Puppies and Beyond

A bit about me...

My name is Caroline and my love of dogs started from a young age. Although I was not allowed my own dog, we had dogs within my family that I would spend time with along with walking our Neighbour's dogs. When I was thirteen years old I started a weekend voluntary job at a local boarding kennels. This soon turned into a paid job and worked during the school holidays, as well as the weekends.

I finished school and went on to college and completed a BTec Diploma and NVQ level 1 in Animal Care. I continued working at the boarding kennels throughout my year at college and on finishing college and worked full time at the kennels for a few years, working with a range of dogs.

At 17yrs old I got a job at a children's farm as a farm hand, feeding, watering and mucking out the animals, from goats and chickens to marmoset monkeys and raccoons.

I soon found myself working with dogs again, getting a short-term contract for the Blue Cross. At the end of this contract I was lucky enough to bag myself my dream job at Battersea Dogs and Cats home, where I spent nearly 20 years, gaining a huge amount of experience dealing with different breeds, assessing the dogs temperaments and working with different behaviours. During my time at Battersea I fostered over 90 animals (cats and dogs), taking them home until they went into their new home. I particularly enjoyed handrearing puppies and kittens, it was exhausting but so rewarding.

I rehomed my first dog, Callum, six months into working at Battersea. Callum was a 4 month old Border Collie who was nervous and undersociailised. We built on his confidence and enjoyed heelwork to music and agility classes. Whilst owning Callum, I had 2 children and although Callum wasn't keen, I ensured both him and the children had their boundaries to ensure they had their own space and able to live happily together. Sadly, we lost Callum at 13 years old.

We then rehomed our cat Flash. Flash was taken into Battersea at 1 day old, without a mum...so I took Flash on and handreared her. After 6 weeks of having her in our home, we decided to officially rehome her. Unfortunately, at 4 years old, Flash died unexpectedly.

In 2017, we rehomed Jet, who was born at Battersea. As a puppy, Jet was full-on, showing typical puppy behaviours such as puppy biting and chewing, but with consistency and patience we worked through her behaviours and she is now a well behaved girl.

In 2021, I left Battersea and went to work for a dog training company in London, where I worked with owners and their dogs doing 121 training sessions.

Six months into working there I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. 2022 was a year of hospital appointments, operations and treatments. In between treatments I would work alongside a friend with her dog walking business. When i fInished all my treatments, began looking at starting up my own business. And here we are