Acer Gundog Training Team
Our experienced team of Gundog Trainers work at our various training venues in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridge.
Links to each venue at the bottom of the page.
Mark Taylor, IMDT
Owner & Head Trainer
Our Owner and Head Trainer is Mark Taylor.
Mark has always had gundogs in his life. Having experienced countless run-of-the-mill dog training classes in village halls himself, he saw the need for specialised training for his own Labradors.
With lots of other gundog trainers still using traditional techniques incorporating the use of punishment, Mark decided there must be a better way to train his own gundogs. Seeing the effects that all the shouting, hitting, ear pulling and yanking leads was having on dogs, he realised these methods clearly didn’t work and were actually causing more problems as a fall-out.
Mark wanted to learn the right way. He wanted to become a professional dog trainer who understood how to use modern training methods which were both ethical and backed by science.
This is where the idea for Acer Gundog Training was born.
Mark is fully accredited as a professionally qualified Dog Trainer by:
The Institute of Modern Dog Trainers (IMDT)
The Gundog Club
John Green
Gundog Trainer
John shares his home with three Spaniels; Alfie, Millie 
and Lola, who have all been trained throughout the different levels of classes at Acer.
During his time at Acer his love for all things fieldsports very quickly grew to include the training and working his own gundogs using the modern, science based approach to dog training. Having been one of our clients for several years, John decided to become a trainer himself. He wants to be able to help others in achieving their own training goals using the knowledge he had gained from Acer and the wider gundog and dog training world.
John can also regularly be found training or working his own dogs, often in a shooting hide or walking the hedgerows with a spaniel at his side.
John’s top tip is to play with your dog often and really become the centre of their world, building a strong bond early on will pay-off greatly in the long run.
Sacha Wheatley
Gundog Trainer
Sacha has a passion for country sports and the 
countryside. She has grown up with gundogs – Springers and Working Cockers and Labradors. She started training her own dogs with Acer when getting her first Working Cocker bitch after always having had dogs.
Sacha has been involved in all country sports for many years and spends a lot of time with her horses. She enjoys riding every day, come rain or shine.
Sacha wanted to work with Acer because she can see how well the modern, science-based approach, works after training her own dog from a puppy using this method. She believes it’s important to practice all the exercises she teaches her clients with her own dogs first, and often involves her teenage sons to make sure everything is clear and easy to understand.
Hellen Bland
Gundog Trainer
Hellen’s love and enthusiasm for all country 
pursuits and working dog-related fields can be attributed to her father. She says he took her on her first shoot aged 12 and from that day on, was completely hooked.
Her first working homebred Springer ‘spanner‘ Trigger. She refers to him as her ‘Pancake Dog’ (the first one’s always a throw away!) It wasn’t until she discovered the wonders of Positive Reinforcement, reward-based training methods, that she found his niche with Picking Up! Hellen describes how he makes her heart burst with pride with every bird he returns with.
Alongside her gamekeeper husband, she also shares her life with 3 Working Cockers; Mavis, Cassie and Guinness. Hellen has always had a fascination with watching dogs work in the field and present their true natural talents at hunting and retrieving.
Hellen was drawn to Acer as a customer. She likes our focus on the natural instincts and enthusiasm of all the working breeds. Also, because of our science-backed gundog training methods. She says they are a breath of fresh air in a very old-fashioned world. Understanding how her dogs learn and why they behave a certain way has helped her develop valuable handler skills which she wants to pay forward to our customers.
Jan Barlow, IMDT
Gundog Trainer
Jan has spent the last 20 years working as a 
Chief Executive in the charity sector, including as CEO of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. She has also been involved with other rescue charities as a trustee.
Jan’s real passion in life is dogs, in particular, gundogs. She grew-up, surrounded by gundogs in her wider family and now shares her life with her rescue Sprocker, Asta.
Jan first became involved in gundog training with her first rescue Springer, Harry, who, she says, was too “driven” for non-breed specific training methods to work.
Jan became fascinated with how modern gundog training methods use a gundog’s natural instincts to shape positive behaviours.
As a long-standing client training her own dogs with us, she says she has seen at first hand the difference gundog training has made to her two rescue spaniels. Having seen so many gundogs end up in rescue centres over the years due to a lack of appropriate early training, Jan is passionate about helping owners to train these wonderful dogs, whether they are family pets or working gundogs.
Krissi Green
Gundog Trainer
Krissi has had a long-standing love affair with dogs, growing up with 
rescue terriers who she ‘trained’ to jump over various household items.
The way in which both humans and other animals learn and behave have always been passions of Krissi’s. This led her to the study of human behaviour, gaining a first class degree in Psychology before side-stepping into Primary School Teaching. She currently teaches a class of Year 2 children during the week and works with clients at Acer on a Saturday. And they say never to work with children or animals!
Krissi was drawn to Acer when she acquired her first spaniel, Alfie. Gundog training provided him a great outlet for his breed-specific behaviours and really enriched his life. It was amazing seeing him act on his instincts and do what he was bred to do. She’s since gained two more spaniels, one trained by her husband, John (who is also a Trainer at Acer!) and their youngest dog, Lola, an English Springer Spaniel, who is Krissi’s dog through and through (much to John’s disappointment).
Krissi’s favourite thing about Acer is the bond between human and dog which is nurtured and encouraged through their science based, force free methods.
Sarah
Gundog Trainer
Sarah and her ‘Wing-man’, Goose, commenced their gundog training partnership in March 2019 when Goose was aged just 14 weeks a brand new out of the packet puppy.
Goose (a chocolate ‘Cockerdor‘) is Sarah’s first and only dog. Having never owned a dog before Sarah was keen to find training which focussed on his breed specific character traits. Goose is from working stock and being half cocker spaniel and half Labrador it was obvious he was every bit the Gundog.
Sarah was originally a client with Acer, before becoming a Trainer. She has now successfully trained Goose through to Advanced Gundog level.
When asked to sum-up what training her dog meant to her, she said;
“I began to understand the thesis of reward-based training and am amazed at how my non-English speaking four-legged wingman works in partnership with me. The bond built between human and dog is truly amazing. Acer has given me the confidence to have trained my dog to Advanced level and I am now passionate about sharing my knowledge and experience with others to encourage them to immerse themselves in positive reward based training and reap the benefits.”
Lisa Scallan
Gundog Trainer
Lisa has been an animal lover since childhood and has had all kinds of pets over the years. Her first full time job was working at a thoroughbred racehorse stud. An interest in healthcare science led to a big career change and she now works for the NHS in Imaging Physics, having achieved a Masters degree in Medical Physics.
Her true passion in life is dogs, in particular spaniels, when Lisa’s first Cocker Spaniel, George, came along almost 30 years ago and she has never been without a spanner around since! Lisa currently shares her life with three Spaniels – Molly, Arlo and Ike (along with other animals and partner Chris!).
Lisa was drawn to Acer when looking to train her youngest dogs Arlo and Ike, because of the science-backed reward based methods used to build a special bond between handlers and dogs. She has trained Ike through to Advanced Gundog level.
Working as a Gundog Trainer with Acer has given Lisa the perfect opportunity to combine her interest of science with her love of dogs and she loves to see people enjoying their dogs and watching the bond between them grow.
Melinda Bettsworth, IMDT
Gundog Trainer
Mel has had dogs in her life from childhood growing up with Dobermans and Boxers. After meeting her Falconer husband she developed a love for HPR breeds, in particular English Pointers.
Their first pointer, Tig, was a rescue and 
Mel freely admits she was a real challenge being around three years old with no training when they gave her a home. However having a difficult dog like that puts you on a steep learning curve and, despite her challenges, Tig cemented Mel’s love of pointers and two more rescues, Hollie and Bella, followed a year later. The further addition of a male pointer resulted in their own home bred litter a couple of years later. Most of the puppies went to falconry homes apart from the two that Mel kept despite her husband saying they had enough dogs.
Mel really enjoyed training the dogs to work safely around the hawks and falcons. She found it particularly interesting developing the pointing instinct in the rescue dogs that had never worked or been trained previously. Many a happy time was spent working dogs and birds together in the beautiful Welsh countryside.
After starting to work for Acer as a Gundog Trainer, Mel became qualified with the IMDT and continues to develop her knowledge and skills by reading numerous books and attending courses and seminars.
Gundog Training Venues in Herts, Beds & Cambs
Select one of the following locations to find out more about Gundog Training with one of our experienced team of trainers:
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