Leave your dog in certified hands
Fetch! is a full-service canine care facility in Bloemfontein (SA)
committed to providing both human and animal clients with consistently professional
services at an acceptable price. We offer an excellent selection of dog-related
services: comfy overnight accommodation, doggy day care, certified puppy classes,
and even take-home products from our "barkery".
Nestled on 2 peaceful hectares of natural Free State land, Fetch! is ideally
located: close enough for travel but also secluded from the noise and bustle of
suburbia. Rolling lawns, wide, open spaces, and surrounding veldt offers our
furry guests the perfect environment to enjoy their peaceful canine retreat – perhaps
a little too much! Our farm-style facility boasts two grassed exercise yards, three farm
paddocks, one swimming pool, plenty of
interactive toys and obstacles to navigate, and storage for personal items. The
property is highly secure, clean, and well-maintained for your peace of mind. The
perimeter is surrounded by 2m-high solid brick walls, electric fencing,
fully-functional alarm system, and 24-hour surveillance cameras. In addition, we have very
strict vaccination rules for the premises (across all services) so that all animals entering,
visiting, or residing on the property are current on their vaccinations and parasite treatments.
Training Philosophy
At the heart of every service is our training philosophy. Fetch! promotes strictly
modern, force-free training methods meaning that pups and dogs are trained by
motivational techniques. Motivational training is based on the theory that one can use
the natural drives of a dog (the drive for food, play, and prey) to develop desired
behaviours and to prevent undesired ones from surfacing. Therefore, we mainly use food
rewards, with the occasional use of toys, to gently encourage the animal into the
behaviours that we desire.
Positive is, however, not permissive. We believe in natural, holistic dog care and
management. This means that discipline and routine are just as important as one-on-one
attention, exercise, and cuddles; and our canine guests respect us for this. We do not
believe in anthropomorphising dogs: treating them like humans. We believe that fresh
air, sand, grass, water, veldt, and mud, plenty of mental stimulation, quiet
surroundings, and music are essential to a dog's physical, mental, and emotional
well-being. Subsequently, a lot of planning and forethought has gone into the
construction of the boarding units as well as the design of daily schedules because we
want to ensure that each dog's experience at Fetch! is truly enjoyable and enriching.
We
offer our clients choices and upgrades because it is our personal aim to know each dog
as an individual and attend to their unique preferences and needs accordingly. Our
private, small-scale facility has been hand-picked and designed to allow just that, and
this is what sets us apart from our competitors.
Meet our Team
Candice
Manager
Founder (2014)
Candice holds an M.A. in Culture Studies (i.e. Human-Animal Studies with a
specific focus on dog-human partnerships and training techniques in dog
sport). Her preceding degrees: B.A. (majoring in psychology and business
management) and Honours in Psychology (with a focus on Animal-Assisted
Therapy).
She began formally training dogs in 2011. Raven and Candice came 2nd in their
Beginner group and placed 1st in the Novice Obedience class at the 2015 KUSA
Winter Classic. Bindi and Candice are in training for IPO trials: a German dog
sport consisting of tracking, obedience, and protection work. Candice was elected
as a dog trainer on the committee of the local GSDFSA dog club in 2012 where she
went on to assist in training GSDs of all ages using motivational techniques.
Upon diverging from the GSD club in 2014, Fetch! Puppy School was opened in
July of the same year. The school became so popular that over 30 puppies graduated from
the program within the first year. Candice then went on to establish Fetch! K9
Services: a personal dream for many years, which officially opened its doors on 2
February 2015. The doggy day care program and boarding facility has afforded her the
invaluable opportunity to expand on her knowledge in dog behaviour, training, and
management on a daily basis.
Beyond dog clubs and entrepreneurial endeavours, she has attended numerous dog
training and behavioural seminars conducted by acclaimed dog behaviourists and
professional trainers in SA, and frequently travels to Johannesburg for
supplementary training with her mentor. Furthermore, her M.A. topic allowed
her to travel extensively throughout SA shadowing some of the top trainers in SA
as well as research a vast range of training and kennel management methods.
Candice's most recent achievement is her Certification in Canine Hydrotherapy
(February 2018) with the aims of adding qualified hydrotherapy and puppy swim
sessions to the Fetch! services by mid-year 2018.
Margaret
DDC Facilitator
Joined the team in 2015
Margaret became an active member of the KUSA Bloemfontein Dog Training Club in
2000. She was then awarded the position of Club Secretary in 2004. Her role on
the management team has involved the co-ordination of all BFN KUSA championship
shows, as well as the 2010 KUSA Nationals Show. Margaret was also a trainer at
the club from 2004, which entailed training dogs of all breeds and ages. She has
been a dog owner and handler since 1997 (20 years) and her dogs have been
awarded various titles: Ratty held several Elementary Beginner titles, Sable
achieved Novice Obedience and BH, and Phoenix reached the A test as well as held
a BH title. Margaret competed with both Sable and Phoenix in IPO trials as well.
She has had the privilege of training under prolific national and international
dog trainers such as Joanne Flemming-Plumb, Glynis Hendricks, Vera Drummond, and
Grant Higgo. She has also attended clicker training and TTouch seminars.
Margaret has worked with numerous dogs over the years making use of motivational
techniques (food and toy rewards), and is currently mentoring handlers of
all-breed dogs aged 6 months and older at a local dog training club.
Margaret hopes to enter her dogs, Juno and Aiden, into KUSA obedience competitions
in the future, and has been a loyal employee at Fetch! K9 Services from
day one, whereby her daily workings with the dogs serves to expand her knowledge
in canine behaviour and management.
Our Values
The Fetch! team really places a high value on openness, honesty, and feedback. We like
to be as up-front with our clients as possible, including the times when we ourselves make
mistakes, and we believe that this is what sets us apart from other animal care facilities. Our
Terms of Service (which are openly available to the public) clearly state our
conditions and policies, while the House Rules offer guidelines to clients
visiting the premises. Finally, the Code of Ethics conveys what Fetch!
managers and staff promise our clients when they participate in our services.
NOTE: These three core documents must be allowed to expand and grow with our
business. All are, therefore, ‘living documents’ meaning that they are subject to change at any
time that management deems it necessary for the benefit of all involved. Clients are encouraged
to familiarise themselves with these docs before enrolling their pet in any of our services.
