Isn’t it frustrating when your pet does something that you don’t know how to stop? You get all sorts of advice from well meaning friends, but you still can’t stop it. You get embarrassed – after all, it’s only dog training!

But why should you know what makes a dog tick? Who taught you? Where did you learn? You don’t study it at school. There must be a secret to it...

For years dog trainers have tried to persuade us, the dog owning public, that there is something special about the ability to train dogs. They invoke some special method, mysticism or secret that makes them better than anyone else. Well, allow me to let you in to a secret: there are no “secrets”.

Scientists have conducted a tremendous amount of research into canine behaviour, and dog trainers have an accumulation of trial and error principles that have worked for them in the past, but the two rarely meet. The science is often hidden in obscure journals, and difficult to read. The trainers may have done it before, but don’t know why it works and what to do if it doesn’t.

I’ve combined twenty-six years of practical experience at the top levels of professional dog training with a post-graduate diploma, with distinction, in companion animal behaviour counselling from the University of Southampton, an internationally recognised centre of excellence for animal studies.

Pet behaviour counselling is a growing service offered to owners with problem pets, and goes beyond the normal remit of trainers. It covers problems such as: separation distress, aggression; phobias; anxiety; in fact, almost anything considered to be a problem by the owner. If you have a pet with a problem behaviour that you would like improved, please continue to the pet behaviour referrals page.