18/10/2025
Reflecting on this 💙💕🐾 which is one of my fav pics of Freddie & Lexi
Freddie is a young 12 mo dog and Lexi, a much older dog accepted him in a heartbeat
Lexi is kind , was a rescue @ 6mo when she came to me 10 years ago when I spent £100’s on training advice & techniques @ that time
Lexi is very well mannered but can be stubborn / independent @ times (alsation / husky )
That said, she understands boundaries, but when those boundaries are crossed, she steps in, but in the most wonderful motherly way - and for her to accept a dog this easily speaks volumes
🐾😊🐾
She’s taught me so much I never knew in the beginning 🐾
Along with Steve Breach of the Dog Adventure Centre, who guided me with my 1st dog that I didn’t understand some 10yrs ago 🐾
But when you know, you know 😉and that has not been a fly by night process.
I’m constantly asked to ‘tick a qualification box’ for my licensing but the most important thing is ‘experience’ in my humble opinion
Sadly, I’ve never come across a dog qualification (outside of police & military) that will take me for a 1-day practical course to demonstrate I know how to safeguard, put boundaries in place and work as a dog handler - all things I do every day
There is no ‘practical’ offered by the local council licensing department ☹️ but moreover a ‘tick box’ which I struggle with bc the expectation is to ‘qualify’ over to demonstrate your actual skills
IF I can do an on-line theory Ofqual Level 3 ( where bacically those people with no dog skills can apply, research AI for the best answers - they can achieve 5* rating without doing any of the ‘ground roots’ experience I’ve done over 10+ years
I apply my skills every single day bc my experience is working with real dogs, in different situations of all breeds and always implementing / CPD as I go and learning for myself, which is the real learning curve of each and every day/dog who tells me and then I adapt and update my way of working which is continuous and shifting week by week.
Dogs do speak, we just need to know how to listen and only experience tells you that 🐾🐾🐾
CPD sadly doesn’t match criteria for licensing for my business which downgrades my **** rating
Where I’ve learnt the most, is taking heed of advice from other dog professionals and implementing learning and a continuous CPD journey that never ends, is the truth
