Karen

Member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers - MAPDT 00925
Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme Approved Examiner - Bronze level

Karen’s first dog was Tinker, a dingo look-a-like that became a family member when Karen wanted to take her home from a dog shelter she visited with her mum & dad in Suva, Fiji - Tinker was a puppy & Karen was 2 yrs old. 5yrs later, Tinker moved to Aberdeenshire, Scotland with her family - & lived to the ripe old age of 17! Karen’s love of dogs was definitely strengthened by having the privilege of living with such a sweet-natured, gentle, friendly & loyal companion. She managed to fit in lots more contact with dogs (& cats, horses, cows, pigs & sheep!) working at her local vets for 6 years - when at school & then during university holidays.

Karen went to Stirling University where she gained an Honours degree in Biology & met James, her husband . When James finished his PhD he got a job in Inverness…this move was the opportunity to get a dog. Pebble, the dalmatian puppy arrived in 2001. Busy puppy parties at the vets were a bit frightening for Pebble but the kind, positive, reward-based clicker classes, that she then went to, made learning fun & being around other dogs became a much more positive experience for her. Pebble has done both Obedience & Agility for fun & has been to Working Trials training days. She is a sensitive girl & has had a lot of painful medical problems in the past - which led to some fear based issues. With time & patience, Pebble has overcome most of her fears & achieved her Kennel Club GCDS Gold Award… a very proud day for Karen!

 

Another house move (back to Stirling) & Karen was surprised how difficult it was to find dog training classes for Pebble that used the kind, positive training methods they’d become accustomed to. She found some classes which she began helping & then instructing at - & passed her APDT Assessment at the start of 2006.

Dot, another dalmatian, joined the family in 2006. She is a very sweet girl who wants to please - & absolutely thrives on the positivity of clicker training. Dot has some obsessive behaviours & can be quite impulsive. Trying to understand Dot better & helping her with these issues has taught Karen so much about dog behaviour, how to train to create a state of mind on cue (working towards calmness in Dot’s case!) & also, given a dog’s personality traits, how important it is to set realistic goals for that individual. She also has great empathy with people in her classes who have dogs with “quirky” behaviours.

Karen, James & “the spotty dogs” moved to Nottinghamshire, from Scotland, at the end of 2008 & finding Wendy (& the rest of the ICC team!) has been the perfect opportunity to continue instructing, build on her current knowledge & have access to kind, reward-based classes for her own dogs!!!