The Puppy Friendly Practice scheme has been developed by Happy Hounds for Life. It seeks to equip veterinary practices to provide an exceptional level of care for new puppies ensuring they not only have a positive experience in practice but that puppy owners are equipped with everything they need from day one for ultimate success. It is a unique concept, equally benefiting the veterinary practice, staff, puppy owners and puppies.
Many dogs reach the 12-18 month age and are sadly re-homed due to undesirable behaviours that could have so easily been avoided had the owners had the right information and support with their puppy from the very beginning. Our aim is to change those statistics one puppy at a time.
Veterinary practices play a vital role in the puppy client journey as they are often the first professional contact when people take ownership of their new puppy. Not only can the experience a new puppy owner has from that very first registration phone call, to the information given in that first appointment, shape the client-to-vet relationship moving forward but the experience that the puppy has when it steps paw into the practice and the training support given can be the difference between growing into a confident, well-mannered and sociable adult dog or one that is unsociable, disobedient or anxious.
The Puppy Friendly Practice scheme has been designed in a way that is accessible for every practice, easy to understand criteria and simple to implement the changes necessary to obtain and maintain a Puppy Friendly Status.
Providing the Perfect Puppy Experience is something every puppy and owner should benefit from and something all staff members playing a part in it should be extremely proud of.
Supported by:
Our Vision
Our Mission
Our Values
Meet the Team
Louise Jackson
Director and Trainer
Qualified RVN, DipCABT, PgCert(AAB); AssocCIPD; PgCert(VBM).
Louise qualified as an RVN in 1997 and has worked in the same small animal practice since qualifying. She has worked her way up the management line, now working as the Practice Director. Whilst in practice, her passion for animal behaviour has lead her to study animal behaviour, and utilise her knowledge in the form of working for Canine Partners, training the puppies to become assistance dogs. Louise also initiates nurse clinics including puppy chats and behaviour consultations within the practice. Leading a team of 80 employees further resulted in Louise studying HR and Veterinary Management, allowing her leadership and entrepreneur skills to develop.
From this journey, she has also become the co-founder of Happy Hounds for Life and is their primary trainer and speaker for all their online training modules, targeting not only puppy owners but also veterinary practices, ensuring all staff have the opportunity to be the best they can in ensuring puppies have the very best start in life possible. Her position is the veterinary industry has lead her passion of developing the Puppy Friendly Practice scheme to where it is today.
Rachel Cook
Creative Director
BSc (Hons) Degree Eq Sports Science
Rachel is the creative driving force behind the scenes. Coming from a background of working with animals and helping people train their puppies for many years, she has always had a special gift and passion for raising well-mannered, calm and sociable puppies and helping them integrate well into family life. Being a mum of two and always having an open door to many other families, Rachel has developed a real passion for helping children to communicate well with dogs and be involved in their training from a puppy.
Since graduating university in 2006 she has developed her entrepreneurial skills resulting in founding Happy Hounds for Life in 2019. She later published her first Childrens story book called Welcome Home Puppy. Her deep desire to reach puppy owners from day one with their puppy with the right information they need for success has caused us to branch into the veterinary industry and develop the Puppy Friendly Practice Scheme. Rachel is our Managing Director and is responsible for all the course creation and day to day running of the Puppy Friendly Practice Scheme as a whole.