My very first clients...

I guess you could say that these were my very first 'training' clients! 

When I was little I grew up on a farm in Somerset. We had all kinds of animals at different times in my life and I had a pretty good attempt at training them all!

This is me for example with a chicken on my head! I used to just walk around doing stuff around the farm with this little bantam on my head. I think she quite liked the view!

Much earlier, my love affair with the Labrador began! This is Sam, my first dog that was really mine! Here I am taking him through his training repertoire, (which was a bit limited in those days, I have to say).

When I was about 8 years old, I became the proud owner of an Anatolian Karabash called Basher (!). Not the most imaginative name I know. He was a beautiful majestic animal, really loyal and massive too. Not that much smaller than a Great Dane when he was fully grown! The cat here was called Zoe. 

Other dogs I trained in my early days included a Norwegian Elkhound called Ruskie and two Cocker Spaniels called Annie and Danielle.

In our house all the animals had to get on with each other. At different points we had all sorts of species of animal living in the house including new born lambs and pot-belly piglets.

Here are the rabbits. I had two ferrets at the same time as these as well as two budgies called Sid and Sue!

This Shetland Pony was called Bradley. He was a beautiful boy who used to sneak into the orchard and make himself drunk by gorging on the apples. I used to love our little chats together out in the field.

A couple of animals deserve a mention but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of them. They were both cows! 

There was a beautiful Hereford Steer called Bronco who would carry me around on his back when I was 4 or 5 years old. My Dad used to pick me up and plonk me on his back and he would walk me round the field while my Dad carried the hay bails to the other side of the field to feed the herd. It was such an amazing feeling on a misty, sunny morning to be out there before school at peace and with these animals.

The other one to mention was Shield who was also a Steer but a Friesian variety. I spent hours and hours with this particular herd of cows and over time taught one particular one to play ball with me. he was the bravest of all and was first to come up to me when I arrived at the gate. Little by little I introduced a football and over time taught him to 'nose' it back to me. It was real fun and he seemed to enjoy it too!

I now play the exact same game with Dexter my Chocolate Labrador!

Lastly here is another one of Sam. He and I shared many hearth-rug moments curled up together in front of the fire. Absolutely all of my memories of him are just as warm. x