainer & Puppy Specialist

Kirsty’s Pet Clinic, founded by Kirsty Spencer in 2006, has been dedicated to improving the lives of both caregivers and their canine companions for over a decade. Through compassionate, science-backed support, Kirsty has helped thousands of clients build happier and more harmonious relationships with their dogs.

Kirsty offers a comprehensive range of services designed to address a variety of dog behaviour challenges, including Behaviour Consultations, One-to-One Training and Coaching, Puppy Packages, Rescue Dog Consultations, Family Training Packages, and Socialisation, Life Skills and Training Classes for puppies, junior and adult dogs.

One of Kirsty’s key areas of expertise is helping dogs who experience anxiety, stress, fear, or trauma. With extensive experience working with rescue dogs with challenging pasts, including ex-racing Greyhounds and street dogs from other countries, Kirsty specialises in offering support to these often misunderstood dogs.

Using the latest scientific research, Kirsty tailors her guidance to each dog’s specific needs and circumstances. Recognising the complexity and intricacies of canine behaviour, she emphasizes the importance of understanding it through the lens of someone with both extensive knowledge, expertise, and specific qualifications in the field. This understanding allows her to provide accurate assessments and effective, individualised behavioural plans.

Kirsty recognizes that multiple factors influence a dog’s behaviour, including relationships, ethology, neurobiology, genetics, environment, physiology, motivation, and social health. By carefully considering these aspects, she ensures that every dog is treated as an individual.

As a Canine Behaviour Consultant, Associate Clinical Animal Behaviourist, Certified Dog Trainer, and Puppy Training Coach, Kirsty holds a wealth of knowledge and qualifications. She also holds a master’s degree in Anthrozoology, an interdisciplinary field that explores human-animal interactions, including animal behaviour, psychology, veterinary medicine, animal health, ethics, wildlife conservation, and more. This diverse educational background deepens her understanding of the human-canine bond, a crucial element in her behavioural interventions, strengthening the relationship between dogs and their caregivers.

Kirsty’s holistic approach examines every aspect of a dog’s life to better understand the broader context of their behaviour. By striving to see the world through a dog’s perspective in a human-centric world, she develops tailored strategies that benefit both the dogs and their families.

Committed to ongoing professional growth, Kirsty will pursue a PhD at the University of Exeter next year, ensuring her approach remains at the forefront of the field. She is deeply passionate about continuous learning to refine her methods and further enhance her ability to support her clients and their dogs.

Behavioural consultations

Behavioural consultations

Understand your dog’s behaviours

one to one Training

Training in a natural environment

Puppy Packages

Positive start

Socialisation
and training classes

Socialisation
and training classes

Positive, modern techniques

Socialisation
and training classes

Socialisation
and training classes

Positive, modern techniques

Family
Training

Family harmony

Rescue Dog Training

The best advice

Virtual Training

Anywhere in the world

canine massage therapy

canine massage therapy

Holistic hands-on therapy

Years of experience

With over 19 years of professional experience, Kirsty is a highly qualified and accredited Dog Behavioural Consultant, Associate Clinical Animal Behaviourist, Anthrozoologist, Certified Trainer and Puppy Coach. She has worked with a wide range of breeds and behavioural challenges, always tailoring her approach to suit each dog’s unique personality and needs.

Kirsty’s philosophy is rooted in positive, reward-based training, delivered in a calm, supportive environment that moves at a pace that’s right for both dog and caregiver. Her structured, easy-to-follow plans are individually tailored to help you better understand your dog’s behaviour, build confidence, and achieve lasting results.

What sets Kirsty apart is her commitment to working not just with the dog, but with you, the caregiver. She believes that real success comes from empowering families with the tools and understanding they need to foster better relationships with their dogs.

Kirsty is widely respected in her field and regularly receives referrals from veterinarians, rescue centres, and other dog professionals. She also appeared as the Behaviour Expert on Channel 5’s 22 Kids and Counting.

About Kirsty

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Working across the country…

Kirsty offers face-to-face behavioural consultations and training across Lancaster, Morecambe, Heysham, Bare, Carnforth, Halton, Caton, Silverdale, Arnside, Milnthorpe, Kendal, Kirkby Londsdale, Windermere, Grange-over-Sands, and surrounding villages. For those further afield, online assessments and training sessions are also available, so wherever you are in the country, support is just a click away!

Dog Training, Puppy Training, Junior Training and Socialisation Classes are currently held in Carnforth, Slyne-with-Hest, Morecambe, and Bolton-le-Sands. These fun, interactive sessions focus on; life skills, socialisation, coaching and training, enrichment activities, scent work and agility. Each class is carefully designed to be enjoyable and rewarding for both you and your dog, while helping to strengthen your bond and build a positive, lasting relationship.

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Steph Weber
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Wise and wonderful dog training Kirsty has worked with two of our retired greyhounds over about twelve years. She has an amazing understanding of dogs and a great sense of what they need as well as how to reassure their owners! She has really helped one of our sighthounds to adapt nicely to living away from the racetrack and the other one to be able to live side by side with two budgies. Amazing!
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Andy Midgley
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I would highly recommend Kirsty's classes. Her knowledge and friendly approach help in all areas of training. The classes mix socialising, training and agility, which makes it fun for your dog and you. In fact my pup loves it so much she doesn't want to leave. If your thinking about training and socialising your dog you won't be disappointed with Kirsty.
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Rebecca Chaplow
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I cannot recommend Kirsty enough, she has a kind approach to training and always puts the dogs needs first. Her methods are backed up by her outstanding knowledge of dog behaviours which she has gained through numerous qualifications and real life experiences. She has worked absolute wonders on my rescue- my girl came to me with no knowledge of the real world, and through Kirstys input and a lot of work on my behalf, she is turning into a really well rounded dog who we can take pretty much anywhere!
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Verna Kilburn
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Kirsty is simply superb. I have a nervous, reactive staffie and have learned so much about how to help her in one to one settings. Kirsty has a vast store of subject knowledge in the area, and excellent instincts. She UNDERSTANDS my dog and has explained techniques to help her overcome her fears. All activities are based on reducing the level of stress and not just simplistic "training". We still have some way to go, but there have been significant improvements and my dog is happier. Result! I can't recommend her enough.
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Rebecca Monkhouse
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We got our first puppy and chose to get some training to help us understand his behaviours, especially as we have two young children. Kirsty has helped us with family sessions one on one and then progressed us to group sessions with the children being involved just as much or even more so than us!! We soon found a happy place to pause whilst life got busy. We have a very happy dog and a very happy household where we all know and respect our doggo's behaviour.
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Marion Schulze
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If you are looking for an excellent puppy trainer and puppy training sessions, we can fully recommend Kirsty, she is excellent. We have been attending Kirsty’s dog training since August 2022. It has been a very enjoyable and extremely useful experience for our dog Jessie and us. Jessie is a Labradoodle puppy. She started Kirsty’s training as soon as she was fully vaccinated. From the first session onwards she loved it. Most of all she loves Kirsty, all the treats she gets, learning new cues, cuddling the owners of the other dogs and greeting and sniffing the other dogs and their toys. We started in the beginners’ class in Carnforth Civic Hall, a very suitable location. In autumn we moved on to Kirsty’s advanced class in the same location. And we keep going because it is not only for Jessie but also for us so enjoyable. It is a group of about 8 - 10 dogs, a size which is not too small or too large. and we are not the only owners who keep coming. It is a lovely group of people. Kirsty is a well qualified and very experienced dog trainer. We love her approach of positive reenforcement. By progressing the exercises very slowly she makes sure that the dogs and the owners do not get out of their depth and have success experiences no matter what. The exercises are a good mixture of experiences suitable for all breeds. We learned a lot from watching how Kirsty interacts with dogs but also from the advice she gives in class. We use many of the exercises at home to stimulate Jessie. On occasions we asked Kirsty to meet us one to one to help us with certain issues Jessie had. She helped us a lot to sort out these issues. She is very good at explaining why she gives certain recommendations. We are very glad that we found Kirsty. Krys, Marion and Jessie
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Anne Bhatt
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Kirsty is a likeable person who cares about her work. She is professional and really knows what she's is talking about when it comes to understanding pet and owners behavioural issues and get them sorted. Happy dog and happy people!
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Carly Smith
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Having never owned a dog before, we needed some help with puppy training and Kirsty was recommended to us. We have attended puppy classes as well as one to one sessions with our bouncy and very excitable Labrador. Kirsty has been brilliant. She is extremely knowledgeable, approachable, patient and friendly. We have learnt so much from her and our dog loves the sessions and Kirsty!
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Anna Twiname
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Thank goodness for all Kirsty’s expertise with my anxious little rescue dog. Kirsty was fabulous in 1 to 1 training sessions and then slowly moving on to group sessions all at a pace Matilda could cope with. She has an amazing knowledge and understanding that has helped us tremendously.
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Chris Holcroft
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We started using Kirsty for two reasons, firstly to help our saluki Elsie respond better to other dogs when out on a walk, and then to help Elsie and Boo (our daughter’s dog, also in training with Kirsty) get along together in each others houses. After a few individual sessions we started to see results, with Elsie not being so reactive to dogs outside. She’s not perfect but we now have a good toolbox of ideas to use. After a some joint lessons and a couple of short indoor trials we had Elsie and Boo together in our house for a few days at Christmas with no issues. We couldn’t believe it. Thanks Kirsty for all your help.

Get in Touch

If you have any questions or want to have an informal chat please contact Kirsty.