1989—Qualified as a Grade ‘A’ Dog Training
Instructor, Warley and District Dog Training
Club Birmingham, 3 years training.
1990—Developed ‘Pro-Pooch’ dog training
school on Merseyside. (Church premises
Moreton).
1990—Achieved Certificate in Advanced
Pet Behavioural Therapy. With the APBC
1991—Pro-Pooch became Ace-Pet
(Advice, Counseling and Education).
Incorporating—1000sq ft Training school in
Wallasey on the Wirral, for dogs and their owners, this consisted of a Pet Behavioural Practice and Grooming Station.
1993—Qualified as an Adult Education Teacher, specialising in teaching people and enabling them to train their dogs. (City & Guilds 730)
1996—Moved with family to Leigh-on-sea, and relocation of Ace-Pet.
Opening training classes in church hall dealing with Pet owners and Behaviour Problems.
1997—Saw the development of ‘Trick Training’ as extra mental stimulus or I.T. (Intelligent Training for dogs), which led to Mr. Tibs & Bracken ‘Star' Performer’s.
1998 - Received an invite to perform at Discover Dogs Earls Court with Mr. Tibs (Tibetan Terrier) & Bracken (Labrador). This went so well it opened up a regular slot for me to work at Crufts and Discover Dogs for 5 consecutive years. I spent my time at the Good Citizen's Ring, working for Heidi Lawrence and her team at the Kennel Club, with the bulk of the presenting being delivered by Peter Lewis. This slot only ended when I was very unfortunate to loose Bracken to Bone Cancer and then as a double blow, Mr. Tibs lost his eye to Glaucoma.
Both the dogs and I during our performing time together, where privileged to have spent numerous occasions, educating people about the versatility of dogs, and the need to make things exciting and interesting for our canine friends. Both Discover Dogs and Crufts provided me with ample opportunity to share this knowledge with members of our audience who I just loved to meet at the end of each performance. We where also privileged to work, with various television programmes, including BBC Crufts Series, Blue Peter, S Club TV and others.
2004- Mr. Tibs was co-host on the program ‘Animals Do The Funniest Things’, with Tony Blackburn and Tara Palmer-Thomkinson.
Feb 05- Done a shoot for ITV's Animal Road Show, saw Twyla’s television debut on BBC2, accompanied by Mr. Tibs.
For 5 years most of my time was taken up in educating children and adults with their dogs, in many different environments, schools youth groups, church's and many others. My Behavioural work continued to grow with my training operating on a private basis only, due to a problem with the right premises.
August 2005- Saw another new development for ACE-PET, and a change of name. Ace-Pet became ACE K9 Training, Behaviour and Grooming Centre. This is a small, new and steadily growing practice, with a shop front on the main London Road. The training classes are operated in small groups of no more than 4 dogs, allowing for quicker progression, all dogs go through some individual training before being placed in a group, this ensures that all owners gain confidence and some control making the handling of their charge more manageable in the company of other dogs.
Behavioural sessions take place in the owner’s home or occasionally they may visit the centre, depending on the behaviour, and last on average 1.5 to 2 hours.
September 2005 – Tokyo Television came to visit filmed a program for a main channel.
Another area of interest in my life is Breed Showing. Having dabbled in showing with Mr. Tibs in the early days, I now show another Tibetan Terrier (Twyla) and have had a reasonable success with her, winning her class at Crufts on her first appearance.
I'm currently a member of the Tibetan Terrier Association and Tibetan Terrier Breeder and Owners Club
November 2005 – Filmed pilot as a Trainer and member of the Judges panel for a new series called ‘Britain’s Top Dog’, with RDF Productions, for Channel 4.
2005 – I took on the role as editor for the Tibetan Terrier Magazine, (TT Talk) while continuing to write articles on Behaviour issues and Intelligent Training.
Jan ’06 – Having taken a course in Dog to Dog Aggression this saw the final step to my being made an Associate Member of the Canine and Feline Behaviour Association www.cfba.co.uk
Mar/April 07— Trainer for BBC 2 ‘Underdog’ Show hosted by Julian Clary. I had the pleasure of Training Mishal Husain and Robson.
I see Training and Behaviour as something that goes hand in hand with each other. The behaviour modification I use is as much about the owner as it is about the dog.
Welcome To Ace K9, enjoy your visit!
All photos are copyright of Julie@acek9
