About us and contact
About us:
I’m Birgitta Geerlings-Wensveen and live with my husband Marcel and our 4 rescue dogs in South Lappland in Sweden.
Dogs have always played an important role in my life. I think the unconditional love of dogs towards people is incredibly beautiful and that is why dogs deserve that we understand them well and that dogs therefore have a beautiful dog-worthy life.
We have four rescue dogs. Bella adopted from Romania, Eppie from Bulgaria and Dazzler and Bob two Border Collies from the Netherlands and Belgium. My dogs are my best teachers. I still learn from them every day and I am very grateful to them for this.
I have been certified since November 2017 as a Natural Dog Trainer & Behavioral Expert Level 5 (NDTE) and I followed this training at Calming Signs in Koningslust in the Netherlands. Since December 2021 I'm a certified Separation Anxiety Dog Coach and help dogs to get over their home-alone issues. You can visit my website www.friends4ever.dog for more info.
In 2017 I introduced The Snuffle Garden Project in the Netherlands. Sniffing is very important for dogs! We as humans often forget this or simply do not know this. Dogs are calmed by this and you prevent many behavioral problems.. More than 13 Snuffle gardens in the Netherlands and 1 in Greece are participating in the project. Read more on www.snuffeltuinen.jimdo.com or on this website
In 2020 I started to give Webinars "how to build a snuffle garden for your dog" and more than 600 people from all over the world joined me.
I am a full member of the international professional association PDTE, a member of the Dogwelfare Alliance and ICAN.
I am Laura Dobb, a dog coach (Lala Human Dog Coach) based in North Yorkshire, UK and founder/director of the Slow Dog Movement C.I.C.. You are welcome to read more about my background from both of these websites linked above!
I am very grateful to Birgitta for inviting me to participate in her project and to Laura Aitken in the UK for asking me to take over the UK Snuffle Garden Project. Both had the same roots, beginning with Carolin Reger, the founder of the Snuffle Garden Project in Germany.
I ran an indoor enrichment facility for dogs in Cornwall called 'Dog Sense' in 2020 and learnt many things about dogs and their senses and the importance of improving their balance, proprioception, self confidence and reduce their stress levels from Kirsty Grant of The Dog Nose in Swindon, UK, along with other Pet Dog Trainers or Europe (PDTE) colleagues.
I recently moved to Old Malton, North Yorkshire and will grow my dog coach and hope to open a sensory garden for dogs in 2022 if all goes well!
I learn new things about dogs every day. I learn from my own dogs, both rescues, Izzy (a 9 year old JRT) and Ted (a 4 year old Weechon), from my clients' dogs, from my Slow Dog Movement and PDTE colleagues and from my own research.
What amazes me is how very similar our dogs' physiology and emotional makeup is to our own. Dogs get lonely, lose their balance, lack confidence and get grumpy, just like we do. Sensory gardens are an amazing tool for rehabiliating dogs and for bringing dogs and their guardians closer together.
I encourage you to get involved in creating a sensory garden for your own dog(s) and/or for others to visit - for your own pleasure, or as a business or charity. Many dogs are needing this unique natural space in which to relax, sniff, climb, balance, explore, and more.
Thank you
Thanks to many people I could create this webpage. They gave me a lot of inspiration by sharing their stories and pictures which you can find also on this webpage.
With special thanks to Simone Bakker from Sensory/Snuffle Garden Mudita in the Netherlands.
Liesbet Jacobs from Sensory / Snuffle Garden BK9 in Belgium.
Animal Shelter/ Tierheim in Kaiserslautern in Germany.
Yvonne for sharing her pictures and experiences about the Sensory Walk she organise every week in the Netherlands.
Ming from Taiwan for giving me the opportinity to give a webinar about Sensory gardens/experiences for dogs for more than 100 people in Taiwan and China.
Nuria Janeiro from Canidogs thanks to her, she asked me to give a webinar about Sensory gardens for dogs. Many people from Mexico and Spain joined this webinar.
And thanks to Carolin Reger, she is the founder of the Snuffle Garden Project in Germany and she gave me the approval to start the Dutch Snuffle Garden Project in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Contact us
Do you have any questions?
Do you want to add your Sensory Garden to this website?
Do you have a shelter and want to start a Sensory Garden?
Do you want to follow the Webinar about how to create Sensory Garden?
Etc.
Please send an email to : [email protected]
