Meet our extended Family
Take a look below to meet our wonderful family team at Country House Kennels:
Country house pets Ltd are a boarding facility for cats and dogs, grooming salon for dogs, doggy daycare centre and a pet shop based in Dunstable near Kensworth. As of May 2018, Nina, David, Hashi & Skye are the owners of the business and have put all of their time and energy to make it the number 1 kennels and cattery in the area.
We have a large team which are highly trained and skilled in looking after your pets.
As a family run business, and being dog and cat lovers, this is a dream come true for the whole family, we take great pride in our small business and are fully involved with the day to day running of the business ensuring only the best quality of care is provided.
Nina
Director
Nina started country house in 2018 after grooming dogs professionally.
Nina is also a drugs dog handler with her 2 dogs Jonty the black cocker spaniel & Junior the yellow Labrador, Nina fully trained Junior on all illegal drugs, and at the young age of 9 months Junior was ready to work and is currently a successful drugs dog working with Nina every week. Jonty is semi retired but gives Nina & Junior a “nose” every now and then.
Nina’s other dog is Simba a mastiff x Rottweiler that she took on shortly after taking over country house, Simba taught her nearly everything she knows about dog behaviour and training, Simba was a particularly difficult case, he spent 6 months in a horse stable and was resource guarding anything he thought was high value. We suspect he was used for fighting and possibly protection work but wasn’t correctly trained for protection. he showed very high prey drive and was very dominant towards men and large intact male dogs, Nina travelled up and down the country working with some of the best dog trainers & behaviourists to reverse the damage that had been done to Simba refusing to give up on him and after 2 years Simba was a reformed character, which sent her down the path of becoming a dog trainer and behaviourist offering different styles of training and combining them to suite each dog and it’s needs
David
Director also known as the treat man!
David is Nina’s dad and has a passion for dogs and cats and their health after spending most of his life as a black cab driver in London working with pets is a dream come true.
David is the most certainly all the dogs and cats favourite person! we don’t know why but we have a sneaky suspicion it might be down to tasty snacks he keeps in his pockets!
David has a wealth of knowledge on feeding and supplements. If you’re in a rush when you visit us you might not want to get him started on talking about it! Just a warning!!
Owning two cats Monty & Saffy and a 16 year old cocker poo Alfie David always has advice on alternative medicines and preventatives.
Skye
Managing Director
Skye is Nina’s Daughter, skye has a real passion for healthy foods for dogs and has started selling a selection in her boutique of carefully selected supplements, treats, foods and toys, only offering tried and tested products to ensure only the top quality is sold but always being mindful of price.
Skye also has a passion for training dogs assisting Nina on group classes and 121 training sessions, Skye trained a clients drugs dog on his first sent.
Skye is also the Doggy Daycare specialist and has a high success rate in introducing reactive dogs to the group reforming them into country house pack members Skye has said how much she has Learnt from the dogs in daycare, she has gained a huge amount of experience in dealing with all types of dogs and behaviours.
Hashi
Director - "The cat lady"
Hashi is Nina’s mum and has a real passion for cats and cleaning! Which we think the cats being clean animals appreciate. Hashi has a natural ability to calm cats in their new environment.
Shauna
Kennel & cattery manager
Shauna our kennels & cattery manager is passionate about both cats and dogs she is particularly good with cats that are challenging, managing to give medication where most of the team usually fail! Shauna currently owns a cat that she rescued from country house, Oakley was dropped in the office the owner no longer wanted him and drove off fast! Shauna has owned dogs all her life but doesn’t have the time for a dog as she’s always at country house.
Shauna likes to keep things clean and tidy having worked previously at a breeding kennels she knows the importance of keeping cross contamination to a minimum.
Shauna would love to progress to be a managing director of Country house pets Ltd. Her favourite part of working at country house is that it feels like her extended family, the pets that come to country house have been coming for years watching them grow has been the most rewarding and watching the excitement from them coming through the doors!
Shauna has a level 3 animal management qualification and is pet first aid trained and has a certified management qualification.
Lucy
Kennel & cattery assistant.
Lucy is an all rounder you will see Lucy collecting dogs from you for boarding, also in daycare, the groom room bathing and drying dogs, she’s even done a nice smooth hair cut on a dog! in the office often doing our clever social media posts and keeping the office well stocked.
Lucy currently owns 2 dogs, 6 cats and 2 chickens! We really don’t know where she finds the time!
Lucy has a level 3 animal management qualification and k9 first aid trained. Lucy would like to extend her learning to level 5 animal management and wants to progress further at country house.
Evie
Kennel & cattery assistant.
Evie is new to the team but has proven herself to be a valued member, Evie loves to get fully involved with playing with the dogs, and is very confident mixing dogs, Evie is currently studying for her level 3 animal management qualification. Evie has a French bulldog jack Russel cross called Winston and a rabbit called Albie. Evie is excited to progress in animal care and welfare. Evie's favourite part of working for Country house is getting to know all the pets really well and their personalities.
Olivia
Receptionist.
Olivia is our receptionist but also has a love for dogs and cats, Olivia spends her lunch breaks in the cattery playing with the cats, Olivia is Friendly and welcoming always willing to help where she can to fit in your pets holiday at country house.
Olivia also does our social media posts.
Olivia owns 2 cats and a snake! Olivia has a level 3 award in advanced animal care achieving a higher distinction.
What Olivia loves most is meeting all the different characters of the pets that come through the door and their different needs.
Ramona
Dog Groomer.
Ramona Is one of the best groomers around, she is highly skilled in teddy cuts, breed standard trims, and will always do a cut in the best interest of the dog.
Ramona is constantly learning new technics and offering only the best and most natural products in the salon.
Ramona has a dog that she brings to work with her little Effie, Ramona likes to keep Effie social with all types of dogs so takes Effie in daycare everyday through her lunch break.
Nathan
Daycare assistant.
Nathan is new to country house, Nathan has a passion for animals especially dogs, Nathan bread old English bulldogs and has owned dogs most of his life, Nathan currently enjoys the dog walks & training the dogs to walk to heel, and also training the dogs back at the centre.
Nathan has a keen interest in dog training, and wants to progress to be a dog handler, dog trainer protection dog handler, Nathan hopes to learn from the daycare centre and to progress within country house in the future . Nathan owns an old English bulldog, Chihuahua and a cat!
Abby
Kennels and cattery assistant
Abby has always had a passion for all animals.
She has spent her whole life volunteering for ‘Feline Rescue’ and will continue to.
Abby draws realism dog portraits as commissions. She hopes to be a full time artist in the future and to foster rescue animals.
Abby has a Level 3 award in Feline Care, Behaviour and Welfare.
Abby enjoys the daily interactions with the animals at country house and giving them the attention they deserve.
Chloe
Kennel & daycare assistant
Chloe studied animal management and gained a level 3 animal management qualification, Chloe has always loved dogs so being able to work with them is such an amazing privilege. Unfortunately Chloe doesn’t have pets at home due to allergies in the family so she gets all of the cuddles she can while working.
Clayton
Kennel assistant
Clayton owns two dogs Cookie & Biscuit, clayton loves working with all the dogs and is a calm respected member of the pack, Clayton loves doing the dog groups and finding them a play buddy. Clayton loves learning from the dogs and watching their interactions and learning from them.