CANINE PSYCHOLOGY

MORE THAN 50 YEARS' EXPERIENCE

I have had interaction with every breed known in the UK, and also crossbreeds and bitzas! Regardless of whether they bite people, dogs or cats there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is not a problem I haven’t helped resolve, and it is all done quietly, calmly, and with compassion. I defend dogs in court where their owners are being prosecuted under the DDA (1991), and to date no dog has been seized or destroyed that I’ve worked with.

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When your dog develops a problem (be it a rescue dog or a dog you’ve owned from a puppy), to you it is an ongoing nightmare. When your dog becomes more of a chore than a pleasure, that’s where I come in! I can improve both your lives in one session. All problems are dealt with and I leave you with a calm dog that understands what is wanted from you, and you, as an owner, understand why the problems occurred and how to continue to avoid them.

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Life for dogs has changed dramatically over the last 30 or so years. They are more and more having to fulfil the role of surrogate child, and less and less being appreciated for the wonderful animal they are... a DOG! A dog doesn’t care about material things, about who you are or what you are, where you live or if you're a pauper or a king. They don’t care about yesterday nor about tomorrow. They live in the moment – they are loyal, fun, cute and brighten every day.

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Dogs do sits, downs, recalls and retrieves not because they are born doing it. They do it to please us, and what everyone regards as essential basic training are no more than people tricks for dogs. A dog sees a 'sit' no differently from sneezing on command... they do it to please you.

A cat or a chicken can learn the same commands, but no-one bothers to train them because it takes time and they can’t be bullied into it. With positive motivation any human and animal can learn quickly what is expected of them. Us humans have a habit of getting frustrated, anxious and stressed when a dog commanded to do something doesn’t jump to it straight away. But humans rarely behave like that around a cat, a rabbit or a hamster! A dog is an animal too, and when it isn’t doing what we want, it is because they don’t understand, or never learnt what it is you want them to do! So, they need to survive and if they haven’t got a calm, assertive authority figure (resource giver) then they take control. And it is this control that creates most of the problems dogs suffer from. Pulling on the lead, claiming your space, controlling doors, stairs, windows, fences... there are none of these things in the natural world! Dogs are born followers, not leaders, so they become frustrated and their behavioural problems grow.

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Doesn’t mean you’re a bad owner – just an owner who didn’t practise calm leadership from the word go. Animals follow your energy, so if you quietly praise the behaviours you really want and ignore those you don’t, you get the dog you yearn to have. As humans we are very negative. We yell, shout, get angry and stressed when a dog isn’t doing what we want. When they are lying quietly and giving you space no-one says a word. Try to see it from your dog’s point of view. He doesn’t speak a word of English (or any other language), he watches your body language, and when that body language always appears angry or anxious he switches off until you’re feeling better!

So screaming ‘come here or I’ll kill you’ across the park when your dog is having a ‘catch me if you can’ moment will have the opposite effect to the one you want! I don’t change your personality or break your dog’s spirit; quite the opposite! But I do show you how, in a split second, an excitable dog, can become a calm one! Some of the funniest problems I’ve been called out to help with are a dog that ate through the doors when the ice-cream van arrived in the street; a dog obsessed with its own drool; a dog that would only walk backwards; a dog that would pretend to 'die’ when walking across a main road and a dog that attacked trees, streams, clouds and grass. All successfully cured, all requiring much lateral thinking!