Growing up, I was dog and pony mad and some of my earliest memories were of visiting neighbours who bred labradors and helping them out (probably getting in the way!) and then badgering my parents for a dog of my own.

That first puppy was Shep, a border collie cross, who grew up with me. Since then I have always had a border collie in my life whenever my lifestyle allowed it. Currently, we have number five, Brodie at home. He's the handsome chap in the photo opposite! He and I went to Puppy School classes when he was 11 weeks old, which is how I found out about the organisation. I was so impressed that, a couple of years later, I enrolled on the Puppy School Tutor training programme.

At about the same time that I became interested in training to be Puppy School tutor, I also became actively involved as a speaker for Canine Partners, an amazing organisation that trains assistance dogs to help people with disabilities to enjoy a greater independence and a better quality of life. Working with this wonderful charity and seeing at first hand what dogs and their owners can achieve together helped to further inspire me to get involved in training puppies and their owners. (Find out more about Canine Partners here ).

I've spent much of my life in jobs that involved training people and it was always the part of my professional work that I most enjoyed. So, when I decided on a change of direction, becoming a Puppy School Tutor meant I could combine two passions - dogs and training.

As a tutor I love being able to to help owners to teach their puppies using only the kind, reward based methods. My classes are small and fun and you and your puppy will work through the Puppy School programme which was developed by its founder Gwen Bailey. Gwen is a leading behaviourist, trainer and author of books on dog training and behaviour. Further information about Gwen and Puppy School can be found on the More About Puppy School Page.

If you are looking for a puppy training course in the Sevenoaks area, please don't hesistate to contact me.

“You are a natural with dogs and humans too...

I know Ted and Charlie fell in love with you and I’m sure everyone else’s dogs do too.

You have a knack of training us humans and dogs just love you and your sausages!

Kerry - Ted and Charlie's owner

"Thank you for teaching us to behave nicely".

​ Written on behalf of Fergus and Milo (Cairn Terriers) by their human - Dave.

“I highly recommend Catherine for those looking for an excellent trainer in puppy obedience.

I initially contacted Catherine regarding her puppy obedience classes. We found that the times of her evening classes (which are wonderful for those who work in London and/or want to bring their children with them to class) did not work for us, due to my travel/work schedule. We decided to try her 1:1 course instead. It turned out to be a wonderful decision. Not only was Catherine incredibly accommodating with our questions and our scheduling issues, she was absolutely fantastic with our puppy, Kona. From the minute she entered our house, she became Kona’s great friend.

She used his food motivation to immediately get him to stop his biting and jumping behaviours. She patiently showed us how to do the same and worked with each of us to make sure we were all doing things the same way. Each lesson built on the skills we had learnt during our prior lessons and we were given homework after each lesson. We found that we enjoyed our homework, working on different commands and behaviours and that he responded positively as well. Of course it didn’t hurt that we soon learnt the trick of treats for appropriate behaviour.

I think what I liked the most about Catherine and her teaching method was that it is all based on positivity. Rather than taking something away from Kona, we learned to replace it with something that he really liked. We learned to replace our hands which he enjoyed biting with a cuddly toy. If he now brings something in from the back garden that we don’t want him to have, now we just rattle of his treats jar and he instantly drops whatever he brought in.

It is obvious to anyone who meets Catherine that she is passionate about what she does. She loves puppies and they love her. Any owner who takes her classes is indeed a lucky puppy owner.

Mrs K. H. Sevenoaks.