The Kennel Club Educational Trust’s (KCET) Emergency Relief Initiative has revealed it has helped 14 dog training and behaviourist organisations to reopen amid the pandemic.
The fund was established in April to support canine organisations in their communities which may be suffering financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Recipients of the funding included INCA Dog Training, a small business from Buckinghamshire run by Julia Meads, who doesn’t only run dog training school but also holds animal communications workshops and much more.
Like many small businesses, INCA Dog Training was affected by the pandemic, forcing Meads to close her classes. Meads herself suffered from the virus and when she recovered, she applied for the KCET funding.
She used the money to hire a private field in which she can now run her classes.Additionally, she purchased all the necessary personal protective equipment to make sure her customers are safe.
Meads said: “The funding was life-saving for my business. I used the money to run my classes in the new normal again and also to invest in online learning courses which enabled me to extend my services to online consultations over Zoom.”
Another organisation which benefited from the funding was Happy Hounds training school in Neilston, owned by Martha Brindley, who was forced to close her school and as self-employed owner was left with no income.
Brindley said: “I am very grateful for the grant, without which I would have lost the business and reputation that I have been building over the last 15 years. I was overwhelmed with emotion when I was informed that I was eligible for financial assistance at a time when the country was struggling in so many ways.
“I consider myself one of the lucky people to have come through these difficult times with my health intact. I am very grateful to the Kennel Club Educational Trust.”
Gerald King, chairman of the Kennel Club Educational Trust said: “Since its beginnings in 2007, the Kennel Club Education Trust has worked closely with organisations and individuals that support responsible dog ownership, promote the importance of obedience training and health and welfare of dogs.
“When we were establishing the fund together with the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, we were thinking of all the organisations and trainers who usually run vital education programmes, who lost their income during the pandemic.”
He added: “We received many applications and had to make some really hard decisions, but we believe the recipients of our funding are those who needed our help most urgently to save their business and livelihood.”
