Role at OhMyDog: I joined OhMyDog!’s diverse international team in 2019 and am now in charge of Basic Obedience lessons and Puppy classes. During these lessons, I give owners the tools they need for a loving and comfortable relationship with their dogs. What I love about teaching for OhMyDog is that no two lessons are the same: every dog is an individual and every owner is different; and I get to tailor my classes to the needs of my students.

What appealed to me about OhMyDog! is the evidence-based approach. Although this requires extra reading and research, we only recommend something if we have solid grounds to believe that works. There’s no sense of “mysterious knowledge” available only to the chosen ones: we are transparent about the advice we give. We teach you only the best available professional practices, and we focus on exercises that anyone can master!

Credentials: I have a PhD (in Linguistics), which I put to good use in embracing OMD’s evidence-based principles. I have also graduated from the following international courses on dog training and behaviour: Dog Emotion and Cognition – Duke University; Animal Behaviour and Welfare - University of Edinburgh; The Truth about Cats and Dogs - University of Edinburgh; Introduction to Genetics and Evolution - Duke University and I have read a ton of specialist books on the topic.

[caption id="attachment_204" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Svetlana in 'conversation' with one of her students, a Mexican naked dog.[/caption]

Daily work: I am a Research Integrity Adviser at Springer Nature, which I combine with giving online classes to groups of Russian owners about dog behaviour.

Personal experience: My first dog was Tesla, whom I rescued from the streets of St.-Petersburg. It is Tesla’s many behaviour problems that led me onto the path of learning about dog behaviour. After achieving many successes with Tesla, I took another dog from the street: Simba. She turned out to be a very different kind of hard case (high reactivity and separation anxiety). I keep learning from Simba every day. I also have a third dog, Axioma, a 2-year-old Australian Shepherd.