About Us

Paul and Shari began training dogs years ago when they got their very first dog, an American Pit Bull Terrier called Laconis.

“At this stage we had no training in how to teach our dog wanted behaviours. Thankfully Laconis was unusually intelligent which made dog training particularly easy.

Enter Cheeky

Cheeky wasour first whippet and came to us with several fear issues.  We were unprepared for this and, with our lack of skills and knowledge, we unwittingly added to her problems.

We soon came to realise we needed help and started training at our local club. While training Cheeky, we also took Laconis along. Both of us loved the results we were seeing..  Soon we both became trainee instructors and also commenced formal competition training..

Training our pets was a rewarding and enlightening experience. We discovered that our much loved pets were actually trying to communicate with us and tell us what was wrong, and what was absolutely right!  Through understanding body language, we began interpreting what our dogs were telling us. Once we understood this, our relationship  with Cheeky and Laconis grew and we enjoyed life with them so much more. This also ignited and fed our passion for dogs and helping those who are in the same position we were in.”

Shari went on to study with The National Dog Trainers Federation and obtained her Certificate 3 in Dog Behaviour and Training. Armed with this new wealth of knowledge, Shari began helping friends at first and then later others who approached Shari after hearing about her abilities via the grapevine. Shari found working with others and their dogs so rewarding that she continues her education through industry workshops and has since made training her profession.

Paul and Shari are also the breeders and exhibitors of quality Whippets under the prefix Whiparoo. So yes, they make sighthound gear and they are also well suited to training sighthounds, which a lot of trainers struggle with. Quite a few trainers will try to tell you that sighthounds are everything from “completely unable to be trained” to “Get used to it, all sighthounds are like this by nature.” It just takes someone experienced with these hounds to bring out their best. In fact we at More Than Pets are currently trialling Cheeky at the highest level of Rally Obedience there is: RAE. We hope to be the second whippet in the country to gain this prestigious title by the end of the year. 

More information about Whiparoo…