A Little bit
about me…
From a young age I have lived and worked with all sorts of animals my whole life. From caring for family farm animals to managing stables internationally. My passion for training and competing horses took me to Belgium for over 8 years and now that I am back home in the North East of England my goal is to turn my passions into profession.
There is nothing I love more than helping others learn, helping animals live happy fulfilled lives and preserving memories through photography.
I have always felt at home around animals and find understanding them comes very naturally to me. Teaching people and sharing knowledge is a skill I have come to enjoy very much, where as I have only been perfecting my skills as a photographer for just over 3 years now.
I look forward to growing this fairly new skill but most importantly what drives me is knowing my experience and passion can help others live happier lives with there 4 legged friends.
When it comes to canine obedience and behaviour modification I understand that every dog is different. This means each dog learns differently and at a unique pace. I am well educated in all training methods and will modify my methods to fit you and your dogs needs. The most important thing when training a dog is keeping both you and your dog pain and stress free. I aim make all my training sessions fun and enjoyable for both dog and human as this is the best way to learn. If your dog suffers from extreme behavioural problems that have labelled your dog dangerous, not a problem. I will not take on a dog I am not confident I can help. If I my self am unable to help you I will personally help you find another trainer who can.
As for my photography, from simple portraits to personality full photos, my preferred photography style is “a fly on the wall” approach. So don’t worry if you’re not confident enough to pose in front of the camera as I much prefer a more natural scene. Where my camera and I aim to capture that memorable moment.
Who is IVY…
In short, Ivy is my Border Collie who will help me train your dog….
For as long as I can remember I have wanted a Belgian Malinios and a Border Collie. As for these 2 breeds are the definition of a ‘working dog’. High drive, extreme energy and bursting to the rim with training potential. I wanted a dog I could compete in agility and other sports. As well as work as a stooge for my dog training business. However the Malinios, in my opinion the most impressive yet difficult dog to own, train and care for, thanks to its extreme work drive. I did not feel I was capable of providing what would be needed at that moment with where I lived and worked. However I most certainly was capable and ready as a trainer and owner for a Border Collie.
I searched all over for a repituble breeder that had a Male, Blue Merle, Border Collie. I was totally out of luck. I then found a registered breeder that had both Mother & Father on property and 1 Blue Merle Female left needing a home. I had only ever previously owned Males but the sex of the dog was less important to me than colour, so I set off to visit the breeder and pup.
Immediately on arrival I was aware this was a puppy mill and not a responsible breeder. No adult dogs in sight, multiple species of young animals available for sale and pens of puppies all different breeds. As I waited for an owner to appear I could not find the Blue Merle puppy I was promised would be there. On the owners arrival she was remorseless to explain to me that the Blue Merle had been taken from mum and penned separately away for all other puppies because she would not eat near others. So instead of removing her to feed her alone, they had simply forced her into solitude for weeks.
In a the corner of this small, dirty pen was a tiny, underweight, scared little pup. Let out of her pen with supposedly her brother, the underweight pup was clearly half the size of him. She did not interest her self in anything other than sitting quietly at my feet or moving around me backwards, tail wagging nervously and head low. I checked her reflexes, ears, belly, privates, legs, eyes, nose, mouth and along her back for any physical imperfections. Other than a worm bloated belly, obvious ear mite wax filled ears and being both small for her age and underweight for her size. She was perfect, beautiful and had something about her that made it clear I could not leave her there.
The result of her isolation from 8-14 weeks old that Ivy was extremely fearful of unknown and unexpected noises, dogs and people. Her fear episodes would shut her down, starting with shakes and bolting to a known place or at her worst, vomiting. Food, toys, movement, affection and even the absence of the fear source would not bring her away from these frozen fear episodes. The first few weeks I had Ivy I was starting to lose hope she would ever achieve agility, compete in any sport and certainly not work as a training dog stooge, but I wasn’t going to give up on her. If she could not be any of those things, then she would simply be my best friend instead and helping her live a fearless, fun life was my new goal.
3 years, a tonne of patience, a few treats or toys and 1000’s of hours of training later, Ivy is the confident, skilled, obedient, brilliant dog you will meet today. I can not express how proud I am of her and how far she has come over the 4 years I have had her.
She is now my working stooge dog, competeing in official KC Agility and has traveled with me all over Belgium and England. Ivy comes along for some training session to either help reactive dogs learn calmness and focus, teaching puppies manners and play or to help other fearful nervous dogs regain confidence and trust, like she did. Ivy has an incredible natural talent for communicating with other dogs and expressing their problems to me through body language.
She is also great at demonstrating to other owners what dedicated training can achieve, but more importantly that they are not robots. Ivy still struggles from time to time and that’s perfectly okay.
Ivys story is proof you don’t always get the dog you want, sometimes you get the dog you need and NO dog is helpless.