Benjamin Bonhomme

Benjamin Bonhomme

Experienced Dog Behaviour Consultant and Dog Trainer in Vancouver

I earned an MSc in Communication and worked in my profession for a few years. However, at 31 years old, I decided to completely change my life and pursue my passion full-time as a dog trainer and behaviour consultant.

After completing an initial 10-week course in dog training for professionals, I started my business in Nice, France, in 2011 under the name of ZenDog. I worked with many owners during the 8 years to improve their relationship and address concerns with their companion dog.

From the very beginning, I understood the importance of humane and science-based behaviour training methods for helping dogs and their owners. My professional development began with attending the a 4-day Puppy Training Class with Dr. Ian Dunbar in France. In 2012, I completed the ‘Karen Pryor Academy’s Dog Trainer Foundations Course”. In 2013, my professional and personal encounters with Grisha Stewart, Chirag Patel, Dr. Susan Friedman, among many others at the WOOF Conference 2013 in the UK, changed my outlook on our profession and significantly shaped my approach to behaviour consulting and dog training. In the same year, I was fortunate to attend the 5-day “Life Skills For Puppy” Internship at the University of Lincoln, instructed by the team of Dr. Daniel Mills and Dr. Helen Zulk.

In 2014 I was among the first Certified Behavior Adjustment Training Instructor (CBATI) in Europe, which is based on techniques created by Grisha Stewart in order to help dogs successfully cope with difficult social situations involving people and dogs. Additionally, in 2014, I opened the first French online dog training website focused on clicker training under the name of DogConseil.com.

Wishing to acquire more knowledge, I followed Dr. Susan Friedman’s 8-week Training Courses “Living & Learning with Animals (LAA): The Fundamental Principles and Procedures of Teaching and Learning” and became part of a list of LLA Certified Professionals in 2015 with the mention of “Excellence”. I take continuing education very seriously so that I can always promote only the best practices. Therefore, I am a regular attendee of quality conferences around the world such IAABC, PPG, Clicker Expo, APDT, WOOF, ASAT, etc.

To continue learning as well as sharing the knowledge of professionals, I founded the biggest dog training event in France, under the name DogEvent. Throughout the years, DogEvent featured many renown speakers such as Dr. Susan Friedman, Ken Ramirez, Kathy Sdao, Chirag Patel, Grisha Stewart, Jo-Rosie Haffenden, Kelly Dunbar, Dr. Clive Wynne, Dr. Karen Overall, Emily Larham, Ken McCort, Lori Stevens, Nando Brown, Denise Fenzi, Dr. Erica Feuerbacher, Dr. Monique Udell, Dr. Simon Gadbois, and many other brilliant dog scientists and trainers. In 2016, I also hosted a 6-day Chicken Camp with Dr. Susan Friedman and Chirag Patel – a first in Europe at the time. These years have been very rich in learning both for me and for other trainers across Europe. I look forward to bringing this event back to life, but now in Canada! We are planning both professional development events as well as events geared towards the pet owner. Stay tuned!

In 2017, I decided to produce the documentary “Empowered Life”, which features 3 hours of interviews with dog professionals in order to continue to share the humane & science-based methods that I had the chance to acquire. This documentary featured 18 world-renown speakers. I will be offering this documentary to professionals in Canada shortly (stay tuned!).

I am happy to bring you my acquired knowledge and my holistic view of dog training with both European and North American perspectives. I am passionate about sharing my knowledge with you so that you can also benefit from developing a successful relationship between you and your dog.