One of my earliest memories is of myself lining up my stuffed toy animals and ‘feeding’ them or ‘teaching’ them tricks. Fast forward a whole bunch of years and my life still revolves around animals, though now they are real life animals! The moment when a dog and their human start to make a connection and communicate with one another is what motivates me to get out of bed each morning and is why I feel so privileged to do be a dog trainer. Working in partnership with VSPDT Kay Attwood of Kay9 services I specialise in group classes, ranging from Puppy level, through Improvers, Intermediate and on to Advanced level. I teach approximately 8 classes a week, both daytime and evenings.
Bringing a dog into your life is never without its challenges and I am reminded of this daily thanks to my own dog Arya. Dogs don’t speak our language or understand most of the things we humans take for granted; things such as not jumping up, not chewing the furniture or even where to go to the toilet. Arya came to me as a neglect case, having had a very difficult start in life, and I freely admit to experiencing feelings of frustration, confusion, and helplessness as I struggled to help her thrive in my home environment. It is because of this that I feel strongly about providing a safe and relaxed classroom environment for both dogs and their humans to learn, ask questions and begin to forge a mutually trusting bond.
Humans are very good at focusing on the negative, looking at what is ‘wrong’ with our dogs, and I absolutely see it as my job to help flip that perspective around. I find that the class environment is perfectly suited to allowing people to see the truly amazing things their dogs can do, and to share those achievements with one another. So often we feel pressured to have the ‘perfect’ dog, especially in a world where we are surrounded by social media videos and images. Every person who has attended any one of my classes will have heard me say ‘human children go to school until they are 18 years old in the UK. Yet we do one six-week puppy class and feel frustrated that our dog doesn’t know everything’! I strongly believe that all dogs should be given time to learn at their own pace and all activities and exercises in classes are focused around choice and problem solving, with the aim of developing a confident and resilient dog who flourishes in the real world.
Outside of dog training I am lucky enough to have two horses, and I ride every day. I have competed successfully in dressage at National level and am currently enjoying producing a cheeky 5-year-old gelding. It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that all my favourite books and films centre around animals, or that my idea of a perfect day starts with a ride, followed by a long country walk with my dog Arya!