Sophie White
BVetMed MSc MRCVS
- ABTC registered Veterinary Behaviourist
- ABTC registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist
- Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
- Full member of the APBC
- Member of TCBTC
Areas of specialist interest:
Human directed aggression, handling issues & cases with complex medical histories.
Hello, I'm Sophie. I am a veterinary surgeon with over a decade of clinical experience, and the founder of Veterinary Behaviour Support.
Why am I here, not still in general practice?
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Well, it just sort of happened... in first opinion practice I had a keen interest in chronic pain management and undertook extra training in acupuncture and soft tissue massage. It became apparent that my patients' pain was impacting more than just how they moved, it was impacting how they felt and how they behaved too.
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I also spent a lot of time crawling about on the floor offering everyone squeezy cheese. Over time I acquired a growing list of clients who specifically wanted me to see their pet because of my willingness to accommodate their preferences and try to minimise their stress.
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By this point I was already becoming increasingly interested in behaviour, but the final piece of the puzzle came in the shape of Teddy, our second rescue dog. Ted arrived, all cute and bouncy and full of adolescent attitude. It became quickly apparent that he had some big feelings about a lot of things and wasn't one to keep his opinions to himself. I was out of my depth! Thankfully a wonderful dog trainer took me under his wing and pointed me in the right direction. I started learning to help Teddy, and quickly realised I should be learning for all my patients too!
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From there my passion grew, a Masters Degree followed, then a year working in the Behaviour Team at Dogs Trust. I knew that in the end I wanted to bring all of this together to provide high quality veterinary care to as many pets as possible, helping them and their people through whatever behavioural challenges they faced.
Leigh-Ann Bedding
Dog Trainer & Client Coach
ABTC - Animal Behaviour Technician
Areas of specialist interest:
Cooperative care and handling issues
Hello, I'm Leigh-Ann. I joined VBS full time in September '24.
I am an ABTC registered Animal Behaviour Technician. That means I've got the skills & qualifications to provide you with ethical and evidence based preventative advice. I can also help coach you and provide 1-2-1 training to help implement the plans provided during your behaviour consultation with Sophie.
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I have worked with animals for over 12 years with a huge range of species from dogs to macaws to rhinos. My interest in animal training and behaviour started as a child joining my Gran in dog training classes. This led to studying animal management when I left school.
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I spent the first 7 years of my career working for the Zoological Society of London. Throughout my time working with wild animals there was a huge focus across the industry on cooperative care and husbandry training. I spent a lot of time training the animals under my care for veterinary procedures, hoof care, claw clipping and beak trimming. This opened my eyes to how different things could be for our own dogs when they need veterinary care and grooming.
I adopted my own dogs and fostered many greyhounds over a few years and my interest in dog rescue and behaviour increased. This led me to Dogs Trust where I met and worked with Sophie. I started as a dog trainer and worked up to Training and Behaviour Advisor in the 4 years I spent there. This position allowed me to build my training and behaviour knowledge. Bringing my knowledge and experience of working with dangerous wild animals allowed me to bring some totally different ideas for training the dogs in our care. But like most who work in rescue, I wanted to do more to help before the dogs ended up in kennels. This is what brought me to work with Sophie and help better the lives of the dogs in our homes, helping family stay together, safely and happily.