Michelle Hahn runs her own business, Tawai Dog Training, in Oamaru to help people train their dogs.
She is from Argentina but grew up in Brazil. It was there that she fell in love with training dogs, thanks to her family’s German shepherd.
"I always loved anything to do with animal psychology.
"I used to go to training groups at the German shepherd club and we had ex-military [officers] from the dog squad. They used to train us."
Mrs Hahn then started training other people’s dogs as a way to make money while she studied in Buenos Aires.
She has been in Oamaru, working in agriculture since 2017, but has only recently got back into training dogs.
The goal of the training is to help the dogs have a healthy relationship with their owners.
"To know some basic commands that’s necessary like sit, stay, come, lie down but I don’t tend to teach tricks or anything.
"It’s more for the dogs to be a dog that can be taken anywhere, like, to a dog park or sit outside Scott’s."
While Mrs Hahn was not very tough on the dogs, there were a few non-negotiable rules.
"You never fight with another dog [at the dog park].
"At home, you don’t steal food, you don’t jump on people, you don’t get out of the gate of your house or you car without permission."
Mrs Hahn also trains horses and hopes in the future to run classes and seminars on the techniques she uses.
