Working with animals was a career path I’ve always known I would take. Having a love of animals from an early age, I would often be reminded of how I struggled to contain my excitement when I attended a family open day at Bishop Burton College when I was just 5 years of age – who knew that this is where I would return to begin my career training later in life.

Growing up we’ve had lots of different pets in the family, from reptiles (I currently have a friendly Iguana called Iggy) to small furies and different dog breeds including a Whippet cross and a Boston Terrier. My current canine ‘furbaby’ is called Rosco, a cheeky labradoodle who I absolutely adore. During my spare time, Rosco and I attend various large local secure dog walking group events and it’s great that many of the guests I see at the kennels, I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting during these fun walks.

I attained my Diploma in Animal Management and Behaviour in 2014 which was followed by a BSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, graduating in 2018 with honours. During my academic training I’ve completed various work placements, some of the notable ones include pig, dairy and beef farming, dog boarding and working at Pets at Home where the latter gave me valuable insight into the importance of customer service whilst applying my broad animal knowledge to the job.

One of my favourite life quotes is ‘find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’ – I truly believe that this is really important and when I joined the Happy Hounds team in 2019, it gave me the opportunity to fulfil this feeling.

I enjoy the opportunity of developing a close relationship with our guests as well as their human parents and despite there being numerous less glamourous parts of the job (I’m a poop picking expert you know….) it gives me great satisfaction to know that come rain or shine, when our guests walk away with a waggy tail, it’s because I’ve played a part in ensuring that their experience at Happy Hounds has been first class.

I’m really excited with what the future holds with Phil and Richard’s recent arrival in the business and whilst we are a relatively small team, we are perfectly formed with great blend of skills to take this business to another level. We all share the passion of ultimately it being about offering the best possible experience for our furry guests.