My name is Bernadette Beirnes and I have been a resident of Bradford for 20 years. I grew up on a small hobby farm in Richmond Hill, with cats, dogs, rabbits, pigs, cows, and chickens for my pets!
I am currently owned and loved by two beautiful Belgian Shepherds, Vixen and Ciaran, and a lovely Border Collie, Meg, as well as two mixed-breed cats, Cujo and Tarzan. They have all filled my life with such joy and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them! We take long walks together (ok, maybe not the cats!), both in town and in many of our wonderful surrounding forests. We are involved in several dog sports: Vixen is a CKC Champion and is training to become an agility star. Ciaran, also a CKC Champion, has his Companion Dog title, as well as titles in Novice, Advanced and Excellence Rally Obedience, with average scores of over 195/200. Ciaran became a St. John’s Ambulance Therapy dog in 2006. Currently, Ciaran is exploring his herding roots with positive results. Both Ciaran and Vixen have been tested for, and received, their CKC Good Neighbour certificates. Not to be undone, wee Meg is working fast and furiously on entering the sheep-herding trial scene. In 2007 and 2009, she took some time off to whelp 2 litters of beautiful puppies - a new experience for us, here, on the home-front. With luck, we hope to be trialing in 2010. There is never a dull moment around here!
The year of 2009 has been a year of huge changes. I began a 9-month long grooming course in 2008, graduating with honors in May of 2009. Mid-way through the course found us packing up lock, stock and barrel and settling the family on a 4-acre property just north of Bradford's 4-corners. While only minutes from town, the peace and tranquility of the area is unsurpassed. We now have a 3 acre field for the dogs to run on. This same field will be re-fenced in the future and will be home to my own flock of sheep, and perhaps, a horse. We have recently finished the construction of a grooming shop within the house and are now open for business. While the year has been crazy, we are so excited for the possibilities the future holds! We hope to include you all in this promising future!
My love for animals has steered me into the direction of dog walking, pet sitting, and most recently, grooming, an obviously natural course, my friends and family would say. I look forward to meeting new pets and building a trusting relationship with both them and their owners. Between my personal pet experiences, constant updating of handling/training techniques, including Pet First Aid (updated in September 2009), you can be assured that your pet will always be in good hands.