Hello, from us to you
We are Jo and Adam. We live in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside, in the Cranbourne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
We are lucky to be surrounded by shoots and fantastic opportunities to work our dogs. We also take trips ‘up north’ a couple of times a year, to the grouse moors.
We first got involved with gundogs over twenty years ago, with our first Weimaraner, Slate. We’ve owned and worked several breeds since then, including a Slovakian Rough Haired Pointer; a GSP; and Labradors.
Through Force-Free Gundog, Jo’s online courses teach people how to train their gundogs without the use of force or positive punishment.
Jo is the author of the popular books Force-Free Gundog Training: The Fundamentals for Success and the sequel, which covers advanced training, Force-Free Gundog Training: Precision and Progression.
Jo hosts the popular gundog podcast, Hold the Line.
She is an accredited assessor and instructor for The Gundog Club; an Accredited Professional Canine Behaviour Consultant (PCBC-A); a Full Member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers; an Animal Behaviour and Training Council Registered Animal Training Instructor; a Certified BAT Instructor - Knowledge and Skills Assessed (CBATI-KSA); and a KC Good Citizen Examiner (A1/Gold). She is also an Avidog Associate breeder.
Everything we do with our dogs, is rooted in science and the latest research.
We’ve competed in working tests; spring pointing tests; the KC Working Gundog Certificate; and field trials, but we feel that competition should not be the end goal. (Increasingly, this seems to be the way things are going.)
Competitions were originally devised to assess dogs which were, first and foremost, working dogs. The priority, for us, is working the dogs in the roles they are bred to fulfil and maintaining those working instincts.
Adam shoots and is a super cook, so no game goes to waste. We fill the freezer each winter and really appreciate knowing where our food has come from and that it has lived ‘free’ rather than being intensively farmed.
“Hunting ability of paramount concern.”
- Weimaraner breed standard (UK)