Who Is Caroline?

Caroline has always been an animal lover, with dogs and horses being her particular passion.  Her love for training dogs started with her second dog; a little Jack Russell Terrier named Fringie, whom she took to local obedience classes as a puppy.  That was over 15 years ago, and yes, the trainer was Avril.

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Acquiring her first German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) in the Summer of 2007, Forbes, the passion for working and handling this breed was fledged.  Caroline was fortunate to be taken under the wing of Forbes’ Breeder, Mr M Canham, who guided her through the complexities of training and understanding the working requirements of an HPR (Hunt, Point, Retrieve).  Most of this training was on the job, and Caroline was beyond fortunate to be invited to Scotland to work Forbes on Grouse Moors.  To this day, her holiday destination at least twice a year in Scotland, to stay with the Canham’s and work her dogs.  Indeed, Forbes was the first of her GSP collection, now joined by Margot, Ida and Kitti.

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Throughout this time, Caroline has maintained close contact with her Obedience training roots, assisting in classes and progressing each of her dogs through the Monday night classes.  The foundations that these classes put in place are invaluable, helping Caroline progress to Breed group-specific competitions such as Pointing Tests, Working Tests and Field Trials.  All of her dogs have awards in each of these disciplines, except the youngest, Kitti, who hasn’t to date been ready for Field Trialling, although she has won a Puppy WT and been graded Very Good in a Grouse Pointing Test.

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Over the last 13 years, Caroline has attended many training classes/days predominantly aimed at HPRs and learned much about working and competing GSPs, from many very experienced trainers.  What Caroline appreciates the most is a trainer that can send you away with a positive thought or two, even on the least successful days! 

Caroline is both conscientious and enthusiastic about teaching and believes that instilling confidence, positivity and enjoyment in training sessions are key elements to handler and dog training success.