About Me
It might sound like a bit of a cliche, but I’ve always loved animals. Ever since I was little girl I was obsessed with toys, books and TV shows about them, and I loved dogs too. I would crawl about on the floor with my grandparent’s dog, playing with her and even once drinking out of her water bowl!
That was until I was about six or seven, and I was out walking with my Nanna. We walked past a gated drive-way and stopped to say hello to a beautiful Border Collie. “You can pet him!” She told me, “He’s always so friendly!”. So I put my hand through the bars, and promptly got bitten. Of course there were tears and fuss (from my Nanna as much as from me), and despite a love of animals I grew quite afraid of dogs.​
A few years later my parents decided they wanted to get a dog, I’m sure mostly because that was a nice thing to do but it was also in part to help me overcome my fear. We went to Battersea Dog’s Home and looked around a couple of times, never quite feeling a connection. We’d nearly given up, when my mum came to us and said “I think I’ve found her”.
Curled up in the corner, looking sad and disinterested in meeting anyone, was Sally. Despite my previous fears, when they brought her to the meeting room I stuffed my pockets with dog biscuits in the hope she would like me. We decided there and then that she was for us, my parents filled out the paperwork and we all got in the car to go home - where she promptly threw up in my lap.
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​Sally was a wonderful dog, and rekindled my love for them over the years she was with us. She was sweet, gentle, naughty in her own funny way, and always welcomed you home with the waggiest tail. The day we lost her, when I was 19 and heading home from university for the summer, was one of the hardest days of my life.
Despite my love of dogs, life didn’t really take me down a path that would lead me to working with them for many more years. I finished university, worked in various jobs, met my partner, faced some health issues, sheltered through a pandemic… and then one day, as we sat in the building site of our new house, I asked that fated question: “Do you think we should get a dog?”.
On the proviso that we actually finished some of the building work and made our house safe for a pup, my partner agreed. I wasn’t looking particularly hard, until one evening where I clicked on a photo and our lives changed forever.
When we were looking to buy a house people would say to us “When you see the right one you will just know” - and I think the same applies to dogs. Sometimes something just calls out to you, and you can’t describe it in words but you know they are yours.
A month later Bruce arrived with us. He came from Romania, caught by dog-catchers and rescued from a kill-shelter by a charity. Terrified, smelly, covered in urine he was handed to us from the back of the van which had transported him and several others all the way to the UK. I have a lot of thoughts about rescuing dogs from abroad, which are complicated and too much to write here, but regardless of everything here he was. Ours to love, to raise, to nurture and keep safe. Little did I know just how much our lives would change.
Bruce settled in amazingly well - some foreign rescues and ex street dogs can really struggle to adjust to a home environment, but all things considered he took it in his stride. I’m not sure if the same can be said for us! He was about four months old - and with such strange and restricted life experiences, he was just a baby in the body of a rowdy teenager. He didn’t understand us, or the world, or why he wasn’t allowed to do things. His puppy mouthing could have been confused for biting as he’d never learned how to not hurt people with his teeth, and I was covered in bruises. He had no ability to relax by himself, no recall, I was struggling to teach him basic skills, and in the first month of us both managing to leave him in the house alone he stole a giant chocolate brownie off the side and had to be rushed to the emergency vet.​
All this is to say that life with Bruce was a learning experience from day one. We went to puppy classes, I read books and trawled the internet for advice. The more I learned, the more I realised that actually for the most part training wasn’t what Bruce needed. We were two completely different beings, and we had to learn how to understand and trust each other. What followed was months of really focussing on building our relationship. Learning to understand what he was saying to us - and why he was saying it! And showing him that he was safe and loved, and that the things he now had would always be there. Showing him that he could trust us not to hurt him, or leave him, or ignore him when he needed something.
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It’s not perfect - but then, what is? Bruce still has Big Feelings about the world, but that’s okay - we’re working through them together.
The biggest thing I realised though as I raised my nightmare puppy into a somewhat-less-of-a-nightmare dog, was that I really, truly cared about what I was doing. I got deeper and deeper in to the world of dog training and behaviour, made friends with trainers and other dog owners, and suddenly it dawned on me that this is what I wanted to do. I didn’t just want to help my dog to be okay with the world, I wanted to help every dog live the best life they possibly can.
I have spent the last few years learning everything I can about dogs, about their behaviour and about how they learn. I’ve worked with puppies, rescues, big dogs, nervous dogs… and made it my mission to help as many people as possible live a happier life with their four-legged friends.
The world of dog training is vast, and un-regulated, meaning there is so much information out there telling people what they should or shouldn’t do with their dogs that it can leave them confused about where to even start. On the bright side though, there are organisations who are working to promote ethical, science-based training and develop registers of qualified trainers so that dog guardians can be confident that they’re choosing the right person to help them.
I am currently working towards my Animal Training Instructor accreditation with the Animal Behaviour & Training Council (ABTC) with Pact (Professional Association of Canine Trainers). I hope that when I have completed this is will give clients the reassurance that they are working with someone compassionate, dedicated and knowledgeable, and who will always put the interests of their dog first.
Our dogs are precious, sensitive, sentient creatures that don’t come pre-programmed with an understanding of our world or what we want from them. As their guardians it is our job to raise them with love and respect, and to teach them how to function in our world and in our lives.
I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today if it wasn’t for the wonderful dogs I have been lucky to meet, know and love. Everything I do is a thank you to them for what they have taught me, and a promise to always do everything I can to promote their happiness and wellbeing.
So thank you, Tessa, Charlie, Toby, Sally, Sam, Pip, Poppy, Bertie, and of course, Bruce. You’ve changed my life.
