Jenny Gould Profile

I have almost 30 years experience in training dogs; it has become the core of my life and has afforded me a massive amount of enjoyment, both through the dogs that I have come into contact with and the people connected with those dogs.  I currently have five German Shepherds sharing my home in Bristol (along with my ever patient husband), all of whom either compete or are youngsters at the beginning of their training careers.

My work and passion is dog training. I competed at Crufts in 2003 with my wonderful german shepherd ‘Zak’ and also competed in 2010 with Chica. To date, every one of my dogs have qualified to work Championship level competition obedience.  I have been honoured to be asked to judge dog obedience competitions not only in the UK but also in Europe.

Training methods have evolved since I first began and we now understand more about the way in which dogs learn.  My experience is that, in dog training, punitive methods are not necessary and, in fact, more can be achieved by using a gentle and informative method.  Subsequently, I use the ‘clicker’ in my training methods and find it a reliable and effective tool. I was the first trainer in Bristol to adopt this method over ten years ago.

The easiest time to train is when dogs are young.  I specialise in puppy training for which I frequently run courses in the Bristol area under the Krazy K9s banner.  However, all dogs can sometimes find themselves in a position of needing a communication pathway between themselves and their owners and therefore I sometimes travel within driving distance to help with issues that owners may be experiencing.  Mostly, my five dogs will come with me and are often used as trainers themselves, showing not only humans but other dogs how to behave.

I believe it is important to remember that all dogs are individuals, and I have therefore attended many different training courses.  I feel it is important to hear a wide variety of opinions and believe that no one method is absolute.  My course repertoire includes:-

• John Rogerson     The world renowned behaviourist
• Angela Stockdale  Dog Aggression Specialist
• Scallywags
• COAPE
• ADTB

to name just a few.  However, the greatest teacher of all is the dog and nothing can substitute years of practical experience gained from working with different dogs.

In recent years I have bred several German Shepherd Litters (Zakanja GSDs).  I always use my own bitches and only breed when I have time and space to introduce another puppy into my own group.  For the puppies that I do not keep, I am very selective about where they go.    I offer life time support to all of my puppies and their owners.  I am always available on the phone for advice or if there is a need I will happily travel to visit them.  I provide puppy training days once a month where all the owners can get to meet each other, train their dogs and see how the rest of the litter are progressing.  I enjoy following the progress of my puppies and nothing gives me more pleasure then seeing them as they  grow.