About Us
At Thornfield we aim to bring out the best in every dog we own. We bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to our breeding and training of dogs. Sally is an Animal Welfare Scientist and Canine/Feline Behaviourist with more than 20 years experience training dogs. We are committed to best practice breeding, raising and positive reinforcement based training protocols. As registered ANKC breeders with a strong interest in dog sports we are members of our state governing body, DOGS Victoria (Member number: 3100023903) as well as The Victorian Gundog Club (VGC), The Gippsland Retrieving Club, K9 Agility Club and The Dalmatian Club of Victoria. Sally instructs at K9 Agility Club, is President of the VGC and is involved in maintaining the club website and facebook pages, running training days and organising retrieving trials as both Secretary and Manager. Sally was a member of the Agility Nationals 2018 Working Group which was recently held in Victoria and served on DOGS Victoria's Management Committee for 2 years. Sally currently works in the livestock innovation space as an expert in animal behaviour, welfare and learning. On occasion she delivers guest lectures at the University of Melbourne and in public forums.
We breed field-bred English Springer Spaniels very occasionally and pups are carefully placed in homes committed to giving them a "job" - whether it be hunting, retrieving, field trialling, agility, obedience, rally-o, tracking, nose works or active family homes. Where possible we health test our dogs and always aim for temperament, type and true working ability. We take great pride in supporting our puppy buyers, celebrating their achievements - however big or small - and being a trusted source of information for the life of the dog. You can find our Dogzonline profile here.
Our own dogs compete successfully in retrieving, agility, obedience and endurance tests, from local events to State and National competitions. They've had roles in short films, worked with Josh Thomas and displayed their skills at a Food and Wine Festival event. Above all our dogs are well-loved companions who happily switch off after a fun day of training.
© Thornfield English Springer Spaniels 2019