Like humans, dogs have different characters! I work with real dogs, with real challenges, in real situations and you may be struggling with your dog’s behaviour in a few (or many) areas. At times it really isn’t fun anymore, can be quite stressful and you can’t always see a way forward. You just want to be able to:

  • go for a walk without being dragged around by your dog on the lead

  • go for a walk without your dog jumping, growling, barking or lunging at other dogs, animals or people (or all of these..!) on or off lead

  • have friends and family round to the house without the dog constantly pestering them, jumping up, scratching their legs, barking, lunging, nipping or worse

  • hear the doorbell without all hell breaking loose

  • sit peacefully in your garden without the dog barking at everything and charging around your boundary

  • call your dog and it actually comes back to you

  • stop your dog chewing and destroying things

  • stop your dog from being stressed, including tail chasing, pacing and panting in and around the house

  • stop your dog being anxious, barking and/or whining when you leave it on its own

I know how several of those feel. 

After years of very well behaved dogs, we had a dog with several of the above issues. We had him from a puppy, he is gorgeous and loving but has an anxious character, not helped by being attacked by another dog. His reactivity after that event became so bad that we briefly considered if he would be better being re-homed.

But he is an awesome family dog and, despite 5 other dog trainers not being able to help us over the course of 3 years, we would not give up on him. Following months of research I found a better way and spent a year training to better understand how dogs think, why they behave in a certain way and what is important to them whilst living in the human world.  Real dogs!

By putting in place the Dog Calming Code and the 5 Golden Rules, we started to win over his mind and gained his respect with a calm, consistent, firm but fair approach.  We now have a balanced and happy dog in most situations but who can still be pretty cautious around certain other high energy dogs. He brings us joy every day. Our other dog, whilst not nervous or reactive in any way, has also benefited from this approach, recently being certified as a therapy dog for visiting elderly care homes.