I grew up with animals all around me, especially dogs!

My father was a Vet in Ireland and I could guess that we usually had in the region of 10 dogs or more at any one time in our household. Most of these arrivals came from the farms where they were brought into my father's surgery to be put down as the farmer could not find homes for them.  On the farmers departure we kept the dogs, namely because there was nothing wrong with them and my father could not bear to do the lethal injection. It was differant in those days!

At Various stages my mother was showing dogs,clipping dogs,training dogs and basically our family life was all about dogs!

I would guess that I have experienced most breeds of dogs from the small terrier to the large St Bernard.

I have always loved dogs and in fact all animals and this love was developed even further when my father decided to take a position in Africa .

Off we flew to the lushious country of Uganda. What a way to grow up! My Managerie now extended to owning Monkeys, anteloppes,reptiles of various species and at one stage a baby elephant .

Unfortunately for myself and my two brothers, life was great living in the bush but the education system was pretty non-existant. A short stint in a local school and a bout of Hipatitis and off we were

packed to boarding school in Belfast .

My live continued with a mix of western life and then Africa in the Holidays .

It was only natural that I continued my education  pursuing a degree in Ecology and Biology and then entered into a career in teaching.

Africa has a strong pull it gets in your blood and after a few years following my degree I once again took off to Africa .
There I  stayed for 22 years and only returned to the Uk some 8 years ago . 

Today I lecture in Animal Health in a college and also Health and Social care.