Friday 2 March 2018

A New Focus



Apparently I still have a blog page! I'd forgotten about it in the three year baby-induced hiatus, but I'm all set for a return to Monkey Mutts in April 2018, so perhaps now is the time to pick it up and begin wittering on about all things dog-related again?

So what's been happening in the interim? Well, I had two babies (Thomas, 3.5 years and Ernie, almost 2 years old), closed down the business as I needed to focus on them, and thought at one point I'd never open it again. But here we are, three years later, and mum and I have been busy concocting a new direction for Monkey Mutts. Over the years I've been running classes, first as Four Paws One Direction and more recently as Monkey Mutts, I've offered a huge variety of different types of classes, from basic puppy and obedience-type training through to activities classes and agility, to rehab classes, recall training, clicker training, kids classes and lots in between. All were a joy to teach, and as I was trying to run things as a full time business I had the hours to dedicate to offering a wide variety. But the reality of doing this with two small children to care for means that this time around, my free time is a lot more limited, and so we needed to narrow our focus on to the things we do best, and the things that fit in best with the time available. And so our new specialism was born: dog activities classes. We want to offer something active that any one can take part in, young or old alike, for dogs of any breed, for people enthusiastic to do something fun with their pets. 

Anyone who knows mum and I knows we're super passionate about 'doing things' with our dogs! We love it, we really do. There's nothing better than the sense of teamwork you get from doing something new with your dog, the satisfaction from mastering a new skill, the joy from seeing how much fun your canine partner is having. And so that's what we want to bring to you; our favourite bits of our favourite activities. We won't be offering Agility anymore as we haven't got the regular hours to put in to teaching that, but instead we will be offering our own brand of non-competitive pet activity classes, suitable for all, through Dogtivities. And mum and I will shortly be completing the Scentwork UK recognised trainer qualification, so in the Autumn of 2018 we'll also be bringing you another great activity that we're super passionate about - Nose Work. We're so excited about both of these offerings, and will be pouring all of our attention in to these two things so that we can bring you the best quality classes around. And our shed full of equipment is just bursting to be opened and used again!

The new Dogtivities classes launch in April, and we've devised an exciting outdoor Spring/Summer programme of activities, as well as an indoor Autumn/Winter medley of fun. For more details see the website.