About Us..
Hi there! I'm Kate Hart, and together with my husband Marcus, we founded My Hart Dog five years ago. What started as a dream has now blossomed into a focus on all things scent-related for our dogs.
We’re incredibly lucky to call the picturesque rural part of South Gloucestershire, near Bristol, our home. Here, we share our lives with quite the menagerie – seven lively Labradors (yes, seven!!), a rescue cat named Ollie, and a cheerful flock of chickens and ducks.
When I'm not busy with the daily hustle, you'll find me out training with our dogs. Gundog training and scentwork are my true passions. There's nothing quite like seeing a dog really enjoy these activities!
My Hart Dog training started with a very special dog, Otter, a working line chocolate labrador, who we brought home as a puppy 5 years ago.
Soon after bringing her home at 8 weeks old, we realised that she was different. She was hesitant, anxious and lacked confidence which is fairly unusual in a young puppy. Things become complicated when she broke her leg at only 5 months old. This made it difficult building confidence and resilience.
In the early days of her rehabilitation, when she was on crate rest and short lead walks, we focused on scentwork which she loved. Scentwork is both mentally stimulating and relaxing at the same time, so brilliant for my quirky, nervous Otter.
I truly believe scentwork and then a blend of gundog training has been transformational, giving her agency and freedom to live a fulfilled and content life.
The Sniffer Shop..
A mission of ours is to help make Scentwork accessible to all dogs. With that in mind we created "The Sniffer Shop" - a one -stop online shop for the budding canine detective. Click the link below to learn more!
Qualifications..
I am a fully accredited member of the Institute for Modern Dog Trainers (IMDT) and committed to keeping up to date with all the latest developments and courses in dog training and behaviour. I am also a certified Scent Detection Instructor at Gold level with UK Sniffer Dogs UK and a Trusted Scent Instructor with Enigma Canine and qualfied WDSA instructor through the School of Canine Science.
