Fort k9

13/08/2024

Still nice and settled , resting up ready for puppies

10/08/2024

Duvet day for Zen

07/08/2024

Zen is currently on Day 57 out of 63 of her pregnancy. We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of her new litter. It is our hope that these will be the first border collies under my prefix, representing a significant milestone as the first border collie I have owned from day one. I am excited about embarking on a new training journey with the chosen one and will be documenting our progress through the Fort K9 platform. Stay tuned for updates on our journey together.

Zen and her puppies are being nourished by Just For Friends ensuring they receive optimal nutrition for a healthy start and ongoing well-being.

04/08/2024

Kate Nicholas: Professional Dog Trainer, Author, and Television Personality
Kate Nicholas is a distinguished professional dog trainer, author, and television personality, proudly accompanied by her three dogs: Zoom, a 7-year-old European sled dog; Dash, a 4-year-old European sled dog; and Zen, a 2-year-old working Border Collie. These exceptional dogs are generously supported by "Just for Friends Dog Foods," ensuring they receive the appropriate nutrition and energy to achieve their full potential.
With two decades of experience in competitive dog sports, Kate has attained top levels in various disciplines including Flyball, Agility, Obedience, Working Trials, IPO, Canine Freestyle, Heelwork to Music, Canicross, and Nursery Sheepdog Trials. She has also engaged her dogs in complementary activities such as Mantrailing, Tracking, Scent Detection, Working Trials, and sheep farm work, which enhance their inherent abilities.
Kate takes great pride in having trained her own versatile dogs using positive reinforcement methods that maximize their potential while ensuring they enjoy each activity. She specializes in behavior adjustment training for both pet and working dogs and is dedicated to mentoring handlers to achieve exceptional results. Throughout the UK, Kate has conducted master classes for dogs and handlers, catering to both sporting and professional contexts.
Kate’s passion for dog training began at the age of nine when she received an 8-week-old Border Collie puppy named Gin from her parents. At 16, Kate and Gin first gained prominence in 2008 on “Britain's Got Talent,” reaching the finals with their unique dog dancing act, establishing themselves as the first canine act to accomplish this feat. Their success paved the way for a busy four years filled with live performances, television appearances, a published book titled "Kate and Gin," a season at Windsor Pantomime, and guest spots on American live television. Kate continues to train dogs for media engagements, bringing valuable experience in supervising dogs on film and television sets.
In addition to her accomplishments in dog training, Kate is a Veteran Soldier of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. She served as a dog trainer at the Defence Animal Centre, focusing on the development of young Military Working Dogs. Kate played a crucial role in rearing future police protection and detection puppies, providing them with the essential training and experience to become successful operational dogs. During her tenure with the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment in Germany, she was deployed to Afghanistan as an operational dog handler and contributed to training Ministry of Defence Police dogs and Army Protection dogs.
Following her military service, Kate served as the Kennel Manager at a large boarding facility, where she successfully trained and supplied a fully operational police dog to a Home Office force.
In the past six years, Kate has taken a hiatus from professional dog training, during which she explored new dog sports and competitions while pursuing an unrelated career path that fostered her personal growth and knowledge.
Kate is now ready to return to canine coaching, with the primary goal of assisting others in achieving their personal aspirations with their dogs. Whether you are a new dog owner or an experienced handler in canine sports or related fields, Kate will tailor her approach to meet your specific needs and objectives.
As an accomplished dog trainer, Kate is dedicated to ongoing professional development. She actively enhances her knowledge by attending seminars and workshops led by leading British and international dog behaviour experts, consistently striving to elevate the quality of her services for clients and their dogs.
Kate subscribes to the philosophy that “no matter how much you think you know, the capacity to learn is infinite,” emphasizing the importance of learning through life experiences and the value of knowledge exchange.
"Whatever your hopes and dreams may be; CONTINUE to LEARN and STRIVE to become the BEST version of YOURSELF."

13/07/2024

With a bit of luck. Hopefully the next member of the gang is coming along.

11/05/2024

Interesting read and something to consider at the moment 🤔

Solar storms and how it may impact your dogs.

Scientific studies have repeatedly demonstrated that dogs are sensitive to geomagnetic changes.

Currently the earth is experiencing a powerful solar storm. It's effects on our dogs should not be underestimated. Especially our sensitive working dogs who are bred to have a heightened sense of direction. Dogs who are anxious or nervous may experience exacerbated symptoms. Dogs are sensitive to even small changes in the earth's magnetic field, this current storm is big and disruptive.

Epileptic dogs and people may be affected. There is a huge body of evidence relating to solar storms and seizures, have a little Google, there's too many relevant bits of literature to post here.

What can you do? Dogs are at increased risk of becoming disorientated in new environments, keep them on lead, in sight, have a heightened awareness of where they are. For dogs who rely on their sense of direction for work such as sheepdogs working hills, search and rescue dogs, tracking dogs, hunting dogs and trail dogs, it might be worth evaluating putting off any work where a dog may get lost. This is not me being a f***y either, I've already heard of a couple of normally savvy dogs becoming lost and disoriented in the north of Scotland, out of character for them.

In humans existing mental health conditions can worsen temporarily, particularly conditions caused by or associated with trauma, where your integral ability to orientate becomes distrupted and makes you feel unsafe, increasing anxiety and hypervigilance. This change in your presentation can also impact your dogs.

Just something to be aware of. As much as it sounds like hippy woo woo nonsense, I can assure you, it's a thing.

"the idea that animals can detect Earth’s magnetic field has traveled the path from ridicule to well-established fact in little more than one generation. Dozens of experiments have now shown that diverse animal species, ranging from bees to salamanders to sea turtles to birds, have internal compasses. Some species use their compasses to navigate entire oceans, others to find better mud just a few inches away."

https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/61/3/29/413382/Magnetoreception-in-animalsDetermining-how-animals

(Google stock image)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259472878_Dogs_are_sensitive_to_small_variations_of_the_Earth's_magnetic_field

30/04/2024

Our favourite time of year, lots of pretty flowers and back to nice long walks in daylight.

26/04/2024

Kate Nicholas is a professional dog trainer, author and television star. She is owned by her 3 dogs “Zoom” (European sled dog, 7yrs), “Dash” (European sled dog, 4yrs) and “Zen” (Working Border collie, 2 yrs). Her dogs are kindly sponsored by the best food for their needs, “Just for Friends dog foods” giving them the correct energy and nutrition to reach their full potential.

Kate is an internationally renowned dog trainer with 20 years of experience in competitive dog sports. She has reached top levels in Flyball, Agility, Obedience, Working Trials,IPO, Canine Freestyle/ Heelwork to music, Canicross and Nursery Sheepdog Trials with her dogs. She has also trained a few less competitive activities to compliment, develop and enhance her dogs inherent traits. These activities include Man trailing, Tracking, Scent detection, Working Trials and sheep farm work.

Kate takes pride in having trained her own multi-talented dogs. Her positive reinforcement methods ensure dogs reach their maximum potential and always enjoy any activities that they do. Kate excels in behaviour adjustment training of both pet and working dogs, as well as developing and mentoring their handlers to achieve fantastic results. Throughout the UK, she has run master classes to dogs and handlers in both canine sport and professional capacities alike.

Kate’s dog training journey began when she was just 9 yrs old after she was given 8 week old puppy Border Collie “Gin” as a gift from her parents. Kate (aged 16) alongside her childhood friend “Gin”, first found fame in 2008 on “Britain's got talent”, reaching the finals with their dancing dog act “Kate and Gin”. As the first and original dog act to reach the finals of BGT, their fame led to a very busy 4 yrs of nationwide live displays, TV performances , publishing of a book (Kate and Gin), a season at Windsor Pantomime and guest appearances on American live TV. Kate continues to train dogs for media work and public appearances and is experienced in supervising dogs on TV/film sets.

Kate is a Veteran Soldier of the Royal Army Veterinary Corp. Having been appointed as a dog trainer at the Defence Animal Centre during her initial army service, Kate specialised on the young Military Working Dog Development project. She reared future Police protection and detection puppies, giving them the best experience and training to go on to become successful operational dogs. Later, serving as part of the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment in Germany, Kate was deployed to Afghanistan as an operational dog handler on the front line, as well as training and passing out Ministry of Defence Police dogs and Army Protection dogs during her time in service.

After leaving the army, Kate took on the position of Kennel Manager at a large boarding kennels. She has since also successfully supplied and trained a fully operational police dog to the home office force.

In the last 6 years Kate has taken a break from working with dogs professionally. During this period she has enjoyed training her own dogs in new dog sports and competing, whilst following an unrelated career path which has allowed her to concentrate on her own self development, personal growth, and knowledge.

It is now time for Kate to come back to canine coaching, with the primary aim of helping others to achieve personal goals and ambitions with their own dogs. It doesn’t matter whether you are just setting out with your first pet dog or whether you are already an experienced handler in dog sports or canine related professions, Kate will identify your needs and aspirations, and deliver a program and quality of service aimed to achieve.

You can rest assured that as an already accomplished dog trainer, Kate is committed to continuously expanding her wealth of knowledge by studying the latest advancements in dog training and behaviour by regularly attending seminars / workshops run by some of the top British and International dog behavioural experts. This ensures she is always striving to improve her quality of service to her clients and their dogs.

Kate believes that “however much you think you know, you never lose the ability to keep on learning” whether through life experiences or learning and sharing knowledge with each other.

“Whatever your hopes and dreams may be; KEEP on LEARNING and STRIVING to be YOUR best version of YOURSELF ” 💪🌟

06/03/2024

Another busy day for Zen

05/03/2024

Now back on charge

05/03/2024

Worked her arse off all day pretending to be a farm dog. Pleased she is really holding her own now and bringing me along for the ride.

02/03/2024

02/03/2024

Zen dog putting in the graft

15/02/2024

Happy 5th Birthday 🎂 Dash Man . Fed the best food from the beginning

27/01/2024

New Handler Aggregate Champion for me and Zen at Windermere Nursery sheepdog society trials this season.

Proud of what me and this little dog have achieved. We've learnt something new together as a newbie and a puppy and we still have plenty to be learning, but 10 New Handler wins , a 2nd and 2, 5ths in Nursery this season isn't a bad start. Thanks to Just For Friends for fueling her on the best food.

15/01/2024

Happy 2nd Birthday Zen dog. A pleasure to own and achieved way more than I thought we would . 21 trials under our belts and plenty of decent results along the way. Proud of my first sheepdog. Been fed on the best food from 12 weeks old. Just For Friends

11/01/2024

First sheepdog trial of 2024 for Zen

01/01/2024

Gone but not forgotten Icicle Bear. This year's calender is in support of Hero paws - Life AFTER service featuring some of the dogs I used to work with.

31/12/2023

Another year of owning dogs = plenty of walking and steps 😆

27/12/2023

The best food for your furry friend

Yuletide Feasts: Just For Friends & TEO Sausage, a Match Made in Canine Heaven! 🌟🍽️ Let the Yuletide feasts begin! Indulge your dog with the ultimate treat dinner by mixing TEO Sausage with any Just For Friends kibble blend. Order now and treat your pup to a December dining experience like never before! Enjoy a VAT-free December on 14kg and 28kg bags. 🎄