Jack
Taking pet care to a professional level
Nicky
Hello, My name is Jack & I run Jack & Nick's Dog Walking & Pet Care.
There have been pets in my family throughout my whole life. The first being Emma the Jack Russel. Emma was 7 years old when I was born and I was introduced to the joys of having a dog around from a very early age.
When I was 2 my family moved to New Zealand, Emma cam
Hello, My name is Jack & I run Jack & Nick's Dog Walking & Pet Care.
There have been pets in my family throughout my whole life. The first being Emma the Jack Russel. Emma was 7 years old when I was born and I was introduced to the joys of having a dog around from a very early age.
When I was 2 my family moved to New Zealand, Emma came with us & I spent a lot of my childhood outdoors with my sister & our pets.
As my sister & I grew up and became more involved with the care of the household pets. We adopted a Rabbit named Mokey & two guinea pigs that my sister & I changed the names of daily. We spent hours everyday with them giving them lots of attention & love. We absolutly adored them.
My family moved back to England when I was 9. The animals had all sadly passed by this point & it was the first time I had ever known there to not be any pets around.
After a couple of years moving around we had finally settled somewhere & started to have pets again. We adopted two rabbits named Wiskas & Rascal & a few years later, Tessa the 8 year old Staffy cross who was a rescue dog.
Tessa was an amazing girl, very friendly & had the most easy going temperament I have ever seen in a dog. The rabbits lived for 10 years & Tessa until she was 15.
A couple of years before Tessa's passing we adopted a Labrador cross puppy called Hannah. Tessa made a very good role model to Hannah & I myself spent a lot of my days at home with her. Teaching the basics, playing with her & giving her a lap to snooze on.
When Hannah was 2 I adopted a kitten called Bentley who lived in my room until he was ready to go out exploring in the big wild world.
Hannah has sadly passed now & Bentley is now 10 years old still living at my mum's house.
Nicky
Taking pet care to a professional level
Nicky
Nicky - the Nick part of my pet care name, is my Border Terrier. My wife & I took Nicky on from a family friend when he was just 11 months old. We had met him a couple of times before. He was cute and affectionate & we fell in love with him but boy was he naughty (so they said).
Nicky's previous owners couldn't cope with him, he was ful
Nicky - the Nick part of my pet care name, is my Border Terrier. My wife & I took Nicky on from a family friend when he was just 11 months old. We had met him a couple of times before. He was cute and affectionate & we fell in love with him but boy was he naughty (so they said).
Nicky's previous owners couldn't cope with him, he was full of energy & loved to destroy things (as puppies tend to do), so they were looking to rehome him. Nicky is my inspiration, and the start of my interest in animal care on a professional level.
Nicky had a few behaviour issues when we took him on, the biggest one being his lack of socialisation meaning he was reactive to every single dog he saw & would run miles to go bark at them. At the time, I knew very little about how deal with his reactivity. I did research about it & how to deal with it positively & also took him to some training sessions where I learnt a lot.
I was amazed with him, he was & is so receptive to training & his success was so rewarding & our bond with him only got stronger. I've taught him all kinds of tricks & some agility, he enjoys the training (& the treats that come with it). 8 years on Nicky has come along leaps and bounds, he has made some new doggy friends & he has made the adjustment of being an only dog to sharing his home with another rescue dog, Mutley. He still has his moments sometimes with reacting to other dogs but nowhere near what it used to be. With enough space & treats he can walk by most dogs with no problem.
Taking pet care to a professional level
Taking pet care to a professional level
Taking pet care to a professional level
Inspired by Nicky, I took a great interest in dog training. I decided that I wanted to make a career working with dogs. I started off by volunteering at animal rescue centres walking the dogs. This gave me experience with different breeds , temperaments and behaviour. I became employed as an Animal Care Assistant working at The National A
Inspired by Nicky, I took a great interest in dog training. I decided that I wanted to make a career working with dogs. I started off by volunteering at animal rescue centres walking the dogs. This gave me experience with different breeds , temperaments and behaviour. I became employed as an Animal Care Assistant working at The National Animal Welfare Trust. This was the best job I have ever had. I looked after the dogs at the centre, cleaning kennels, feeding, training (loose lead, basic commands, doorway manners, muzzle, take & leave, socialising etc), walking & helping to rehome by setting up visits & speaking with people that wanted to adopt pets. I learned many new skills & dealt with some quite troubled dogs. Ones that needed a bit more time, patience and understanding to help with their training & adjustment to kennel life.
I was trained on the centre's Open Paw programme which is positive reinforcement training methods & aims to make the animals at the centre more rehomeable.
I left my job after a year & a half due to the travelling - Southampton to Watford was not ideal from both a time and financial point of few unfortunately. I continued to work with rescue dogs by volunteering again a little closer to home afterwards, & since then have attended a two day practical dog training course & a practical Canine first aid course.