Meet Kate Hocking, B. Sc. Adv. L5 Canine Hydrotherapy.

My core belief is: I am here to enrich the lives of people and their pets. I know how rewarding it is to own a pet and want to make it easy for dog owners to enjoy the best of their dogs.

​I am 50 years old and am a mother of two children. My love of animals started from a very young age. I always had a passion to work in the animal field, I started in the Training field and have graduated into Canine Hydrotherapy.

I have a passion to help people and their dogs. The Hydrotherapy I provide  is Canine centered using Therapeutic Handling and the most up to date knowledge.
Through my 30+ years of experience I have gained a huge amount of knowledge - which adds to a natural ability to see the cause of the issue clearly and use that to be able to help you retrain your dog. Over the last 30 years I have been working in the Animal industry. Over this time I have:
  •  An Advanced Diploma L5 Canine Hydrotherapy 
  • Member of the New Zealand Association of Hydrotherapist
  • Gained a certificate in Animal Care at Polytech at 18 yrs old.
  • Bachelor of Science from Massey University - majoring in Psychology (both animal and human!)
  • Head trainer for Hearing dogs for Deaf People,
  • Run numerous group classes for puppies and adult dogs in the UK, Taupo and New Plymouth.
  • Worked in hundreds of people’s homes with their dogs one-on-one - tailoring the training to the people’s needs, skill sets and lifestyles.
  • Worked in boarding kennels in the UK and Taupo.

​get in touch today.

My Training Philosophy

​I believe in positive communication with your dog.
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The techniques I will teach you have been born from years of experience working with almost every and breed of dog in New Zealand (and some that aren’t even here!) I will talk to you and get an in-depth knowledge of what is happening and then we will spend time working together to see what technique is going to work best for you and your dog.

I have found that positive, reward-based training tends to sit best with most people and most trainers will use this approach. The predominant basis of my training comes from Dr. Ian Dunbar who is a leading behaviourist in America and the UK. I also draw from C.W. Meisterfeild who is an American, and of course from my own experience working with people from all walks of life. But there are 1000 ways to train a dog and I am constantly learning from many sources and experiences. If someone says to you they know everything there is to know about dog training, they haven’t been training dogs long enough to learn anything!