Animal Training Academy

Bex Tasker

Bex and her family live on a small farm in beautiful Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Under her business Positively Together, Bex teaches humans in NZ and around the world how to inspire behaviour change in their horses and dogs. In addition, Positively Together hosts classes where youth can experience the power of positive reinforcement and see learning and communication in action, as they work hands-on with friendly trained sheep, horses, chickens, dogs, cows, pigs and more. 

Bex is a KPA Certified Training Partner and has been training animals with positive reinforcement for over 20 years, with a long-standing interest in clicker training for horses. However the youth programs and multi-species focus have been growing rapidly since 2018 and have become a special passion. 

Positively Together offers “Junior Animal Trainer” classes, “PupStars” classes for kids and their dogs, and a series of very popular online Zoom classes for home-schoolers.  The flagship “Next Gen Trainers” membership for tweens and teens remains the heart project, with the monthly workshops and strong community providing a safe anchor for kids during the challenging teenage years. The focus for all the youth programs is on animal welfare and trainer skills, and the underlying values of compassion, consent, confidence, resilience and respect – for animals, and for humans. 

Over the years the videos of these classes posted on Positively Together social media pages have prompted enthusiastic enquiries from trainers around the world wanting advice on how to design and launch similar programs. Bex has guided many people through this process one-on-one, but  as a firm believer that, as Dr Friedman says, “All of us are smarter than one of us”, a new idea was born.  Therefore, launching in 2023 is a BRAND NEW offering from Positively Together – “Shaping the Future”.  This is a coaching collective and community where those of us who are interested in teaching kids and animals can come together to share ideas and advice, gain support, get inspired, and ultimately get started with changing the world!  If you have a special interest in this field, in any capacity, we would love you to join us.