Zen Dog is owned and operated by Chelsea Martin, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA), Certified Behaviour Adjustment Training Instructor (CBATI) and Association of Pet Dog Trainer UK (APDT UK). She has been training dogs professionally since 2007.

Chelsea Martin

Chelsea’s passion for training dogs began as a young teenager when she would visit her father in Michigan, who was fostering dogs that had been recently rescued from puppy mills. It was during this time that she started to learn how train basic obedience and rehabilitate dogs from fear, anxiety and aggression. Unfortunately puppy-mill dogs are solely used for breeding, often experiencing years or cruel treatment, and extreme hardships. Many of these rescued dogs and adolescent puppies required lots of training and behavioural modification support in their foster care as they learnt how to live in their new way of life as pet/companion dogs.

During the many years of fostering and rehabilitating puppy-mill rescue dogs, Chelsea developed a special interest in counter conditioning and desensitisation techniques used for rehabilitation for fear, anxiety and aggression. She firmly believes in the benefit of using positive, science-based training methods to help dogs overcome behavioural issues.

At the age of 18, Chelsea began working at PetSmart as an accredited Dog Obedience Trainer. She worked as the Lead Trainer at PetSmart for nearly 5 years. Unlike many trainers who began their careers using aversive, punishment-based training, Chelsea has been committed to using positive, dog-friendly training from the start.

Professional Certifications

Chelsea attained her CPDT Certification in October, 2011, from the Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers. Chelsea is also the only Full member of the Animal Building Blocks Academy (ABBA) in Nottingham. ABBA promotes positive, force-free training methods, and continuing education.

In 2012, Chelsea was among the first group of trainers to become a Certified Behaviour Adjustment Training Instructor (CBATI). She was among the first 12 people who had been certified, which allows her to use the innovative, dog-friendly BAT training to help dogs that exhibit fear, aggression, and/or frustration. Despite obtaining the certification in 2012, she has been using BAT training since 2010, when she was first introduced to the technique at a seminar in Seattle by Grisha Stewart.

In addition to her dog training certifications, Chelsea is also the only certified Doga (dog yoga) instructor in Bellingham, WA. Chelsea earned her Doga certification in August of 2011 from Brenda Bryan of Barking Buddha Doga in Seattle, WA.

After relocating to the United Kingdom in 2016 and settling into her new home, Chelsea started working for the Dogs Trust charity, joining them in their new Initiative – Dog School. Chelsea developed and managed the Nottingham Dog School branch in 2017 where she continued to offer dog training classes, one-to-one lessons and behaviour support to owners in the local area. During this time she also provided CPD seminars (continuing professional development) to Veterinarians and Nurses around Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire at their facilities upskilling them on the latest dog training and behaviour information.

Chelsea takes continuing education very seriously, and she attends several training and behavior workshops every year. These seminar topics have included: specialty workshops on clicker training, adolescence, aggression, fear, T-Touch training, puppyhood, and obedience.

More Information

Chelsea lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom with her husband and their miniature Dachshund, Apple. For more information about Chelsea’s training and behaviour support, please visit the Dog Training web page. To contact Chelsea directly, you can email chelsea@zen-dog.net.