The social network
Philip Reynolds speaks to Jo Perrott, founder of the Ladies Working Dog Group, an online community for women dog handlers that is breaking new ground
Dogged would be a fair description of Jo Perrott. To overcome one brain tumour takes courage; to overcome two, both within seven years, takes a particular kind of fortitude, something that Jo has in spades.
The salutary effect of Jo’s life-threatening medical condition was the inspiration for a life-changing business – the Ladies Working Dog Group. And changing the lives of the thousands of women in its community who work dogs it is.
That’s right, thousands.
It all started at the point when Jo was, perhaps, at her lowest ebb. The return of her tumour resulted in her mental health spiralling downwards and by 2015 she was beset by panic attacks and was reluctant to leave her house in Aberdare, in the valleys of South Wales. That was until her father, Ray Sheldon, persuaded Jo to go beating with him one day.
Change
It was a day that changed her life: “I was absolutely hooked. I loved every minute and did not get time to think about my own problems.” What hooked Jo in particular was her father’s dogs – their energy and the way they responded to him. “I just had so much fun. The dogs were so well trained.”
She says that from the moment that day when she started working Grace, one of her father’s dogs, she felt peace. However, Grace only had eyes for Ray and as soon as she heard his whistle, she was off back to him. Jo wanted ‘in’ and determined that she needed to get her own dog to start to working with.
Jo grew up on a smallholding on old National Coal Board land, and was familiar with riding horses and enjoying the country life with her brother. But dogs – at least, working them – were new to her.
Enter Bob, aged five months, who while too young to be out in the field became a constant companion of Jo’s and aided her recovery as she came to terms with the fact that her tumour had returned.
Obstacles
Being new to the game, Jo tried to seek out like-minded people on social media and encountered some rather old-fashioned and
“Ninety-seven per cent of the men are great but 3% are very vocal about the fact that they do not believe you should be there”
entrenched views on women’s participation in working dogs.
Jo says that some of the comments posted by men in the dog groups were “inappropriate” and, at times, downright nasty. “What’s always been the case in many traditions is that you will see a lot of men; women are there but the thought of women going out shooting for the day ...
“What tends to be the barrier is that 97% of the men are great but 3% are very vocal about [the fact that] they do not believe you should be there.”
But you can’t keep a good woman down and with her father’s encouragement she started her own Facebook group for ‘women beaters and pickers-up’. Over time, this evolved into what is now the Ladies Working Dog Group (LWDG).
On the social media that Jo initially encountered she says that women who were keen on working dogs would be “massively belittled for asking a ‘stupid’ question. This, she says, had a corrosive effect on the women who were keen to learn and were “too scared to ask another question” for fear of being shown up.
Alternative
Her group slowly but surely circumvented these antediluvian attitudes by bringing a community of women together to talk about their dogs. The past five years has seen it go from strength to strength and it now boasts more than 3,500 members worldwide and nearly 13,000 Instagram followers.
Jo says it is a community that is “constantly helping one another”, seeking and giving advice, talking about their experiences with their dogs. And if it has not gone according to plan out in the field: “We pick you up and dust you down and put you back out there; if it’s going wrong and it’s ruining your day it’s a killer for the confidence.”
On a practical level, being part of the LDWG community affords members of all skill levels the chance to access online masterclasses, weekly group coaching sessions and myriad expert advice (yes, from men, too) about what to do and what not to do when working dogs. It is also a forum for just a good old natter, something that has been invaluable over the past year as the world has adapted to the coronavirus pandemic. The LWDG even has its own virtual ‘local’, the Dog & Duck, where matters can be discussed over ‘happy hour’.
Jo says women were even more isolated during the pandemic. “A lot of older women
live on their own. We gave them a way to chat about their dogs.” She describes it as “real life online”.
Also, “It’s about building their confidence; what they [the members] need to be doing,” she says.
There are regional sections that have developed and when we return to a post-pandemic semblance of normality it is Jo’s hope that members around the country can meet in person for training days and to work their dogs together.
Talking to her, it is obvious the love and debt she feels she owes to her father, Ray, who died in 2019, aged 63. He was the person who encouraged Jo to face the world again and he was the ‘master’ when it came to handling dogs.
Legacy
She credits him with everything she has achieved and says that the LWDG is “his legacy”. She says that when the group was a winner in the ‘Triumph Over Adversity’ category of the recent (virtual) Rural Business Awards, she was “choked up” remembering her father and all the encouragement he gave her and smiled at the irony that the LWDG was “inadvertently started by a man”.
Jo says her father was her “main guidance all the time” and another one of his legacies is the small line of springers that Jo breeds from. She currently has two of her own, Ella and Buddy, who are both three. She says Buddy is “the better dog” [in the field], something her father saw instantly when Jo was out working them. “He just sort of knew. The dogs just loved him.”
She says she could have sat and watched her father work the dogs all day long and that if she is a 10th as good as him, “I would be happy”.
Jo, like other members of the community, is still learning how to handle a gundog. She is honing her craft under the guidance of the team at the nearby estate of Glanhonddu. She is often accompanied by her eldest child, Charlotte, 21, a student at Swansea University, who helps Jo with the IT side of things for the LWDG. Jo’s husband, Matt, who helps to run an outdoor activity centre in the Brecon Beacons, encouraged Jo on the shooting front, so she now goes both shooting and beating. Her gun of choice is a Beretta Silver Pigeon 20-bore.
But it is her dogs and the group that are the focus of Jo’s energies. She wants to build the group in different areas, including pushing online training for members in North America. “Dog training in the US and Canada are very different and a lot [of people] want to train their dogs the way we do,” she says. The LWDG has already started with this. She also wants the women to get used to filming themselves working their dogs and post the results to help them improve through forum discussions.
Talking to Jo, I have a feeling that the aforementioned membership figures for the LWDG will only increase. She says that she is “truly humbled to be part of it”, a community that comes together for the mutual benefit of all of its members.
Incidentally, her father’s dog, Grace, has come to the end of her days working in the field. However, she is still very much part of the family and now lives with Jo, who, all things considered, has achieved her own state of grace.