About Us

Mike is a retired Greater Manchester Police Officer who served 30 years with the force and was a Police Dog Handler for 17 of those years. Working in some of the most troublesome areas of the force, his police dog was utilised on an almost daily basis. This gave Mike a great deal of experience in some very testing circumstances.

Having retired from the police, Mike became a trainer of not only pet dogs, but also Personal Protection Dogs which became personal protectors to families all over the country.

Not all police dog handling is about biting and attacking people, it is also about a very high level of training in obedience, searching for property and tracking to name just a few disciplines.

Discovering the skills that Mike had, he was approached by a group of security guards from different companies who, asked him to become their trainer and become part of NASDU (National Association of Security Dog Users). He would therefore be able to train them, assess their suitability, and licence them as security dog handlers in levels 2 and 3 General Purpose dog handling.

If your desire is to become a NASDU qualified dog handler, to train in Personal Protection, to have fun doing tracking, agility or indeed, just improve your ability in handling your own dog, these skills are available at South Forest Farm.

Rob grew up around German Shepherds and has been involved in dog training since he was 8 years old! He previously worked with the British Transport Police and has aided many police investigations with the help of his dogs. Rob currently has 13 dogs of his own and has passed his passion for dog training on to his son who works alongside him.

Rob is a qualified general-purpose patrol dog handler as well as a proactive/passive drug dog handler. He offers 1-2-1 pet obedience training and has previously trained and supplied dogs for the Home Office as well as police and prison services across the UK. He has also supplied dogs to be used both in war zones and commercial businesses as drug and explosive detection dogs.

• NASDU level 3 proactive drugs dog course completed with Ralph (Cocker Spaniel) – 2016.
• High fields doors supervisor course completed – 2015.
• NASDU level 3 passive drugs dog course completed – 2016.
• Handcuff course completed – 2016.
• 2019 – due to complete an explosive detection course
• 2019 – General police dog course level 3
• TASKA Proactive drugs dog Licence September 2019.

I have been involved with the training of dogs since 2009. I am an ACPO/NPCC general purpose dog instructor, and hold a level 3 certificate in canine psychology, I also hold a diploma in search dog services. In 2019 myself and my dog were awarded the Order of Merit. (canine OBE).

A firm believer in training high standards, knowing that whatever we ask of our dogs we know they will perform to the best of their ability.

I have a sound working knowledge of all training methods and up to date legislation in relation to working dogs.