This is how the story of Doherty Dog Services begins…
Dan and I moved to Folkestone in March of 2018. We had been living with my mum and dad in East London where I grew up, but Dan is actually a native of Folkestone. We met when I was studying Psychology at Canterbury Christ Church University back in 2012 and he was visiting his best friend, who worked in the same Wetherspoons pub that I did. My mum and dad had a lovely dog called Pepper, a rescue Border Collie. When Dan and I moved to Folkestone we were desperate to get our very own dog. I had grown up with Pepper and Max, another wonderful rescue who was a mixed breed, likely Labrador X German Shepherd. We contacted a number of local and national rescue centres but were turned down for each of them. We lived in a flat with a small outdoor patio and the rescues that got back to us said the lack of outdoor space was the reason for our rejection.
Puppy Love
Dan and I were desperate to get our first dog, so we decided to get a puppy instead. We considered the fact that as I was only working part time so would therefore have time to take the pup out as much as needed, the lack of outdoor space shouldn’t be an issue. We innocently just googled ‘puppies for sale’ (we do not advise doing this!) and had a look through a few different websites at the breeds we thought would suit our lifestyle. Dan and I both love being outdoors and wanted an active breed, but in hindsight we definitely didn’t do enough about our puppy’s breed beforehand.
We spotted a litter of Sprocker (Springer x Cocker) Spaniel puppies on a local for sale board (again, we don’t recommend going about it this way). The puppies were all liver and white in colour and absolutely adorable. Dan contacted the breeder and we arranged to go and have a look at the pups. The breeder lived out on a farm and the pups were in an outdoor kennel with their mum when we met them. I fell in love with one especially gorgeous pup with liver patches over both eyes. The pup pottered over to us and I was smitten.
We were ready to take this little cutie home when the breeder asked ‘did you have any questions?’ My reply? ‘Is it a boy or a girl?’ Serious facepalm moment here. I think that gives you some insight into just how little we knew what we were doing when we bought home baby Duke! Ignorance is bliss, I guess. So off we went, puppy on my lap and me already madly in love.
What have we done?!
From day 1, life with Duke Silver was intense to say the least. In hindsight, bringing a pup who had predominantly been raised outside in a kennel environment into a flat with minimal outdoor space was a terrible idea. It took us months to toilet train him, we had no idea what to do about the intense puppy biting and we were in no way prepared for how all consuming life with a puppy would be. Having since had a baby, I honestly think the first year with Duke was harder than the first year with our son. You can put a baby down in a crib and know that they will still be there when you get back and won’t have destroyed everything around them, unlike a puppy!
However, there were, of course, some major benefits in having a puppy. He was, and still is, incredibly affectionate and loves to snuggle up (we broke our own ‘no dogs on the sofa’ rule within 5 mins of Duke being home). He’s a dream to train as he’s so intelligent and energetic. We had bought Duke home at the beginning of April 2018, so by the time he was ready to go for walks it was Spring. We enjoyed lovely walks on Folkestone’s glorious beaches and had a great time socialising him with other dogs, including my parents Collie Pepper. Duke has always loved a Collie and I put that down to how tolerant and patient ‘Nana Peps’ was with him.
Discovering my love of training
Most importantly, I absolutely loved training Duke. I became an avid reader of every dog training book and article I could get my hands on. At the time I didn’t really know much about force free or punishment based methods. But after working with babies and young children for many years, it seemed to me that positive reinforcement would be the way to go. I had no desire to hit or shout at my puppy, and old school ideas like rubbing his nose in his pee if he went inside just seemed cruel and unnecessary. When I was training Duke new tricks or practising recall, I felt completely present and I wasn’t worried about anything else. I could be fully in the moment.
After about a year of working through the various puppy and adolescent struggles with Duke, I woke up one day and immediately grabbed my treat pouch and started playing games with Duke. After a few minutes I realised I hadn’t even had my first coffee of the day. Doing anything before coffee was unheard of for me! It occurred to me that I absolutely loved dog training and I wondered, what if I could learn to train other dogs? Figuring out how to have a happy and calm dog with whom I had a great relationship had taken over my whole life and I found it fascinating (if you asked Dan, he might say obsessed). Could I help other owners do the same thing?
Starting Doherty Dog Services
Whilst at university, I had studied Animal cognition and Evolutionary Psychology. I went back to my textbooks and revised everything I could on behaviour, classical conditioning and more. This foundation led me to look further into evidence-based dog training and I was delighted to find a whole world of information and courses online where I could learn more.
At the time, I was working as a Nanny for a local family. They had recently brought home a Cavapoo puppy so I asked if I could take little Teddy out on walks with Duke and practise my newly learned training games with him. Would I be able to train another dog? I’d only practised my skills with Duke so far and I was nervous I might do something wrong. I took the dogs out and we went into an empty dog park. I let them off to have a run and a play and after a few minutes called ‘Duke, Teddy, come!’ They both came running back and I rewarded them with a tasty treat. We practised this a few times and they both came back every time. I was chuffed!
Soon after, another local family I babysat for asked if I might take their dog out too. And then another, and another. I was soon walking several dogs across the week, always with Duke and my trusty treat pouch, alongside taking courses in dog training and learning as much as I could. After a couple of months, I began to think that maybe I could make a real go of working with dogs professionally. I loved walking dogs and practising skills such as recall and loose lead walking whilst I was with them. I decided to hand in my notice as a Nanny and commit to my new path. It was terrifying, but I knew in my gut that working with dogs was my true passion. This was the start of Doherty Dog Services.
Dan joins DDS
That was in 2018, and I’ve never looked back. After 18 months of working with dogs and building up the business, I was so busy I couldn’t take on any new clients. Dan was miserable in his job in construction and had been joining me and the dogs for our walks whenever he could. He loved the idea of joining me and becoming a dog walker, but could we make enough money to support us both? Dan quit his job in October 2019 and we decided that if we couldn’t make it work after three months, then Dan would go back to working in construction. He did his Canine First Aid Training and learnt as much as possible about walking dogs professionally. Fortunately, there was huge demand for more dog walkers in Folkestone and Dan was fully booked within less than three months.
Building Doherty Dog Services
When the pandemic hit in 2020 we, like everyone, were at home and unable to work. This gave us an opportunity to learn more about dog training, but also about building our business. After 3 months, DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) contacted us to say we could restart our dog walking and training business as animal care was an essential service. Since then, we’ve been working continuously, Dan walking dogs and me training dogs and their owners. We’ve continued to take courses, attend workshops and learn as much as we can about canine behaviour and training. All with the simple aim of helping people to have a happier and calmer relationship with their dog.
Duke Silver is a lot easier to live with than when he was a puppy, but he’s still a complex and in many ways very anxious dog. We discovered through X-rays that he has a defect in his spine which causes him intermittent pain. This has led to major struggles with grooming, handling and vet visits as he can be aggressive as he associates a lot of these procedures with pain. Now, nearly 5 years old, he’s on daily medication to help with these issues. Training and walking Duke still brings me joy everyday. He has taught us both so much and will always be our ‘teacher dog’.
So that’s the story of Doherty Dog Services. In March 2023 we’ll have been in business for four years and neither Dan nor I can imagine doing anything else now, especially since having our son in February of 2021. We have so much planned this year, including increasing our team, learning more about dogs through advanced courses and accreditation and starting a podcast. We also have some exciting plans in the works that we’ll tell you all about very soon…
Want to know more about DDS?
- Read our About page here
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