About Me

My parents had Border Collies and Parson Jack Russells.  They worked and showed the dogs and I attended agricultural shows joining in the terrier racing and helping to run shows through the Scottish Jack Russell Terrier Club. In my teenage years I enjoyed obedience agility and flyball training where I competed in the juniors at CRUFTS with my German Shepherd and Border Collie. During that time, I worked as a veterinary assistant and gained much valued experience from my time there.

I started my own CHADBROOK kennel name officially in 1999 where Parsons were my main breed. In 2015 I bought my first Japanese Shiba Inu which is a breed I much admired.

Health testing in dogs is something I very much believe in.  Yes, there are breed lines out there with very few health issues and their breeders have never felt the need to start testing.  However, I have bred quite a few litters over my lifetime now and there have been some puppies with a problem. 

In signing up to the assured breeder scheme in 2007 I aligned myself with values and ethics of having every breeding dog and bitch health tested according to the recommendations set by the Kennel Club.

In Parson’s (a mostly white dog) I have had the unfortunate experience of breeding 2 deaf puppies. Due to the shortage of hearing test centres I decided to become trained myself primarily for my own puppies but offering this to fellow breeders can only ensure better prospects for the breeds affected. In midwifery we hearing test new-born babies…so why not puppies and kittens?

In my professional life I am a qualified midwife (for people) and practiced for 10 years.  I also hold a master level qualification in ultrasound from Glasgow Caledonian University.

In deciding not to practice midwifery any longer I didn’t want to lose my skills completely and decided to merge my two passions together to become The Canine Midwife.