Growing up with animals and being obsessed with them, it was only natural to start volunteering at the local animal rescue. A few hours here and there as a child quickly grew into being there most days. Eventually becoming one of the managers. Rescuing animals and seeing the damage done to them by humans is always heart breaking, but, being able to help them to feel happy again and seeing them have a new life with wonderful people is incredibly rewarding.

My own dogs growing up have been German Shepherd types. Being very lucky that the German Shepherd cross Collie of my teenage years lived such a life that she also got to meet my children and be there for some of their childhood. She was incredibly bright and trainable and a fabulous teaching dogs to other dogs. As well as having my own dogs I have fostered many dogs over the years, from hand rearing a litter of puppies to having very elderly dogs and everything in between. But the dog who has probably taught me the most is my German Shepherd cross Husky. The most stubborn, energetic, frustrating lunatic I have ever met. He came into rescue at 10 months and took an immense amount of work. However, it was all worthwhile and he became the most fantastic dog that loved to come everywhere, especially when it involves food! He has been the most patient foster brother to all of the foster dogs that come into our home, adapting how he behaves depending on if the dog is scared, confident, quiet, playful etc.

Over years working in rescue I have seen dogs of all shapes and sizes with a wide variety of behaviour difficulties. I have always been keen on all the latest information and studies about dog behaviour and have attended many courses, trying to keep up to date with modern training techniques that help dogs to be happy in a positive way.

Seeing more and more dogs coming into rescue for problems with training it got me speaking to owners about trying to help them with these problems so that they would not need to rehome their dogs. Preventing a dog from having its world turned upside down and losing its family by giving advice and showing different training techniques is only ever a positive solution.

So, this is how PUP started. Helping owners who wanted support and advice to help their dogs to be happy and stress free.

Nick joined me in running the business and it soon took off with extra team members joining as we grew. He has also worked in rescue prior to joining pup and worked with rescue dogs since 2012. Nick was fortunate to grow up with dogs from a young age and always had an affinity with them. Adopting a german shepherd cross who needed a lot of support threw Nick head first into learning about how to make her life easier and subsequently lead him to working with wolves and learning about how they supported each other. Two more adopted rescue dogs later and also fostering and working with hundreds of rescue dogs, Nick takes what he has learnt and loves being able to teach people how to bond with and understand their dogs in a more natural way, creating a more harmonious relationship between human and dog.

We are passionate that all training puts the dog's happiness first. Using all positive, force free methods that are carefully thought through for each individual dog. We believe that taking time to understand the cause of a dog's behaviour instead of just trying to deal with the outcome is vital.

Using our experience of a variety of behaviour problems ranging from typical puppy type problems like toilet training or chewing to fears, separation anxiety, aggression and more.

With qualifications including Level 4 Canine Behaviour with the IMDT, ISCP diploma in canine behaviour, being a certified instructor for the Dog Training College plus further training with many organisations and professionals. These include Canine Principles, Isla Fishburn, Craig Ogilvie, Absolute Dogs, Kamal Fernandez, Jordan Shelley as well as many others. We are always doing new courses and trying to expand our knowledge and keep up with the ever changing world of dog behaviour as new studies give us a more extensive understanding of dogs. We love to work in collaboration with other positive behaviourists when needed and knowledge share.

As the business has grown we have have expanded our services from not just behaviour support but to dog walking, pet sitting, wedding chaperoning, and creating activities and events such as group walks and dog holidays to develop a community of like minded owners where all dogs are able to be included no matter what their behaviour struggles.

Jo