Dog Training & Behavioral Therapist

Pickles is a lovely little Border Terrier who had picked up some bad habits from her older friend, Lucky. Pickles was very excitable and jumpy when I first met her and would bark at other dogs while out on walks. Her owners have worked really hard and Pickles no longer jumps up on guests, is listening well to the owners and recently went for a nice walk with a strange dog. She still has a way to go but is definitely on the right track now. 

Teddy is a wonderfully bright little Shih Tzu who had been taken to puppy training and had done very well, but his very brightness meant that he recognised if someone did something slightly different and as far as he was concerned it was "I don't do that". Dogs literally learn what we teach them and are not very good at generalising so if you teach them to sit with a hand action and/or with a treat they will often not do the command without the hand action/ treat.  This leads a lot of owners to say "my dog won't do it without a treat" which is not entirely correct.  It is just because that was the way they were taught originally..  Once owners know this is how a dog thinks they can then help their dog get it right and lots of training problems can be solved quickly.   

Kelly is a very bright little Chihuahua girl puppy.  She is confident, but like many small dogs, she can potentially get hurt trying to negotiate peoples feet, steps/stairs, holes in the ground and all the other obstacles that small dogs have to deal with in life. Owners can worry about "babying" their small dogs, but Kelly's owners have just the right attitude.  They understand the difference between keeping Kelly safe while she meets people, dogs etc while not preventing her from experiencing the world and are doing an excellent job of training and socialising their puppy.

Cassie is a beautiful Border Collie who suffered from many of the common problems that Border Collies are prone to when living in an urban environment. She was excitable, noise sensitive and reactive on the lead. She pulled badly and I worried that she might seriously injure her owner on a walk. We got her walking nicely on an anti-pull training collar which took care of that immediate problem. Since then her owner has been working successfully on dealing with her other issues and I see improvements every tome that I meet them.

Pearl is a delightful young Labradoodle who is just about to enter adolescence. She had developed a habit of jumping up to say hello and this was an issue with the young grandchildren in the family. We were able to establish some rules quickly and show Pearl that she could have much more fun if she plays nicely!

Tin Tin came to the UK from India and was having a few problems adjusting to London life. He's a big strong boy with lots of energy. The owners are now focusing his energy onto listening to their commands and we managed to curb his enthusiasm on walks with some lead training.

Tara is a retired Greyhound.  Racing Greyhounds are usually kept in pairs in kennels so when they come to our homes they have to adjust to home life (which a Greyhound always loves!!).  They also have to adjust to being without another dog and can have separation anxiety as a result.  Greyhounds can struggle with stairs and different floor surfaces simply because they haven't experienced it before.  They also tend to react to seeing small animals when out on a walk as they have been trained to chase them.  Tara's problems were typical and her owners have been working diligently on overcoming her anxieties. She is slightly unusual in that most Greyhounds are really interested in their owners so can seem aloof to family, visitors and people they meet, but Tara is very friendly and delights in having attention as well as obviously adoring her owners.   

Benji is a very fearful Cavalier King Charles/Pug cross who was getting very upset and behaving as if he had to protect his owners against visitors and when visiting other peoples houses.  He also couldn't cope with going to cafes because people would constantly approach him as he is such a good looking dog.  Once his owners were able to demonstrate to Benjii that this wasn't needed and instead he should focus on them and follow their lead he became a much more relaxed and happy dog.  He still has fears so it will take time and lots of practice to build up his confidence, but his owners now have the training techniques to help Benji and have been working hard to turn the problem around with good results so far.  

Perry is a lovely natured long haired miniature Dachshund.  Now he has got to his adolescence he has been exhibiting some common bad behaviours such as barking, pulling on the lead and not listening when he is called.  He lives on a very busy road and as he loves people he tries to get out of the front door to greet people and try to visit the neighbours which is dangerous for any dog.  He responded really well to training and I am looking forward to seeing him and his owner again.    

Bruno is a French Bulldog puppy who was getting over excited, mouthing his owners feet and generally not listening.  As he is their first dog they weren't quite sure how to tackle this and communicate with Bruno so he understood what they wanted.  They have worked hard with their training and Bruno was behaving significantly better on the follow up visit.  I look forward to seeing him as he grows up.