About Us
Tyson Nunneley and Ellena Swift Nunneley have shared their passion for training and working dogs for several years and finally decided that it made sense to share the wonderful facilities, experience and knowledge with others wishing to have fun and train their dogs.
ELLENA SWIFT NUNNELEY
Ellena has worked with and trained dogs for over 20 years. The first dog she ever trained, Dora, passed away a few years ago but continued working right up to her final season, still enjoying days out shooting, performing her many tricks, and even competing in agility—albeit at a gentler pace. Ellena grew up surrounded by family gundogs, predominantly Labradors and Alsatians, and learned many of her skills from her father, Robert Swift, whose dogs are widely recognised for their impeccable behaviour.
Ellena holds a degree in Agriculture and Animal Science from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, and went on to lecture at Warwickshire College for over eight years. She is a fully qualified Lecturer, A1 Assessor, and V1 Internal Verifier in Animal Care, Health, Welfare and Behaviour. Her specialism was canine training and behaviour, covering disciplines ranging from heelwork to music and puppy training. Alongside her academic role, she ran weekend classes in gundog training, one-to-one behavioural consultations, and agility. Her theoretical expertise includes animal nutrition, canine behaviour, animal science, and canine health and welfare. Ellena is also a registered Master Professional Training Instructor with the Guild of Dog Trainers.
Following her time at Warwickshire College, Ellena worked within the animal pharmaceutical industry, collaborating with veterinarians and contributing to the sales and development of animal medicines and health products.
Swift Dog Training Ltd was established in 2013 and has continued to grow from strength to strength. Ellena is passionate about working, training, and spending time with her own Alsatians, Border Collie, and Labradors. She is dedicated to helping owners build stronger relationships with their dogs and is well known locally for working gundogs in a variety of roles, including picking up, beating, and shooting. Notably, she has become renowned for working the less conventional Alsatian as a gundog, successfully training two to pick up and hunt to a standard exceeding that of many Spaniels and Labradors.
Ellena has competed numerous homebred dogs to Open level in field trials and took two dogs to the Irish Retriever Championship in 2021. She and FTCh Swiftlands Briar qualified for and competed in three IGL Championships in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Ellena represented the England Gundog Team in 2022 and 2023 and was selected again in 2024 with her homebred FTCh Swiftlands Briar. She was voted Gundog Trainer of the Year in 2022 and 2024 and nominated again in 2025. Ellena also has several promising young dogs beginning their competitive careers and is a well-known author and panel expert for Shooting Times magazine.
Tyson grew up on his family farm, being surrounded by his families working Border Collies and Springer Spaniels. He has been a Game Keeper for nearly a decade before moving over to more of the dog training side. In that time he worked his dogs every day, including Springer Spaniels, Labradors and his wonderful Kelpie x Collie.
He first started dog training when he was 15 years old, with his Springer Spaniel; Millie. Having learnt a great deal from her he then moved on to his dark Yellow Labrador bitches, both of which worked nicely in the beating line, on peg and picking up.
He has a lot of experience working sheep dogs; Wispa. She is a Kelpie x Collie and he likes nothing more than working her with the 500 ewes on his working farm.
Tyson now has a young yellow labrador dog called Hunta, who is homebred and he intends to use beating, on the peg and occasionally picking up. He often uses Ellena's retired trialling dogs for all round shooting companions.
Tyson and Ellena now have a large pack of 10+ dogs between them and so decided to invest in some kennels. Swift Dog Training Ltd kennels were thoroughly researched and tested so offer empathy and innovation catering for all a dogs needs. Please ask for more details on kennel design.
Tyson and Ellena moved to their new facility which borders Stratford on Avon in 2024. They have spent a great deal of money and time developing and growing the facility into the wonderful set up it is today. They are continuing to grow and improve every day.
TYSON NUNNELEY
James Whalley
James began working with us in April 2023. We met him when he began having lessons with his own beautiful black Belgian Malinois; Kash. Since then he has been working with a huge variety of trainers learning about various training methods and dog sports.
More recently he has competed his first Labrador and achieved a respectable Certificate of Merit in his very first Novice. He has now bred a super litter and is training one of the dog puppies. James is in charge of managing the kennels and ensuring the dogs are exercised, fed and happy. He is now heavily involved with the training side and will continue shadowing Ellena as his career progresses. We are excited to watch him grow as a trainer and team member.
Tamara Pearson
Tamara has always worked with animals. She started with horses but always had her own working Labradors. After an injury ended her career working with horses, she got more heavily involved with the working gundog side. She now has three working black Labradors and enjoys beating, picking up and wildfowling with them. She is also the Hon Secretary of the Midland Gundog Society and heavily involved with competing in and organising in working tests. Tamara is helping us with all aspects of the management and running of Swift Dog Training Ltd. She also is helping with the day to day care outside.