Faculty & Staff

Donna Hill

Donna Hill (she/her) has had a life long love affair with dogs and a fascination with dog behavior. She has competed in agility, flyball, and rally O and teaches people to train their own service dogs. She uses a holistic approach when solving people's problems with their dogs.

Donna's classes use step by step training using text, videos and diagrams. Given her background in zoology and teaching humans, she also explains principles, biology and ethology of behavior as appropriate for each topic. Be prepared to do much reading in Donna's classes, as well as doing the practical!

Donna has broad practical experience in the dog world: volunteering and working in kennels and shelters, dog sitting and walking, fostering rescue dogs, teaching behavior modification privately, and teaching reactive dog classes. She stays current in dog behavior and learning by regularly attending seminars by top trainers and researchers.

She is probably best known for her two Youtube channels (supernaturalbc2008 and supernaturalbc2009). She was also the past group owner of the Facebook group "Observation Skills for Training Dogs." She is active locally as co-founder and professional member of Professional Animal Care Training Association BC (PACTABC) and the founder and instructor for Vancouver Island Assistance Dogs (Now Service Dog Training Institute).

With her own dogs and other pets, Donna loves to apply learning theory (R+) when teaching a wide variety of sports, games, tricks, and other activities such as cycling and service dog tasks. She loves using shaping to get new behaviors. Her teaching skill is in keeping the big picture in mind while using creativity to define the small steps to help the learner succeed. She is a splitter!

Join Donna in one of her classes and find out how much fun (and success) positive reinforcement training and learning observation skills can be for everyone!

Pronouns: Donna goes by she/her.

"I particularly appreciated that you're an outside-the-box thinker and encouraged us to try and think outside the box as well. Who knew there were so many different ways to explain a retrieve to a dog! I also liked that you reminded me of the importance of splitting, and of making training plans ahead of time. Your class has been very encouraging and inspiring, and you made sure to always keep it fun. Thank you, Donna! I think this has made me a better trainer in general. I also appreciated that you shared personal doggy stories."

"It is so evident that Donna puts a great deal of thought, time and energy into her classes. She has broken the retrieve down into tiny steps to ensure us of success. Her lectures are filled with detail, suggestions and many helpful videos. Many students at the Gold level were enthusiastically repeating the class. She worked with each team independently right at the level where we were. Her fast response time (click) and her positive, helpful comments were very reinforcing. I hope to take the class again in the future. Sandy H."

"Donna has been amazing, very supportive throughout. Her knowledge is encyclopedic! Her feedback has been prompt, sincere and constructive. I have really enjoyed the course and would definitely take another of hers based on this experience!"

"Donna has been a great tutor, her knowledge and experience are outstanding and she has been a very generous mentor throughout. Teaching a group of humans and dogs with varying skill levels requires real patience and understanding, not to mention problem solving for the widely varied physicality of the canine students in our group. I really look forward to my next Fenzi course. Lesley T."

"Donna has a way of presenting complex information in a manner that is easy to understand. She broadens the topic from "this is for competition" to "this is for life" which I really appreciate. She mixes very practical methods with more academic methods. This was a fabulous class that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone who would like to improve their use of cues."

"Donna Hill is an excellent instructor who prepares great lectures and gives lots of prompt feedback on assignments. I feel this class was well worth my time. I will be working on, and studying, the concepts learned in this class for as long as I am working with dogs. Katheleen C."

"I really appreciated Donna's quick & timely feedback on the videos. I definitely wish I had more time to post the max number per week, but life always gets in the way. I was able to get my little guy to bowl by the end of the course! It was great to see where there were holes in my training and using fun games to go back and work on the fundamentals."

"Donna Hill (along with Lucy and Jessie) provide exceptional lecture and video materials - they are always clear, easy to follow, and have all the detail needed to get from nothing to a final polished behavior. I love Donna's videos."

"Donna, Thanks for your insightful comments! I have really enjoyed this class, and it has really been challenging and fun. Thanks for sharing Lucy and Jessie's videos and stories, and your knowledge. Sophie has a lot in common with Jessie! I was a little uncomfortable at Silver, but it got better as time went on. I tried! LOL and I learned a lot from reading other's threads and enjoyed them as well. I have had a lot of "AHA" moments and will finish week 6 in the days ahead. I will be seeing you in other classes, no doubt about it, as I really like the classes you offer."