A passion for pet care

All about Dogs And All and its owner, Tammy Pieters

When asked where Tammy obtained her education pertaining to animal behaviour, she'll cut to the chase pretty fast. "Aside from hundreds of hours of theoretical study from different training schools, I learned from the best of the best - the well behaved and extremely balanced animals themselves."

Tammy has spent a great deal of time during her adult life observing and studying canine behaviour (cynology), feline behaviour and ethology. In the process she attained years of hands-on experience in animal care and much knowledge in the human-canine / human-feline relationship.

"One of the biggest mistakes we make with our pets is we tend to humanize them; it’s our first instinct and of course, it’s only natural. After all we are human. What we have to keep in mind is that our pet’s behaviour is congenital. When it comes to instinct, our cats and dogs will trump us every time. They are the reigning matriarchs and patriarchs of instinct. What comes naturally to us (nurturing and giving affection) isn’t the only thing we should be allocating when it comes to our four legged companions. If we don’t provide strong leadership, they’ll assume the role, as is only natural to them. If we don’t give them adequate mental and physical exercise, they’ll, more than likely, find innovative and creative ways to expend their energy and entertain themselves. In order to attain the ideal relationships we desire with our pets we have to begin to think on their level - suppress our human ways a tad - respect them for what they are and where they’ve come from. We have to lead by example and not decree; we have to be patient, calm and consistent. Once we understand how they interact with one another - appreciate how they communicate through gestures and body language - and recognize some of the things that motivate their conduct, we’re well on our way to influencing how they behave in our environment."

Always fascinated by the wide array of canine training methods that were available for humans and their dogs, she examined a great many and extracted the most positive and the most influential to apply within her own life with her dogs. However, she soon came to realize that despite widely used positive reiniforcement training techniques, differences within those training techniques should be handled on a dog to dog basis. "Beware of cookie cutter training methods! Like humans, every dog is different ergo we have a responsibility as dog trainers to carefully evaluate what we can and can't do with a dog while retaining a dog's spirit and preserving their trust."

Pitous Pis Tout’s - Dogs And All’s training techniques rely highly on canine psychology, body language and tons of positive reinforcement. Most importantly all methods are tailor fit to accommodate each dog's individual personality and behaviour, an element most training schools dismiss entirely.

Tammy has owned a number of cats and dogs over the course of her life; she has fostered quite a few as well. Today she is the proud owner of Hitch (standard poodle) and BB (Boston terrier).

"Cynology and ethology has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. It goes without saying that each of my experiences with the various pets I’ve had the fortune of caring for has enriched my life greatly."

For over a decade Tammy volunteered as a pet/house sitter and dog walker for a number of friends and colleagues. The experience, and the constant demand for her services, have been the inspiration in taking the next logical step and creating a professional dog-walking/pet and home-sitting business.

Pious Pis Tout – Dogs and All was established in 2006.