About

Helen Phillips, the owner of Kemble’s Field, is a qualified teacher and an Animal Training Instructor (ATI) with the Animal Training & Behaviour Council (ABTC).

She taught a Canine Training and Behaviour Course at Warwickshire College at 2 levels for 6 years and was a business partner with Learning About Dogs in Gloucestershire for 10 years. She has a Distinction in the Certificate of Canine Training and Behaviour from Warwickshire College and holds the City and Guilds Certificate Level 5 in Further Education Teaching Stage 3 qualification.

She has achieved the Learning About Dogs Clicker Trainers Competency Assessment Programme (CAP) at levels 1, 2 and 3 with Distinction and is still an active assessor for the scheme.

During the 1990’s Helen instructed for the Evesham and District Dog Training Club and was pivotal in gaining the Club’s Kennel Club registration. She achieved the Kennel Club Good Citizens Dog Scheme (KCGDS) levels Bronze, Silver and Gold with her Hungarian Vizsla ‘Kemble’, who the field and business is currently named after. She also taught general life skills classes for several years at the club and taught all levels of the KCGCDS awards. During this time, she also took part in multiple demonstrations and appeared in the local paper advocating for the training of dogs using science-based and ethical strategies.

Alongside this Helen trained with Kay Laurence of Learning About Dogs for many years and taught a variety of the Clicker Training workshops at Wagmore Barn in Gloucestershire, where she was fortunate enough to have the pleasure of meeting and working alongside Karen Prior, Ken Ramirez and Jesus Rosalez Ruiz and the rest of the Clicker Expo teams. She was also honoured to present alongside Ken Ramirez and Susan Friedman.

Helen has been breeding Hungarian Vizslas since 1998 and spent a lifetime with dogs from crosses to Spaniels and HPRs, as a result, she has extensive understanding of living and working with hunting dogs. She now has the pleasure of enjoying a good day’s rough shooting with her dogs and the focus is on working on the small shoot she owns at Kemble’s Field. She currently shares with her husband Chris, two Hungarian Vizslas, Jack and Dibble and three Springer Spaniels, Wren, Teal and Lark. All dogs are engaged in working roles apart from Lark who is still enjoying the freedom of being a puppy. Helen has also achieved the Kennel Club Working Gundog Certificate on Dummies and on Game, with two breeds of dog HPR & Spaniel, she has competed in working tests and has participated in grouse counting.  Currently all her dogs appear in the training video’s that are available through the membership of The Gundog Trainers Academy (GTA).

Helen's focus is on promoting the use of force free, positive reinforcement training techniques and strategies within all aspects of dog training and field sports in general. She has a strong ethical stance in respect of this and endeavors to promote this within the shooting field and is an advocate for encouraging pet owners with any breed of dog to explore their natural abilities and expression of natural behaviour for wellbeing.

Alongside Jules Morgan, she is also a Director of and designed The Gundog Trainers Academy Ltd (GTA), to meet the increasing demand for ethical gundog training with a robust qualification and assessment procedure. The GTA’s mission is to support, nurture and encourage high standards of ethical, science based, non-coercive and effective methods of training for gundogs. The GTA has just completed the rigorous assessment process and gained accreditation to the Animal Behaviour & Training Council (ABTC) and is now a Member Organisation as well as Ambassador Partner of the Pet Professional Guild (PPG). 

She is a member of the Special Council for the Pet Professional Guild (PPG). Helen is an Instructor and Assessor at all levels for The Gundog Club an organisation that declared its force free policy in 2018 and she runs courses each year for all levels. Helen is also the author of the very popular ''Clicker Gundog'' book which draws on building a strong connection between dog and handler working as a team in the environment.

Your instructor Sam has worked with dogs in various roles since 2004, previously working at rescue and boarding kennels and as a Guide Dog Puppy Raiser.

In 2020, when the pandemic forced the temporary closure of her independent cinema, Sam decided to retrain as a dog trainer and start her own dog training business.

Sam is a qualified animal training instructor with the ABTC and also an accredited gundog training instructor with the Gundog Trainer's Academy.

Sam is also a City & Guilds-assured Scent Detection Dog Handler & Instructor.

She currently teaches puppies, basic obedience, fun pet gundog classes and scentwork.

Together with Helen, Chris manages the small shoot at Kemble's Field.

Chris is not only the game keeper, he is also the shoot captain and very talented chef.

It is thanks to Chris' hard work that the shoot experience days are made possible.

Lynsey Moss is a fully accredited gundog training instructor with the Gundog Trainers Academy and is one of only two instructors in the country to have achieved the GTA full accreditation on game as well as dummies.

At Kemble's Field, Lynsey manages the picking up team on our shoot experience days.

She herself has English Springer Spaniels which are trained as beating dogs and over a decade of experience working her own dogs, as well as teaching others.

Alongside the training, Lynsey is also a fully qualified veterinary physiotherapist with a BSc (hons) degree in Veterinary Physiotherapy. She is also registered with the National Association of Veterinary Physiotherapists and the Animal Health Professionals Register. Lynsey now shares the benefits of fitness and physiotherapy, providing extra insights, to keep working gundogs fit and healthy.