Dog Learning Zone

It is mainly due to the ‘special needs and health concerns’ of my older dog Skye that I have followed a route into canine care that is slightly ‘alternative’. I needed tools to help her cope with the extreme stress levels she experiences during everyday situations and so I turned to Tellington Touch and Canine massage. Watching her improvements, sometimes very small, made me realise that this was the way I wanted to work with dogs. So I set about acquiring formal training.

I have successfully completed a diploma course in Canine massage (DipCM) and Tellington Touch practitioner trainings to PiT level. I am continuing with my Tellington Touch training and hope to achieve Practitioner 1 status next year.

Sue Smith

Agility Instructor (Agility Club Approved)

Rally O Instructor

Member of the Kennel Club's Instructor Scheme-

working towards accreditation

Dogs have been part of my life for more than thirty years and I have loved them for as long as I can remember.

I originally trained as a metallurgist and worked in various laboratories as a failure analyst.  During the late 1980’s when the last recession started to take hold, I became redundant.  My career changed and I eventually worked for a large pharmaceutical company as their Customer Services Manager.  As this was rather stressful, I was not sorry to leave when the opportunity arose to work from home as Administration Director for a company specialising in training fire investigators.

Whilst all this was going on, many dogs lived out their lives with me including a Wirehaired Dachshound, a Boxer, a Greyhound, a German Shepherd, a Staffie Cross and a Lurcher.  The majority of these were rescues and came with their special set of problems leading me to take an interest in training and behaviour.  Then I happened to see a dog agility event on television and thought how much fun it must be to have the skill to direct a dog around such a complicated pattern of obstacles.  I enrolled my Lurcher in a local club and was hooked!

I am now a fully qualified Agility instructor, approved by the Agility Club.  I am also a member of the Kennel Club’s Instructor Scheme and am working towards accreditation.   I currently own five dogs, two Jack Russell terriers and three Border Collies.  Two are rescues and all of them have competed in agility competitions, some more successfully than others!  My oldest Jack Russell qualified and competed at Crufts in 2004, the culmination of a long held dream.  Since then, I have qualified twice more to run at Crufts with a little Jack Russell belonging to a friend. 

My current competition dog is my five year old collie Riot and coming along nicely is his two year old cousin Zoot.

Agility is brilliant fun and a wonderful way to build a partnership with your dog while you both keep fit and make friends.  On the more serious side, it gives nervous dogs confidence and confident dogs a way to channel their excess energy.  I enjoy instructing enormously and love to see people and dogs blossom as they find something they can do together.

Kirsten Cutler

BSc (Hons)

Trainee Behaviour Practitioner

Having parents who were in the Air Force, as a child I matriculated a great deal - born in Scotland and spending much of my childhood in Berlin before the Wall came down.  After leaving school I went to Bournemouth University and obtained a BSc (Hons) in Archaeology and Osteology.  After graduating I went to work for a well known high street bank.  For the past 10 years I have worked as a Mortgage Underwriter and in fraud, litigation and risk.

Dogs, however, are my one true passion.  I find their methods of communication fascinating.  Three years ago I decided that canine behaviour was the path that I wanted to follow. So for the past 2 years I have been studying the Advanced Diploma of Canine Behaviour Management with Compass Education and the Animal Care College.  My goal is to qualify and be able to work with dogs at Dog Learning Zone to overcome unwanted behaviour using kind, positive and sympathetic methods.

I met Jon 13 years ago and we have been together ever since.  Thankfully he shares my passion for animals and self-sufficiency.  We live locally with our 3 dogs (Lottie, Daisy and Dylan), an elderly senile cat called Henry, various chickens, quail and other farm animals I can squeeze into our limited space.

When not shadowing Elaine, gaining vital practical behaviour modification experience, or out walking the dogs, I am often found flying around the countryside in our 1979 MGB GT or on our newly acquired motorbike.