Hi, I'm Laura

I was always animal mad, as a child, if I wasn't playing with guinea pigs or teaching ducks to swim, I was balancing garden canes on flower pots – teaching 'agility' to Tad, our collie.

After school and university, I got a job, working mainly on farms or in a dog friendly office. Then I got a flat and soon my border terrier, Zara, arrived. She is small but mighty and her never give up attitude is something I often admire.

Zara and I took up beating, we house sat for a number of dog families and eventually settled down in rural Northamptonshire with 2 Labradors, a lab x Doberman and their owner – Philip.

We're now a family of 10 (4 labs, a springer spaniel – Dixie, Zara & 2 small boys!) and the time had come to help others build friendships with and enjoy their dogs as much as I do.

Dixie Tricks - What's in a name?

In March 2020 a very special young pup was born – I had always wanted a liver and white springer spaniel and followed a few spaniel pages on Facebook, where I came across a name I recognised sharing a beautiful photo of his litter of puppies with their Mum. In a moment of madness I reached out and asked if all the puppies had homes to go to – well you can guess what happened next! Welcome home Dixie!

Of course the first thing most people said when I announced I was picking up a spaniel puppy was something along the lines of “Good Luck” or “You must be mad!” – everyone seemed to know that springer spaniels are crazy and it was this, along with Dixie's amazing pedigree that encouraged me to go do some more formal training with her. That was where the magic happened – I made great friends, had loads of fun, and found potential in myself that I never knew was there.

Over lockdown I was so grateful that we've got the space here to work our dogs in so many different ways without having to travel or bump into other people and dogs so having the opportunity to share that with other dogs (and their owners) through Dixie Tricks is a great pleasure.