Denise McLeod

I was born in a small village in Staffordshire in 1967. It seems I had an innate love of and desire to be with animals, right from the start. Unable to have a dog of my own as a child because of a family illness, I spent all of my formative years borrowing other people’s dogs to walk and train, riding my pony or other horses deemed ‘unsafe’ or ‘troubled’ or dangerous, talking to my chickens, hamster and rabbit, or working on sheep and cattle farms. When I wasn’t walking, riding or working, I sat down, as I was very tired. And when I sat, I sat in fields, woods, or by streams or rivers, where I would watch and sometimes interact with, both domestic and wild animals. I was utterly fascinated by them all. People completely baffled me at that time, whereas animals seemed to me much more sensible, logical and kinder to one another. Apart from when they were eating one another. I wasn’t always great with animals though, the first dog I walked pulled me over and broke my collar bone at just 5 years old. The first horse I rode, broke my arm, twice. I had many other subsequent falls, breaks and mishaps but my love for animals never waned. After leaving school I began a successful career working in a large corporate business and ultimately attained a middle management position, during which time I began to start to like and better understand, people. As well as studying animal training and behaviour, I now began to study people and people behaviour and studied psychology, psychiatry, counselling, spirituality as well as my growing love of quantum mechanics and physics. Then I had another riding accident, resulting in a severe head injury and a transformative and life changing, near death experience, which completely altered my life view. It also left me with permanent damage to my eyes and some minor brain damage, which I have learned to live with. My life priorities shifted dramatically after that experience and I started to ponder the rest of my life and what to do with it. In January 2001 I quit my career in IT and started CaDeLac dog training and behaviour and that has been my sole income and preoccupation ever since. Since that time I have been involved with over 10,000 puppies and dogs and over 15,000 dog people, which gives me a unique insight into the lives of people who own dogs, and dogs who own people. My first book A Dog Behaviourist’s Diary, is the stories of some of those people and dogs, as well as some of the most traumatic, brilliant, terrifying, or hilarious moments of my own dog owning history. Though the book is in James Herriot story telling style, devoid of jargon, full of humour, it is loaded with crucial learning points that dance their way through the emotional lives of dogs and their owners. This is entertainment, that educates! I hope that you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it!