Testimonials

Time after time after consultations the words contented, relaxed, happy and stress-free are used to describe the change in their dogs. In almost every case the same words could be used about the owners.

AJ Pulling on lead Separation anxiety Demanding attention	AJ is a year old Dalmatian already at this early age a large, powerful dog who was very over exuberant. He mugged visitors to the home demanding attention, stole food, pulled on the lead when out on a walk and suffered separation anxiety. Josie, AJ’s owner, is a physiotherapist, so although she took him with her whenever possible it was obviously not a long-term viable proposition to continue to do so. I visited and worked with both Josie and AJ and formulated a programme for them both to follow. As you can see, due to Josie’s commitment things went well. “Just thought I’d drop you a quick note to inform you of AJ’s continued progress. Since your visit A.J and I have continued to work hard on the 4 elements and I am pleased to report AJ is now enjoying a much calmer life. He is much calmer in the home; he lies calmly on his bed, follows me instead of rushing ahead of me and rarely jumps on anybody. He will walk on the lead without pulling the majority of the time and we are now even going running together! Next month we start agility training so they’ll be no stopping us! read more…▼ “He sleeps calmly in the utility room while I am at work without any signs of anxiety although I don’t quite trust him to leave him alone in the rest of the house yet! “Our lives are wonderful together compared to only 1 month ago, I can’t believe how quickly his behaviour has turned around and we are receiving compliments all the time when we’re out walking regarding his behaviour which is great! “You have been central to this turn around and I am so grateful to you for explaining dog behaviour to me in such a clear and practical way and I know that it has made AJ a happier dog and will hopefully make me safer in my interactions with many dogs in the future that need physiotherapy. “Thank you so much, please feel free to use any parts of this e-mail in your testimonial section if it will encourage more dog owners to use dog listening methods, Josie and AJ”
Rory Human trust Aggression Biting	Rory is a Greyhound rescue adopted from the Dogs Trust by my client Jill and her family. Rory had been badly let down by humans before coming to his wonderful new home and loving family. Experience had shown him that humans can’t be trusted and so when uncertain about what was going on he would revert to defensive aggression and had both growled at and bitten family members. On one occasion he had bitten Jill’s husband and dragged him from the sofa to the floor. Many families would have returned him to the rescue centre at this point but Jill and her family were determined to save this dog. At the consultation it soon became clear that Rory was a sweetheart and wanted nothing more than to chill out in a safe loving environment. He was already there but my job was to show the family how to interact with Rory so that there was no pressure put on him and he could relax. The great joy of my work is that almost without exception my clients are positive minded and will do anything to keep their best friend happy. read more…▼ In October 2008 I posted on my blog: A Stressful Time For Dogs: Dealing with Bonfire night and the Christmas period, times of huge stress for dogs. Jill posted the following comment on there: I wish I had read this before Christmas and unwittingly put my dog in a stressful situation. But it did mean we called out Robin in February and things will now improve. Robin showed us that we had to take the leadership responsibility from the dog back to ourselves. Its only Day 3 but the family are less worried, more structured, are singing off the same hymn sheet. And Rory, a retired grey hound from The Dogs Trust, lay for 4 hours mesmerised by Robin without his trademark growl and seems to have a renewed spring in his step. It will take more time to see if we can achieve a relaxed, non threatening dog. But so far not one growl.. ..Phew. Thank you so much Robin. I will keep you posted. Sometime later I received the following email, how I love my job. “Hi Robin Rory and we are going from strength to strength – everyone very relaxed, very tail waggy and now lets me try to take a ball out of his mouth when we play catch – I haven’t succeeded yet but there is no hint of aggression or him pulling away. Its lovely how everything gets better and better – we play more with him because he doesn’t growl at us and that makes him happier which relaxes us. The circle goes round. We are still maintaining our alpha roles and that is getting to be a well grounded in habit with us. Having you talk to all of us made us all follow the same rules.. I hope things calm down for you soon so you can enjoy each moment more – its too easy to forget to smile about those things that are going well when we are so busy. Smile now for us because you saved a dog from re-homing and saved us from failing as dog owners. Kind regards Jill”
Kylie Cat interaction Sleeping anxeity Recall problems	Kylie is a Husky who on moving to her new home and family found it very difficult to live along side the resident cats and chickens as well as having problems sleeping and recalling on the walk. As always, following the consultation, a full Action Plan was prepared. The clients were now equipped with the knowledge to amend his behaviour. “Thought we would update you on the progress Kylie has made since you visited us in September. Our main concerns were Kylie and the cats; Kylie and our chickens; Kylie sleeping at night and not howling for the duration. “Kylie has now accepted the cats as senior members of her pack (the picture is not posed but just where they were when I came through). This seems to have been achieved by treating the cats as the senior members including feeding them before her and adressing the cats first when we come home and the 4 elements. read more…▼ “We allow Kylie out in the garden with the chickens loose and so far so good. We do not do this for long periods but when the chickens are in their run Kylie generally completely ignores them. “Overall your visit has been hugely successful with a more controllable and happy Kylie; thank you. We still have some work on recall although we have had some off the lead success and continue to progress with the basic commmands. Euan and Isobel”
Harry Problems in cars	Harry has problems travelling by car causing extreme distress, pacing, barking and screaming throughout the journey. This is bad news for Harry as he is dropped at his owners mothers house every morning for daycare. This involves a journey of at least 20 minutes in heavy traffic twice a day. “Thought I’d just drop you a line to say that Harry on the return trip from Mum’s to our house didn’t make a noise or walk round in circles two days in a row. He did a little bit on the journey in but not much compared to what he has done, and today even though I was 30 mins late (the alarm clock didn’t go off) he didn’t utter a word! “Dunc’s converted, oh ye of little faith! Ha, we showed him, he’s been telling everyone what a change there has been in Harry! I have also signed your petition. You’re magic you are! Helen”