About Halo Dogs

Halo Dogs was created by a group of likeminded staff who all work together at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

As trainers, behaviourists, rehomers and passionate dog lovers, they realised that many of the behavioural problems they saw resulted from a lack of proper training and socialisation and that many of the people who really wanted to give a dog a home could not because they were out at work all day.

Thus Halo Dogs was born. Initially the company offered training, pet sitting and dog walking but has expanded to offer services including day care, grooming and boarding at its location on a picturesque farm in North London.

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Meet The Team

Justin Kumaran After almost 15 years Justin left his career as a clinical manager with the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust to set up Halo Dogs. Whilst working full time for the Ambulance service he began part time volunteer work for Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, initially at the Old Windsor site before transferring to the Battersea site. Justin commenced part time employment for Battersea as a Rehomer where his enviable knowledge of breeds allows him to successfully match owners with the right dog and advise on all aspects of behaviour and training. Justin still works at Battersea part time with other members of the team from Halo Dogs.

Justin has gained an NVQ level 5 and has been studying animal behaviour for several years. He is an approved instructor with the Academy of Dog Training and Behaviour and gained experience with the Enfield Chase Dog Training Club which teaches the Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme. Justin has attended many training courses and seminars over the past few years including those offered by: John Rogerson, Nina Bondarenko, Sarah Fisher, David Ryan, Ali Taylor and many others.

Justin began his career working with people but his passion for dogs was always with him.

“One of the notable things working as a medic is, you always get called after an accident has happened. The problem with being a dog behaviourist is you only get called when there is a problem, however by opening Halo Dogs we can prevent many of the problems from happening in the first place”
Justin strongly believes that positive reinforcement is the most effective and ethical training method available for most dogs. He has a special interest training blind dogs and also enjoys working on challenging behaviours such as seperation anxiety and aggression.

Sarah Tapsell Sarah has always had a great fascination and empathy for animals and has gained experience from a young age, starting with work experience at a veterinary centre.  After several years working in customer service while she was in education Sarah decided to turn her passion for animals into a career rather than just a hobby.  She now uses her experience with people to successfully work with dogs and their owners.  Sarah believes that 'a good behaviourist or dog trainer cares for and trains both the dog and their owners’.

Sarah gained a 2:1 in her Masters degree on Animal Welfare and Behaviour in 2007.  Whilst doing this she completed her dissertation on the scent marking behaviour of dogs at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.  During her spare time whilst studying Sarah gained a broad variety of experience from zoo animals to domestic pets.  Most notable was three years spent as a Member of Wolf Pack Management working as a volunteer for periods of up to 8 weeks at a time socialising, interacting and enriching the captive wolves as well as educating the public.  This invaluable and in-depth experience working with socialised  and unsocialised wolves gives Sarah a rare and unique insight into the behaviour of the wolf’s descendants, the dog.  Her knowledge of pack structure, enrichment and behavioural communication greatly helps in training and with problematic behaviours in dogs. 
 
After university Sarah continued to volunteer as a dog socialiser at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home until she successfully applied for a job as a Rehomer at Battersea in 2007.  Within the role she gained a great amount of knowledge about dog breeds, behaviour and welfare, as well as customer service and education.  As well as being a trained behavioural assessor  Sarah has completed courses on Tellington Touch by Sarah Fisher, kennel enrichment, dog training, aggression and breed information.  In early 2009 she joined the Behaviour Unit at Battersea where her knowledge about problematic behaviour increased including experience with nervousness, aggression, stress and training both dogs and educating people. 
 
‘I believe that every animal has its natural instincts that need to be satisfied.  Just like the dog’s ancestors, the wolf, the dog is a social animal with instincts and a large behavioural repertoire.  Their instincts can be satisfied via mental and physical stimulation and training to prevent and correct problematic behaviour.  I believe that once a dog’s natural instincts are understood a dog can become balanced and happy. This takes correct training methods, positive reinforcement and proper guidance which is exactly what Halo Dogs offer’.