Victoria Stilwell
(born August 8 1969 in Wimbledon, England) is a world-renowned positive reinforcement dog trainer, author, and television presenter. Stilwell serves as a judge on the CBS show Greatest American Dog
and presents the dog training TV show It’s Me or the Dog
, counseling families with problem pets and solving their dogs’ behaviour problems.
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VICTORIA STILLWELL TICKETS
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Biography
Stilwell originally trained as an
actress, playing roles in
Bram Stoker's Dracula
in
1992,
ITV1's
The Bill
in
1994, and onstage in
London's
West End theatre, as well as several commercials and voiceovers.
Dog trainer
In order to supplement her income as an actress, Stilwell's veterinary nurse sister suggested Victoria start a dog walking agency. Within a month Victoria was walking 20 dogs per day - 10 in the morning, 10 in the afternoon - and immediately recognized the need for qualified professionals to help her clients with the training process. She then expanded her focus to dog training by learning from some of Britain's most respected positive-reinforcement dog trainers and behaviorists.
After moving to the U.S. with her husband in
1999, Stilwell co-founded several successful dog training companies up and down the East Coast, quickly establishing herself as one of New York's most sought after dog trainers. With a particular fondness for rescue animals in need of behavior rehabilitation, Stilwell devoted much of her time and energy to a number of animal rescue organizations in New York and Atlanta, serving as a behavior advisor and giving regular seminars on the subject of dog rescue, training and rehabilitation. She worked as a volunteer adoption counselor for the
ASPCA, and has been featured in numerous magazines and journals including The
New York Times, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Mail, MSNBC.com,
USA Today, Psychology Today and The Sun. Stilwell is a regular columnist for Dog World, American Dog and Dogs Today magazines, and she has appeared on numberous talk shows, news broadcasts and radio shows in the US, Europe and Asia as a dog training expert.
It's Me or the Dog
Since 2005, Victoria Stilwell has been working with some of the world’s most unruly dogs (and owners) on her TV show, It’s Me or the Dog, which airs in the U.S. on Animal Planet and in over forty other countries. Produced by Shed Media US (
Supernanny,
The Real Housewives of New York City), the show features Victoria as she gives counsel to families with problem pets and uses positive reinforcement training techniques to help them learn how to correct their dogs’ behavior problems.
Originally produced for UK TV’s
Channel 4, the show premiered in the US on
Animal Planet in April 2007, and to date over 60 original episodes have been aired worldwide. A typical episode involves a family struggling to cope with their misbehaving dogs. Victoria arrives to help restore order by initially observing the problems firsthand in their native environment, then confronting the family with her expert opinion regarding the root causes of the issues. Victoria then works with the family and their dogs to restore balance by showing where the owners have previously gone wrong and what they can do to remedy the problems. After a period of time alone to implement Victoria’s hand-crafted training regimen, the family welcomes Victoria back to display the progress made and get a few tune-ups and encouragement from Victoria to stay the course.
There have been several “special” episodes of It’s Me or the Dog including those featuring overweight dogs, Victoria’s public seminars at an outdoor dog festival, her work with the caretakers of a wild wolf rescue park and her training of out-of-control pedigree dogs on their way to the world’s largest dog show.
After its first season in the UK,
It's Me or the Dog
was nominated in the 'Best Factual Entertainment' category in the UK's prestigious TV Quick Awards. Her first book,
It's Me or the Dog: How to Have the Perfect Pet
was voted one of the 50 greatest dog books ever written by Dogs Today magazine.
Greatest American Dog
Victoria is one of three judges on the
CBS show
Greatest American Dog
, in which 12 dog-owner teams compete for the title 'Greatest American Dog' and a $250,000 prize. The series debuted on CBS
July 10,
2008.
Campaigns
She is a strong advocate of animal rescue and is heavily involved with rescue groups around the world including Paws Atlanta, Stray from the Heart (NYC), Hong Kong Dog Rescue and Greyhound Rescue of West England. She supports the Wisconsin Puppy Mill Project, Jana Kohl (appearing in
A Rare Breed of Love
) and the Waterside Action Group to increase awareness and support the fight against the practice of puppy mills in the USA and around the world. Among the other organizations with whom she is associated are Deed Not Breed (campaigning to re-write the UK's
Dangerous Dogs Act to remove breed-specific legislation) as well as Vets Get Scanning, promoting mandatory pet micro-chipping and scanning by vets.
Books
Victoria has written two books. The first, It’s Me or the Dog: How to Have the Perfect Pet
Hyperion, was published in September, 2005, and is intended as a guide to understanding your dog and building a balanced relationship based on trust and respect. Central to her philosophy is that in order to truly understand and effectively communicate with your dog, you must first learn to Think Dog and see the world from their point of view – only then can the bond between dog and owner truly be based on constructive discipline, mutual respect and love.
Her second book, Fat Dog Slim: How to Have a Healthy, Happy Pet (
Harper Collins UK), was published in January 2007, and addresses the role proper food and exercise have on the general health and behavioral issues in dogs.
Personal life
Stilwell met her actor husband while starring opposite him in the West End production of
Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story
. The couple and their daughter live in
Atlanta, Georgia [1]
After many years without a pet dog of her own (due to work commitments), Victoria has adopted a rescued chocolate
Labrador named Sadie. Prior to that, she had spent her time since
2000 fostering dogs due to be
euthanised by local municipal shelters. Stilwell and her husband then gave the dogs a home while rehabilitating them and eventually finding suitable homes for the animals. She has explained that until recently, owning a dog would have been irresponsible and not fair to the dog, considering how much the whole family travels. The couple has re-homed over 50 dogs and cats
[2].
Qualifications
Victoria is currently certified by the Animal Behavior and Training Associates and is a longtime member of the US Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT).
Bibliography
- It’s Me or the Dog: How to Have the Perfect Pet
(2005)
- Fat Dog Slim: How to Have a Healthy, Happy Pet
(2007)
References
- Victoria misses England - Film and tv - Entertainment - Manchester Evening News
- It's Me or The Dog - The Victoria Stilwell Interview for K9 Magazine