About me
Hi, I’m Caroline and I’m here to help any dogs and their families out there, with any issue’s they may have. I use force-free, ethical, kind and positive reinforcement methods only.
I have three dogs: George, an Old Tyme Dorset Bulldog who’s 9 and a half now, who we’ve had since he was 8 weeks old; Milly, our rescue Spaniel who is an ex-puppy farm dog; and Lexi, our rescue French Bulldog, who is an ex-breeding dog. Not forgetting our little Timmy, a rescue King Charles Cavalier, who unfortunately passed away last year. He too was an ex-puppy farm dog.
Through each of our dogs I have learnt so much. Each has their own quirks and personalities. Just like us humans, they’ve all had their own problems, whether that be physically or mentally. We’ve watched our George grow, go through mile stones, with various illnesses and ailments, and now we watch him growing older, slower and we need to cater to his old age. With our other dogs we’ve had to help them get used to things that had previously scared them and even things they’d never seen before. Milly, our ex-puppy farm girl, was probably the most traumatised dog I’d seen. She’d never seen cars or been out for a walk. She would instantly shut down to any unexpected noise.
It was through our dog George that I began dog training. We had a trainer for George when he was very young, who used methods to stop him jumping, stealing food etc, all normal puppy behaviour. However, the methods used actually traumatised George. As time went on the sound trauma worsened, he couldn’t stand even a box being opened or a cracker pulled at Christmas. We also saw a change in George when his cruciate ligament ruptured. He went from a very playful and easy going dog, to one who would growl at other dogs going near him. He was actually just warning dogs that he needed space as he was in pain, but we didn’t know at this point his cruciate ligament had stated to rupture, and we knew nothing about reading a dog’s body language either.
I became fascinated by a dogs mind, how to read them, why they do certain things, and so decided to learn more about this and started studying and attending various courses in this area.
The course that sat perfect with me and made so much sense was with the IMDT: Using positive reinforcement was scientifically proven to help dogs with the root of their problems and get good long term results. It’s also a humane, ethical and kind way of training.
I’m now a fully qualified and accredited dog trainer with The IMDT and I’m also a Professional Gold Member with The Pet Professional Network. I work with dogs with behavioural issues, training needs and also offer classes for various things.