Meet our Nutritional Consultant

Name Job role

Dr Jacqueline Boyd Nutritional Consultant

Skinner’s Nutritional Consultant, Dr Jacqueline Boyd, starts her day walking, taking her four Cocker Spaniels out at 5.45am, including recent addition, Mini-Moo. Her dogs are all fed on Field & Trial Superior and Mini-Moo is fed on Field & Trial Puppy. Jackie takes two of the dogs out separately for a walk as they require slightly less training, so she can then concentrate on walking training with Austin, and puppy training with Mini-Moo when she is back as they require slightly more attention!When Jackie returns to the house, she gets ready has breakfast and is at her desk by 8.30am, ready to start the working day. Jackie’s day can vary from researching subjects in the morning and writing articles in the afternoon, to taking nutritional calls and advising paw-rents the best diet their dog can be on. Once a week she spends a day at Skinner’s HQ where she catches up with meetings and general office admin, sometimes the dogs come along too for trip to see everyone at the office!

Her highs of job – getting to apply science to real life situations. Jackie loves being able to apply scientific findings to help dogs be healthier, “happier”, perform better and have great partnerships with their owners/handlers. She also feels massively privileged to work with an amazing team of people at Skinner’s who are all working towards the same goal and are as passionate about dogs as she is.

At the end of a working day, Jackie enjoys taking her dogs out for a long walk or sometimes a run (up to about 5k), taking part in yoga or Pilates and glow fit. She also love movies, great boxsets of TV dramas, good food, the occasional gin and reading; I’m a proper bibliophile. However, her main “hobby” would be working and training her four spaniels for agility and gundog work – this is where her business and pleasure sometimes collide!

How many dogs do you have and what are they?

4 Cocker Spaniels

What are they fed on?

Three older ones on Field & Trial Superior

Mini-moo is fed on Field & Trial Puppy

Highs of the job

Getting to apply science to real-life situations. I love being able to apply scientific findings to help dogs be healthier, “happier”, perform better and have great partnerships with their owners/handlers. I am also massively privileged to work with an amazing team of people at Skinner’s who are all working towards the same goal and are as passionate about dogs as I am.

Lows of the job

There aren’t lows as such – I feel really lucky to get to do a job directly related to my personal and professional interests but that is maybe where I do struggle slightly. So much of my life outside working hours revolves around dogs, I often find I am “on duty” almost all the time for advice, chats, debates, and discussion. Linked to that, however, is my insatiable thirst for knowledge, which means I often have my head buried in a book or in scientific papers, again related to animal science and canine nutrition specifically…….. I perhaps don’t have a clear boundary between business and pleasure!

Hobbies

I run (up to 5k), take part in yoga and Pilates and also “Glow fit” (basically dancing in a dark studio to dance tunes while wearing neon lycra and waving glowsticks!) – I love these and they help keep me physically and mentally healthy. I also love movies, great box sets of TV dramas, good food, the occasional gin, and reading; I’m a proper bibliophile. However, my main “hobby” would be working and training my four spaniels for agility and gundog work – this is where my business and pleasure sometimes collide!

How do you start your day?

5.45am alarm goes off
Lets dogs out in the garden for wee
Make 2 pints of tea!
I feed the dogs 45 mins- 1 hour before taking them out (they eat 1/3 for breakfast and 2/3 for dinner)
I take two older dogs out for a walk, Austin separately for walking training and Mini-Moo for puppy training.

What is an average day at work for you?

Desk by 8.30, has 30 minutes checking emails before research topics she is going to be writing articles on.
Sometimes she talks to owners on the phone giving nutritional advice for their dogs.
On-site consultations
Come to the office once a week for meetings and catching up