Could you introduce yourself and tell us a little about you? What's your day-to-day life like?
Hi, I’m Steph and live in South Cambs with my boys Cai, Tor, Smurf & Spud – aka the Ravensyard Spaniels gang! I generally live a rather dull life (until the shoot season starts anyway) – at the moment we’re up at 5.30am, get dogs walked, dog in for one of my shoots, work, train when it’s not hotter than the sun, chill (and try to make sure I hit my silly personal goal of reading every day this year), bed and repeat whilst trying to remember to drink enough water to function as a human being! I work managing clinical trials which is a job I absolutely love and is rather handy for paying for my dogs extravagant lifestyles!
How did you get into the dogs and working them, and then moving on to competing?
I grew up with dogs and as a child we had Dobermans which mum used to show - she even had one that was qualified for crufts for life! Then 12 years ago I got invited to pick up for a drive with the shoot owners groom after we’d been riding and from there I was hooked and looked forward to spending every Saturday from October to the end of January turning up in all weathers to join the beating line. I then fell in love with one of the keepers cockers who was the naughtiest (he used to tell him off over the radio to give us all a good laugh as he knew the dog wouldn’t bother listening), cheekiest boy and I just knew I wanted a cocker. Roll on a few years of me trying to persuade my ex to allow me to have a dog and Cai came along and the rest is history. I soon realised that I had a special lad on my hands and after attending a London Working Spaniel Society training day I fell into the testing world and consequently the trialling world. Trialling was hard going with Cai as I trained him as a beating dog and being brutally honest about myself I knew sod all…but I learnt so much with him that hopefully will help me with Smurf & Spud trialling.
You have a unique mixture of names for the boys; how did you come up with each name, and do they have any special meanings?
So my ex picked Cai’s name as he wanted something Welsh (when we split up it was too late to change his name – JOKES!!!!). Tor is then named after the correct Scandinavian pronunciation of Thor and handily also serves as an abbreviation of Tornado – anyone who knows him knows just how applicable this is! Smurf was named as a joke by his breeder and one of my best friends and it just kind of stuck, and for Spud I’d just wanted a dog named Spud for years! Picking names for future dogs is going to be challenge -maybe I should carry on down Spuds veg route!
Whilst we're on the topic of names, how did you create your kennel name?
My surname is Ravn-Aagaard so I wanted something with Raven in and it just kind of
felt right – sorry not very interesting.
We also know you're an avid photographer; could you tell us more?
When I started our Instagram page back in 2021 I was taking photos on my phone – I enjoyed it so much and after being inspired by so many wonderful accounts on Instagram (ones that I am still in awe of and hope one day to produce photos that are even half as good as theirs) that for Christmas that year I decided Cai wanted to buy me my first DSLR camera. I absolutely loved learning the new skills needed to shoot and edit and creating photos I really loved – and I found out I’m quite alright at it. Last year I realised I wanted to upgrade to mirrorless and after a photographer friend found me a good deal on a Nikon Z6ii one night in the pub I took the plunge – one I’m glad I did as it’s allowing me to improve my photos and to gradually learn a bit of videography to go alongside the photos (still a bit rubbish at this one). I guess photography is a bit like dog training – you’ve got to enjoy it and be willing to constantly continue to learn.
What do you enjoy most about the dogs throughout the year? Do you prefer competing or working them in general?
Snuggling with them is what I love the most! But in terms of competing and trialling I think I love them both equally but differently. I love getting out competing with the boys, catching up with all the wonderful friends I have made from this crazy sport of our and cheering on my fellow competitors (I think this is one of the most special parts of competing) – and there’s always an amazing buzz when yours and your dog's name gets called for a certificate. Cai being called out as the winner of his last novice test is always going to be a core memory of mine and I can only work hard and hope I get some wins with Smurf & Spud to add to that memory bank. But working the dogs is where it all started and I do genuinely start the count down to the next season from March each year! I love everything about it from turning up on a freezing cold and wet morning in the middle of winter, getting on the cart, clambering through brambles, having a laugh with my fellow beaters, and watching my boys absolutely living their best lives! I think that’s why I love both competing and working the boys – they absolutely love it and literally vibrate with excitement and that to me is all that matters in life!
What are yours and each of the boys; favourite Paws@Brooklyn products?
Now that’s a really hard one because I genuinely love all the products and I use something Paws every single day. I think my favourite things are the training vest with the hood, the coat and the dummy balls, and the boys really do love the rabbit balls and rabbit hunting disk. But the leads are my absolute die on a hill favourite product – I won’t use any other lead!
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
I think we’ve covered so much already but I think I just want to add that enjoyment is
the most important thing about gundogs. Both us and our dogs need to enjoy the training, the competing, the rest times – and we all need to have a good sense of humour because dogs certainly are humbling at times!
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