Camilla Gray-Nelson

Camilla has over 50 years experience with animals (she grew up on the farm!). She has trained, bred and shown dogs since 1989 and brings this broad background and knowledge of dog behavior to her clients and her business. Her life-long understanding of the animal mind helped her develop what has become her signature style of natural dog training and voice control, now simply referred to as the “Dairydell Method”. Camilla and her Dairydell Method have been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles, as well as on San Francisco TV’s Evening Magazine and View From the Bay. Camilla loves teaching – whether it’s dogs, their owners, or the horses you see her riding in Dairydell’s beautiful arena. When she’s not training, teaching or riding, Camilla is writing about her favorite subject: dogs and their people! Camilla holds professional memberships in both the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors (NADOI) and the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP).

Fear-Free Training for High-Energy Dogs: Expert Methods That Actually Work

Quick Answer: Fear-Free Training for High-Energy Dogs Fear-free training works by engaging a dog’s thinking brain rather than triggering fear or survival responses. For high-energy dogs, calm leadership, consistent boundaries, and channeled drive outperform correction-based methods every time. At Dairydell Canine, this approach has produced results with 10,000+ dogs over 25+ years — without force,

Read More »
Camilla Gray-Nelson, owner of Dairydell Canine in Petaluma, works with Duke, 2, to train him in behavioral skills that his family wants him to have before they welcome their first newborn baby.

Petaluma dog trainer: Personality is key

In my life on the farm and later in my long dog-training career, I have worked with literally thousands of dogs. It is clear that each one is born with an inherent personality and temperament: bold or shy, friendly or suspicious, those that avoid aggression at almost all costs and others that place it at the top of their toolbox to get their way.

Read More »
Woman standing in field near dogs socializing

Understanding Dog Socialization

If the dog being “socialized” shows signs of stress or unhappiness during his exercises, owners think (or have been told) they should repeat the uncomfortable experiences until the dog improves. Nothing could be worse advice! First, let’s define what “socialization” really means…

Read More »

Monthly Maintenance Classes

For Board & Train Grads & Their Dogs

To better serve our Dream Dog™ Board & Train graduates, our monthly maintenance classes have had a Total Makeover! Now each month will have its own theme, and each class within that month will be geared for either on-leash OR off-leash grads and include Holiday preparedness exercises when appropriate. We will even be including special HOLIDAY training exercises for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and 4th of July!

Online Video Account Login

Remember....

After logging in with this form, you will find your video orders in the My Videos section