Your Trainer

Hi, my name is Andrea Wohlhuter.

I always had a very strong bond with dogs, I grew up with our family boxers. As a teenager I got my first own dog, a rescue cross breed dog picked up from the streets of Spain. With her, I joined the local Schutzhund club and started training for competition in Germany.  2 years later I got my second dog, a Doberman. With both dogs I competed successfully in level 1 and 2 Schutzhund, before leaving to Australia.

In 2002 I got my first pedigree bullterrier and started conformation showing. I loved the breed and in 2005 I got my second Bullterrier, Luna, and with her I returned to my passion – obedience training. I realised quickly that Luna was an outstanding dog. Although bullterriers are not a working breed, and training her was often very challenging, we still achieved a number of dog sports titles in obedience and agility.

Having enjoyed dog sports so much, I finally realised my dream of getting a ‘working dog’. Shelby, a Belgian Malinois, joined our family. Shelby turned out to be an amazing dog.

She was the first dog that I trained using motivating reinforcement based training techniques and by making our work together so much fun, we were successful together as a team.

Shelby and I achieved many dog sports titles, and achieved the pinnacle in the sport, Obedience Grand Champion and Rally Champion. Along the way we gained multiple State and National Obedience titles. Shelby won the annual award for best obedience dog in Queensland and also annual trophies at club level on multiple occasions. Her incredible work ethics made her win 5 perfect scores of 200 within one year in CDX obedience.

Now, I have two more Malinois training in dog sports competition, Ninja, Shelby’s daughter and her daughter, Mazikeen.

Although these 3 dogs are all the same breed, they are entirely different dogs. Recognising that each dog is an individual and adjust the training methods to suit each dog is just one of many dog training skills that come with experience and also a constant desire to improve.

Just like other professions, as a dog trainer, it is important to always strive for new knowledge, new techniques to improve in daily life and competition. For many years now, I have taken every opportunity to attend workshops and seminars with well-known and accomplished trainers, often I was able to participate hands-on working with my dogs.