About Us!

About Go Fetch It!

With dog training and puppy socialisation classes held in Portishead and Nailsea and covering North Somerset and Bristol Go Fetch it! was started up by Dog Trainer and Behaviourist Jo Clarke. Go Fetch it! Dog Training caters for individuals wanting private dog training lessons, offers dog training and puppy socialisation classes as well as specialist one to one dog behavioural counselling. Working in association with Golden Valley Vets pet hospital in Nailsea and their surrounding North Somerset branches Go Fetch it can offer modern, reward based dog training methods with back up of veterinary expertise if needed.

Jo Clarke BSC(hons) ACFBA MGoDT

• Associate Member of the Canine and Feline Behavioural Association www.cfba.co.uk
• Guild Dog Trainer (MGoDT) & Member of The Guild of Dog Trainers www.godt.org.uk
• Holds the Instructors Certificate in Dog Training with the Cambridge Institute of dog Behaviour and Training www.cidbt.org.uk
• Completed courses with international canine behaviourist John Rogerson & other top UK trainers- Regularily attends courses.
• Kennel Club listed status running the Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme awards.

Admittedly I am obsessed with dogs; growing up in a rural area surrounded by farms and livestock, a large part of my childhood was spent watching the farmer and his collie. The relationship between man and his dog and their innate understanding of each other inspired my early interest in dog behaviour and training. Family pet dogs and later on horses were all subjected to training in the fields and garden surrounding our home and made regular appearances at local clubs and shows! However it was my late Grandma’s many tales of rural pre and post war Britain and the essential role that animals played in shaping our country’s history and heritage that truly inspired my passion to work with animals from a very young age.

After graduating from university I started up a pet care company, walking and caring for many different dogs each week. I came across well-behaved, happy dogs that were a pleasure to walk and handle, dogs with behaviour problems causing their owners much concern, and dogs that had never been taught basic manners and were difficult and untrustworthy to walk. I took the opportunity to educate the owners sharing my knowledge on animal behaviour, needs and instinctive drives learnt from my lifelong hands on experience of working with dogs and problem horses. The feedback was always very positive, which spurred me to enrol with the CIDBT to further my understanding and gain credible qualifications in the field, the idea for Go Fetch It was born.

I have recently been working alongside some of the UK’s top dog trainers and behaviourists, attending training workshops and successfully completing several canine psychology based courses, as well as having my practical dog training and behaviour counselling skills formerly assessed through the Cambridge Institute of Dog Behaviour and Training (CIDBT). I am an associate member of the Canine and Feline Behavioural Association and practice under their code of conduct and I am a recognised Guild Dog Trainer with The Guild of Dog Trainers (MGoDT).

Ultimately life experience cannot be replaced by qualifications and I feel my practical experience of working with dogs and animals is what has heavily contributed to my knowledge and understanding of them which I have today.

On a more personal level, I currently share my life with my doggie best friends, Boots, a challenging but charming Jack Russell Terrier, an adolecent and energetic Dobermann called Mac and Betsy, the sweetest little old lady on the block, a rescue Shih Tzu cross! They are my best tutors teaching me new things every day about canine psychology, body language and social interactions.