Meet The Family

Having grown up on a mixed sheep and arable farm in Suffolk I have been surrounded by animals my whole life. I was given my first dog when I was 9, Jake was one of the results of an accidental mating. I set to work teaching him sit, stay, lie down, rollover and a host of other “tricks” (much to his disgust). We did some sheep work too, his outrun was nonexistent, but I experimented with multiple training techniques which included putting him on a lead, and running around the field. At the age of 16 I started to really get into sheepdogs after meeting a few people involved in trialling. I was inspired. I worked with a few dogs over the next couple of years, not achieving anything remarkable with any of them, but learning something from each of them. Then came a pup called Pip. He turned out to be just what I wanted and needed, and is a valuable part of my team today. The dogs seemed to come rolling in after that, some as pups, some as slightly older dogs. I was addicted. Each has taught me a huge amount, pushed me to think outside the box and develop new ideas and methods to get through to them. I believe in adapting and developing training techniques to best suit the individual dog, there is no “one size fits all” approach. I have now worked with a large number of young dogs, of varying temperament and ability. I particularly enjoy the sensitive types, building a bond with them and working with them to reach their potential. I’m not afraid of the harder headed dogs though, and adapt the training to suit the individual. In the last couple of years I have started to get into trialling, competing at, and getting placed in open trials with my dog Bob. I’m looking forward to running one or two nursery dogs next winter and hope they will step up to run in the opens, and possibly at nationals and beyond. I’ve also recently began judging a few trials, a great way to learn more. I really enjoying training dogs for people and hearing about how they progress once they go back to their owners or onto a new home.