CASEY BURRAGE
Training to become a “training assistant”
My name is Casey and I am 16 years old. I have always had a passion for dogs, in fact I have a passion for all animals of any description.
When I was 9 every Sunday I voulenteered at Kingfisher Wildlife Sanctuary caring for sick and injured animals and reptiles. In particular I was involved heavily in the fox cubs that were only a few days old. I enjoyed this so muchand had so much fun helping to rehabilitate the animals, getting them fit and healthy to be released back into the wild. I always knew I would end up working with animals in one form or another.
When I was 9 years old I got my first ever puppy. I went to Crufts with my Mum and visited Discover Dogs to really get an idea of what breed would be right for me and fit in with my life style. I decided to get a Working Cocker Spaniel, as this breed has bundles of energy, but is extremely intelligent. I thought this would be such a good fit for me as I do long distance running and thought Working Cockers would have the energy to keep up. They are also a nice size, so I would be able to manage the dog myself without anyhelp from my parents. Boo and I have been together for 7 years now, we have enjoyed Obedience Training, Gun Dog Training, Scenting, Agility and running together.
I now have another Working Cocker Spaniel puppy Chase who is now 9 months old. He’s a bit of a tinker, but such a bright spark. I’m currently training him in gun dog classes, which we both enjoy so much.
My Mum is actually the owner of Leaps and Bounds therefore I have been involved with dogs all my life. I’ve spent many times at the dog school participating in classes with my own dog, but also helping many others to train their dogs. I recently expressed to my parents how keen I was to have a job and start learning how to become a trainer myself. I have now been working on Saturdays with Leaps and Bounds since February 2025. I’m learning so much and my confidence is growing every week. When I leave school I would love to become a trainer full time, then in the future when I’m a little older look into becoming a behaviourist, so that I can help and rehabilitate dogs that have their own struggles in life. My other option, I’m also looking into is working with police dogs, I would love to become a police dog handler or maybe a police dog trainer. I was lucky enough to spend some time with the Met Police who demonstrated what’s involved in training their puppies and getting them through the qualifying stages. I was also shown the other side of a working dogs in the force, scent detection dogs, I found this super interesting as the majority of these dogs were Spaniels
We actually have 7 family dogs- 5 Working Cockers 1 Australian Shepherd and 1 Labrador. I desperately would like a German Shepherd, as we used to have 3 when I was young, they are my favourite breed of all. However, I think I need to be a little older and gain more knowledge before I’m ready to deal with such a strong breed.
Casey x
MEET THE TEAM
TAMMY
NICOLA
NATALIE
GEORGIA
MARK
ABBY
JO