The Awesome Reggie, Recall when out in new places is tough .... well he is a springer lol.

Key focus areas are learning to disengage from the environment and re focus on his guardian. He needs to learn value in proximity and practice orientation back to mum ... we can add in some "collar touch" returns and release so we can prevent the "keep away" game etc. 

We aslo started the Boundary game for Visitors and other palces like Cafe's, parks and busy environments to give him a Job to do.

Loki is another very excitable young man, so noises, movement, visitors, postmen are all a challenge -- the walk is also tough because of this -- but a programme of repeated short but good quality walks helps him process information and learn how to be calmer on the walk itself, we have also taught the tail whip game so we can burn his energy in a focussed way and give the owner a much needed break from "having" to go on stressful walks.. Loki is a really loving dog but needs to learn how to calm down too.

The Stunning Shiro, she is such a sweet girl; however after eating she becomes stimulated and nips at moving feet.

So we applied some management controls so we can feed differently and then some work on feet moving being a good thing - so feet move Shiro gets paid.

Opia has become very Hyper Excited to alot of stimuli -- even when entering the back garden. So the program for Opia is one of Calmness and focus thinking in arousal.

Boundary Games will form a large part of her program and completing behaviours in stimulating environments. We also started some desensitisation to her harness and lead.

The lovely Luna - a Collie X Lab - highy excitable and remains in that state for a while ... but with a host of Calming and focus games and getting her to work for food we had some massive moments ... sat on a bed while the door was opened, ignoring the knock at the door that just had her in frenzy before !! ... Got home to this message ... "Amazing job Jon, really good having you here tonight with us. Already in discussion on how we're going to implement what we've learnt tonight. Luna is totally pooped and took herself off to her bed not long after you left hehe. Thanks again for tonight and speak soon and the following day ..... " Fiona got up before Luna to pre-empt the bark. Was straight on the case making Luna "earn" her breakfast. I was able to leave for work without the usual episode this morning as Fi had her focused. So good start! "

The lovely Molly, it was really a strange case as at first we thought separation, then boredom, however it would appear that her issues stem from a lack of confidence around strange and novel stimuli -- this is because the owners can leave with no signs and no reactions seen on the camera, to then pulling down the curtains, it would appear surprise noises have triggered an anxious response -- so we are building a suite confidence and optimism games.

This is Dougie a very bright Lhasa Apso -- who unfortunately lives next to an passegeway so he gets agitated and reactive to people walking passed -- great first session -- disengagement from things that would normally see him going into a barking frenzy. 

Dougie loved the boundary game and was really focussed !!

Say Hello to Joey and Pomeranian that has seen the worst of people but now rescued by an amazing couple who are determined to help this guy. Already he has gone from attacking visitors to playing with them -- He is now my friend and I am so looking forward to seeing him progress.

This is Reggie (right) - with my boy Rebel -- he came down for some games based training and help with passing dogs -- we even managed to work on his nemesis (Cats) -- He is such a sweet, intelligent Boy !!

This was an amazing consult - with Milo being very fearful of walks - even to the point that he would throw himself on the floor and just refuse to move -- In our first session we used a Tug-e-nuff "Clam" filled with ZIWI PEAK and started to roll it in front of him -- before very long we have walked to the top and bottom of the street --- This was truly amazing - Well Done Milo & Fiona - Great Job!!

Meet Maya, a very sweet Akita from Portugal - she is a very intelligent girl who can get excited around other dogs -- We managed lots of lovely calm pass by's with no overly excited behaviours. We also introduced the concept of calmness particularly around when visitors arrive.

I am going to love this case - Poor King suffered a couple of traumatic events early in his life that have seen him become a very scared boy.... again we will be building his confidence and optimism which will aloow him to deal with the stress of our world in a much more productive way and start to move forward.

The Very sweet Brandy, he barks a lot to get attention so we focussed on tiring him out and rewarding him when he was quiet. He also is not a fan of having his head stroked so while we need to respect that and not put too much pressure on - after a good play session he was incredibly comfortable and allowed me to stroke him :)

Working with Bramble last night... lovely in so many ways but he gets into a high arousal/high excitement state very very quickly and this is almost instant when the lead comes out ... then when a scary/worrysome/anxious event happens..
in Bramble's case another dog he moves into fear ... and he cannot move down the correct dog-dog interaction chain and this then can end in negative events..... we worked on whip it game to remove excessive energy, then calmness in boundary games, reward nothing and departure protocols, short walks (20 - 1min walks) .... Bramble would start to trigger at another dog even from 40ft away ... food would not distract him ... major break through though was the tug toy ... gel loved it and on the night a dog walked passed less than 4 feet away and Bramble did not even look .. he just stayed playing tug ?.... note of caution ... tug causes arousal to go up so can; if the dog will leave the toy, make the reaction worse to the other dog so really monitor .. but for Bramble he stayed on the toy (introduced as soon as he saw the dog .. ie dog = tug game.. positive outcome)

The Very lovely Charley and keith (puppy) ... When visitors arrive through the front door Charley can get a little over excited and over aroused which results in her redirecting onto to Keith if he approaches - Some Great work on Boundary Games coupled with Door Protocols saw Charley wait on the Boundary - remaining Calm while the visittor came in -- a work in Progress but a wonderful start :)

The Beautiful Peps a six year old Maltese who is a very nervous rescue dog from Thailand. We made great progress on our first session and even got him to meet our stooge dogs and walk passed his arch nemesis's house - a dog that sits in the window and barks at him. We completed a few pass bys and Peps was amazing - Lots of homework and some fun games to help build his confidence ... I love this boy :)

What a beautiful pair - Woody and Buzz are litter mates - Massively excitable and lacking in attention span. Working on Calming protocols and boundary games to help impulse control - The Big WoW moment for the guardians was understanding that these two dogs are so so different - Woody Nervous/Cautious while Buzz is Confident/Bold - They are  also motivated by very different things so the clear message is that train the dog that is in frint of you..... Find the Desire and use that to motivate the dog to work and enjoy trianing.

Chance is a very nervous/fearful JRT -- once he is used to you he is an amzingly sweet little boy. He is very scared of Bikes, Scooters and fast moving things that are close to him.. So we have implemented controlled walks and a programm of desensitisation so he can learn a new preffered behaviour instead of lunging/Barking :)

Ralph and Bertie -- a great pair but very very different (which makes training challenging for their guardians. Ralph (Larger) is very nervous and takes time to settle - Bertie is gregarious and likes to get involved - A great first session saw us engaging Ralph in play, calming down to strangers and reducing his anxiety on walks !!

This is Monty (Front) and Alfie - Alfie is super chilled but Monty at 8 months is a little bit nervous/fearful and this maifests with a barky behaviour around stimuli and lunging (over excitement) around dogs. A great first session with Monty loving the whip game and he did amazing in the back garden with some noise desensitisation. He also managed to calm down enough to meet the stooge dogs - A long way to go but we are on the right path - Oh and we have some baby work to do as in a few months the family will have a new arrival for the dogs to cope with .

Merlin - down for a confidence building session and a meeting with my boy Rebel. 

So pleased for Leo and Lexi and their guardians; Sophie and Jake who have worked so hard with from rescuing from Thailand to extensive training - they have now got Leo and Lexi fully playing with their Rabbit :)

This is 9 week old Juno, we worked on her over excitement and calming protocols, started to teach bite inhibition (Not Bite stopping), soft mouth. Proximity games and seperation desensitisation.

HOW CUTE!!!

This is Izzy and Duke - No issues with these two as I work for some outside agencies and they just required a report on Temperament, this pair were lovely playful and so gentle. Just look at those eys Duke (Tan) looks like he has had eye liner put on.

Narla is a very very very excitable young Malinois -- We completed a full door protocol and used the tail whip to tire her out (a bit anyway). We found that she has a massive drive to play.... if she came across a dog while out she would lunge and pull, food held no interest at the point she saw the dog (20 feet away); when we introduced the toy she would play with that even with the dog within 2 feet -- so we now use toys while out to focus her behaviour. Again she did so well - I'm looking forward to the next session.

The lovely Poppy, she is slightly nervous of new things and noises, Franticly barks at the door Knock .. and gets very anxious when the children are leaving her ... Lots of desensitisation with the Children leaving and coming back with her being rewarded for calm/quiet waits. She learnt how to behavve with the door which is to bark a couple of times then settle for the visitor ro come in -- she started working on moving bikes at low speed and she was a star at the I love my bed game!!

This is Sparky a very nervous Collie, He reacts with Barking/Lunging/Snarling to lots of stimuli including Strangers, vets etc. He also hates the lead and will not let anyone attach it .. There may have been an insignificant event that Sparky has linked the lead to that has created this situation, After a two hour session we got Sparky to here with a big looped lead -- This was a great achievement and the key was keeping Sparky happy and Comfortable at all times.. we used lots of distraction - like the snuffle mat to geive him positive links ... this was a very rewarding day for Sparky, The guardians and myself -- Well done Sparky!!

This is the lovely little Daisy. She is reactive to everything and nothing, she will bark as comfort after a stimulus - Daisy did really well on her walk and at the pub with other dogs around. Her biggest nemesis - Motorbikes - are going to take a bit more time as these really set her off so we have to think carefully about distance and exposure to really help her learn to cope and become more optimistic about them -- but a great first session.

The lovely, lively, little Minnie a 7 month old Labradoodle. Her Guardian has some mobility issues and Minnie is a supercharged ball of excitement sometimes that can lead to over exuberant mouthing and tugging on clothes, Sessions today included Jazz up/Settle down, redirection onto preferred objects, Tail whip game, bed game and door protocol. For 7 months Minnie did amazing and I know she will become the Dog the oewners require - a bit of work required however the signs are already there that she will be amazing :)

Blaze is a Lurcher/Whppet X - our session focused on Drive and Leash Reactivity. I was so pleased that by the end of the session we had her looking at a dog from a road width away and she remained calm and came away when called - this would not have been the case at the start of the session when we needed around 20 road Widths -- great progress Blaze!!

This is Rocky a feisty little Shih Tsu who again suffers with reactivity and alot of over excitement - the focus is leaving the house calmly and walking nicely (firstly on the street) ... the focus is on the QUALITY of the walk not the distance covered!!!.

Rocky did amazing and we started to use the environment as the reward so walk nicely to the lamppost then you can wee ... Great Job!!

This is Keeva a 7 month old Lurcher/Staffy X. She is down for socialisation and help to work on distraction in high stimulous areas. We had some good recall away from a group of dogs and rewarded her with continued play and affection -- A reward can be the environment etc .. letting a dog go and play again is a great reward. She did really well today :)

This is Summer a 16 week Malinois X - she is very excitable and becomes very bitey (normal puppy) but with razor sharp teeth she is now beginning to hurt her guardians - we did lots of focus training so we could interrupt and reward a better choice. We started to teach the "I love my Bed" game -- I could not believe how quickly she picked it up... She started tom learn the Door protocol and again learnt this very quickly ---- I love working with young dogs -- you can train immediately - attention spans may be shorter and they may revert each day but the more you do the quicker the Wanted behaviour becomes established !!!   

This is Layla a lovely young Rottweiler - she is excitable and jumps up quite a lot - Her guardians mum often struggles with this as she is a big girl... We did the Door session and were able to get the guardians Mum in the house with Layla calm and absolutely no jumping up at all. 

I am really looking forward to seeing Layla progress as I do have a soft spot for this amazing breed.

This is Rocky a dog I saw some time ago, I have returned to find a massively improved dog (who has grown into a huge fella - still behaves like a puppy)..... Today we worked on recall and remaining close to guardian in the proximity of distractions - On the whole this is other dogs as he wants to go over an dplay etc ..... we used a close bungee tug toy to create fun and enjoyment in proximity to us so he had no need to leave our side - we also used a tail teaser with him on a long line so we could create distance from us while maintaining control and making sure we could recall and reward... An amazing session - we even had him off lead for a short period.

Leo and Lexi are two Bangkaew's rescued from Thailand. I have just made my second visit to check on progress and to move on to getting them desensitised to the giant rabbit that shares the household - I have to say I am so pleased with the progress made - On my first visit Leo pulled and Lexi wouldn't walk -- WOW what a difference in Just Three months -- Lexi walked miles and Leo was constantly checking back in -- The session went so well with the Rabbit we even had both dogs off lead around the Rabbit - to be fair the Rabbit is so feisty they were wise to leave it alone :) 

Recently carried out an assessment on these two beatiful Huskies, Great well rounded dogs - great with people and dogs -- just a real pleasure - Bella (Black and White) is going to be an assistance Dog -- She will be great !!!

Merlin and Wizard - Two Boston's excitable - a little nippy with visitors (due to over excitement). They also reacted to the owner cleaning windows ... Sessions included -- tail whip game to get worn out - sit and wait for visitors. Desensitisation to window cleaning and general Jazz up Settle down training.

Tolly burning energy with her favourite game of chase with her tail teaser!!

Tolly is just a bundle of energy - I so wanted to pinch her she is a full of beans Smooth Haired Fox Terrier. Very very excitable and has a tendancy to go over threshold and become to in your face with visitors. She learnt very quickly and now can sit on her bed and be nice and calm around visitors - on a second visit one of her value visitors arrived and we had no adverse reaction or excessive jumping.

Meet Honey, a lovely little Cavalier who when out on a walk is on High Alert and whom the neighbourhood cat drives mad!!! 

Honey did exceptionaly well and managed to sit calmly near the cat with no reaction. We also managed to get Honey walking without pulling her guardian down the street.

This is Lia, another foreign rescue case - this is a tough one as her impulse control and prey/stimulus drive is incredibly high the focus has to be on calmness - Note this picture was after our session and is the first time she has ever really settled down - This case is going to take a long time and a lot of patience and perseverance. I am hopeful we will get Lia to a more manageable place but in these extreme cases we have to manage everyones expectations correctly.

This is Rudy a very sweet Romanian rescue - he has a sweet disposition but just had some impulse control deficiencies. We had a great session - teaching door control and some basic sut/stay/come. Provided protocls on preventing jumping up (note - to prevent jumping up you need to act before the dog jumps!)

This is Willow a very sweet but nervous Lhasa Apso, She is nervous around new people (took about 1 hr to become comfortable with me), she reacts to the neighbours dog and the cows that place their heads over the back fence ... we did a lot of desensitisation work to help her become comfortable with the cows and the neighbour helped us by bringing their dog out --- Willow did amazing, the owners now need to continue the steady desensitiation (not going to quickly and causing over stimulation). I am so looking forward to seeing how Willow gets on - If day one is anything to go by then she will be amazing!!

A fantastic consultaion with Jesse the Border Collie ... a nervous/fearful/anxious fella who is nervous with strangers ... pulls on a walk .... reacts to dogs, bikes, buses etc (so a typical Collie ?).... he was walking on a loose leash in two hours and let me stroke him after about an hour ..... look at this picture ... a very happy dog ... this is polar opposite of the dog I met first off ... So pleased for the owner who now has hope that she will be able to have a calmer relaxed dog

This is Defor a dog that I have been working with for a few months now - He is incredibly reactive to well most things.. people in particular. However ttoday I was able to stroke him and he even layed down on his side and let me rub his belly ... This was AMAZING!! .. it has taken time and patience to get to this point but we have gone at his pace and allowed him to build his confidence.. These small moments are what make this job so worthwhile...Well Done Defor

Meet Rocky and Beautiful 3 legged rescue dog from Cyprus - Rocky is with us for socialisation as he is fearful of so many things after his treatment in Cyprus. His first day went better than we could have hoped for - but we must remain focussed on a slow and steady integration to ensure we keep Rocky BELOW THRESHOLD and work at his pace - all too often owners go at their pace and ignore ho the dog feels - Well done Rocky !!

This is Flo a lovely Standard Poodle rescued via the Dogs Trust. Flo is often over excited which places her at or over threshold and then her ability to self control deminishes, so we did some re setting exercises and desensitisation when around dogs to maintain a below threshold position - this allows closer meetings and a less stressful walk for Flo and her owners - 1st session was exceptional. It is vitally important for all dogs to remain below threshold (play can soon become aggression if levels are not checked and reset). Owners should note there own dogs levels and manage accordingly.

This is Summer an adorable 5 month old Rough Collie - Summer was presenting some unwated behaviours, while some of these behaviours were puppy traits if left un checked to a correct level, they could become a big problem later when she is older, bigger and stronger - behaviours were yapping for attention, jumping on you when sat, muzzle nudging and mouthing she also would bite the lead on walks. Summer did really well on her first session and even managed to learn a door control protocol. I was able to assess and identify that the antecedent triggers all stemmed from increased arousal so if summer was calm the behavious did not happen but increase her arousal then the behaviours started - so the treatment is really to keep her calm and spot all the moments that she may trigger i.e. just about to jump, moves to mouth etc and then we interupt and give her an instruction then move on - there is a lot of repetition required to build the teaching.

This is Beau a very lovely 5 year old Dalmation, He was presenting Leash Reactivity and has had an aggressive episode, also following the consult we found that he just never settled - after watching him for some time he just paced around the room for person to person looking for attention but never settled - his eyes were almost permanently dialated which would indicate a highly aroused dog (we know that Arousal and Agression are on the same pathway). We carried out a number of exercises including not allowing Beau to be a space invader and after around 30 minutes we managed to get him to lay down - which got him lots of low energy praise and chicken - this is to say we like that!! we could not do this to excitedly as Beau would just react to that and become aroused so very gentle praise. We used calming methods at the introduction of the lead and leaving the house along with stop start protocols with other dogs so we could reset him along with loose lead 3 second greets. The owners task is to maintain space and ensure calmness at all times and only give Beau affection when he is in a calm state so he learns that this is the state we require. I cant wait to see him again and I am sure I will see a different dog on my return.

Meet Jarvis an 18 Month old Springador - Jarvis is a lovely playful dog who unfortunately suffers from Reactivity to a lot of stimuli including People, cars, bikes, vans, lights etc.Jarvis gets aroused very quickly and reaches threshold in an instant so timing of distance exposure is crucial. We use LIMA principles to help Jarvis - this is where we start on the area that causes the least reaction and use distan ce to help him cope and gradually close the distance and always associate the approach of the stimuli to a positive result. Once this is done we will move onto the next stimuli but go back to the large distance and repeat for each and every stimuli. Because of his speed of reaction we have to be careful of trigger stacking and give Jarvis time to recover as adrenalin can remain in a dog for up to 5 days - so he could easily have a big reaction a couple of days later.... so calmness and short training sessions are required. Really looking forward to seeing him progress.

Mret Bella a 2 & 1/2 year old Beagle, Boxer X - Bella was presenting Leash Reactivity and nervousness around visitors. Bella was superb and after 20 minutes of relationship building she was very responsive. The session with the stooge dogs went so well I decided to really up the ante and bring her straight round to meet my own dog Rebel and see how she was - She was amazing!! and met calmly/happily and offered a play bow and went on to meet another couple of dogs during that session - Well done Bella!

Bonnie, an American Spitz dog had unfortunately Bitten someone - These cases can be really difficult as owners and victims alike are really upset and of course from a human point of view it is massively upsetting. In these cases I have to strip out the emotion and and look at it from the dogs point of view as often they have bitten out of fear and have given signals (that as humans we miss) to say go away and leave me alone and these signals are ignored and the victim obviously never meant to upset or stress the dog but the dog doesnt understand and reacts instinctually and once thay have given the behaviour that increases the distance they are back to a "normal" dog and would be more that happy to go back to the person or thing they bit and be calm around it. Dogs are animals and will act in an animal way its just sometimes as humans we do not spot or understand the body language/distance increasing signals that a dog gives and these upestting but unfortunate events happen. Often we look at it from the wrong point of view in that we should look to how we protect the dog from humans/children etc as they can feel uncomfortable and in that situation if the dog feels that it cannot get away (a hug may give a dog that feeling) it is given no option but to bite!!!

This is Loki an 18 month Springer - Loki is a very excitable boy - we had a great first session working on calming him down and desensitising him to the collar, lead, front door. The idea is to remove the link of the walk to these objects and therefore lowering Loki's state before we leave and reduce the trigger stacking effects when we actually get out of the house. We also worked on his leash reactivity to other dogs which went really well with the calmer Loki. We introduced Loki to some mental stimulation games to help tire him out - this can be done before a walk to remove some of his energy.

Meet Louie a lovely Cocker Spaniel who is very excitable and suffers with Leash reactivity - on our first session we got Louie to meet our Stooge dogs - his first reaction was at about 50 yards so we increased the distance and when he looked at the dog and looked back at us we rewarded him and then moved closer step by step, repeating the process (if he reacted then increase distance calm him down and let him look at the dog again and look away and then move closer). We managed to get Louie all the way to dog which was brilliant. The next session is a socialisation with my own Rebel to see how he gets on with a real dog. Looking forward to it :)

This is Gem a Collie who lives with Two others Bella and Taz, Her and Bella have been warring - I have just received this update - Hi Jon....wanted to give you an update as it's been a while since you visited. Gem and Bella had one more scuffle following your visit but we stuck to the advice of removing ourselves if it was safe to do so and it stopped within seconds. We thought about the discussion we had about leaving them alone together and after a week of no fighting decided to leave them together overnight so we could still intervene if needed. Pleased to say that went well so after a week of being alone with us upstairs we tried our first short trip out leaving them in the kitchen. Again that seemed to go ok. Now Gem will not leave Bella alone...but not in a negative way, they play together constantly until the fun police (Taz) breaks them up!! We've still got issues to work on with Gem which we'll get in touch about in the new year but as far as my two dualling bitches goes...we've cracked it smile emoticon

Meet Jessica a 5year old Border Terrier - who is leash reactive; mainly to other dogs. She is very exciteable and this excitement leads to hyper-vigilance and then reactivity - Our first session went superbly well - we worked on removing the excitement so a process of desensitisation to the collar, the lead, the kitchen door, the garden gate and finally the driveway gate. This process ensures that we leave the house with a calm dog which means she remains under threshold and less reactive. We must reward initally for all positve steps forward if we see reactivity creeping in then we go back a few steps or even back inside. Great fist session Jessica well done.

Meet Alfie, 7 month old Papillon, Alfie may be partially deaf so training with eye contact is crucial, he becomes excited & scared when visitors arrive so we have to desensitise him to the arrival of visitors and guest so it becomes a "boring" event we do thsi by creating distance between Alfie and the triggers and slowly bring him closer (this can take weeeks and months). We reward with praise/food/play if he remains calm and then remove him and slowly decrease the distance of the stimuli (visitor). Some dogs take time meeting new people just like humans - so we should not force them to! Understand and respect the dog body language signals.

This is Milly & Jazz, Our latest case is Jazz the Black Labrador who has some reactivity issues when seeing other dogs while on the lead (a problem that is very common). This is generally caused by a culmination of of initial excitement about going on a walk followed by more excitement at seeing another dog then to frustration as they cannot get there as the lead restricts (the dog is now in a state that we call above threshold) - the next stage is fear as they feel they cannot get away - this normally results in a barking spinning dog that looks aggressive but is just reacting to the every increasing anxiety. We used the CARE protocol and using toy dogs were able to get Jazz close to them and when she started to show mild signs we would stop and even move back to allow her to calm right down and reset - we would gradually get closer until we could walk past with no reaction (Time from Jazz initially seeing the dog to walking past calmly was around 20 minutes - Note it can take much longer in some cases even up to months - do not go too quickly!!). Jazz was an amazing student and I am sure that the owners will crack this is they follow the principals shown.

This is Oscar a beautiful 1 year old New Foundland - no real behavoural issues just a lot of excitement to contain in a very strong dog - so we did some desensitisation work to help get him calmer prior to meeting people and dogs.

This is Bob a 6 year old Shar Pei who has recently started showing signs of nervous aggression in the family home. On my visit Bob performed brilliantly - he did show signs of anxiety when we pretended to leave. There had been some small changes to the household in recent months - never underestimate how much small changes can affect your dog (if you wish to test this - take the dog out of a room and move the furniture around and what happens, yes some dogs take it in their stride but for some it can be disorientating). We gave the family some routines to ensure that Bob remains below threshold and reward him heavily when he behaves in an appropriate manner - All incompatible behaviour is met with his removal (if not safe to remove him - i.e. the stress signals are present - we remove ourselves and ignore him until he has calmed and can be praised).

This is Duncan - a Vet referal he had bitten his owner on the lip and hand which resulted in trip to the hospital. Duncan turned out to be a great dog and it became clear that this situation had been caused out ou fear not because his owners we being horrible they unfortunately just missed a signal so they approached him when he was anxious in an attempt to reassure him but they boxed him in and made him feel trapped so he could not get away! - any dog in this situation will bite!! We went through all the Dog Body language signals and warning signs and we were able to show how to deal with them. Again the owners were amazed at how quickly Duncan came round to me. Another case I am looking forward to seeing the progress on.

This is Ella a Collie/German Shepherd X that does not like Men or visitors - luckily she took to me very quickly following some calming dog body language signals like turning around and lowering myself - it took about 30 seconds and she was taking treats and instruction - she even aloowed me to entre the owners bedroom - this really amazed her owners but showed them clearly how with the right knowledge they can ensure Ella becomes the pet the want. I am really looking forward to seeing the progress here as Ella is a really clever dog.

Say Hello to Molly a female American Bulldog who has been rescued by a loving family however Molly has a number of issues that are being addressed - Exciteability is creating some behavioural issues - so restructuring the relationship will help reduce the excitement and ensure that they are giving leadership for the wrong behaviours. The key message is to reward all the behaviours you like and to ignore the wrong behviours - if this continues then using negative punishment (removal of something positive from the dog) provide a consequence i remove the dog or remove yourself or the toy or treats etc.....NEVER EVER use positive punishment (introduction of something unpleasant).

Our latest case saw us meet Alfie a 4 year old Australian Labradoodle with a reactivity to other dogs  (he also has a partner Dylan who is 1 year old). What a great first session we took Alfie onto the local park and used desensitisation to get him close to pack without reacting and then he went in and met the dogs WOW. We then walked down a canal path to create limited space and were able to spot the early triggers (like ears moving forward and going to the end of the lead) and bring him back to normality - he walked passed and then waited while other dogs came close and then met nicely - A super effort by the owners - Well Done

Meet Dolly a lovely Carpathian X - who unfortunately barks alot at anything passing by, the neighbour, the post, even attacks the Graze Boxes that are delivered on a regular basis - we did some great work on our first session and we got Dolly to calm down  quickly and reduce the barking to just 2/3 times - we worked on the graze box deliver by making use of an old box and kept posting it through the door to teach her to leave it (desensitising her to its arrival) - the really good news is that I got a message from the owner a few days later to say Dollie is now leaving them alone :) - great stuff - remember it is progress over time and we need to keep re-inforcing the correct behaviour.

Meet Buster a 9 month old Husky - Jack Russell X, (Alfie is a 9 Month old Staff) - We had a great first session working with Buster to teach him not to jump up, How to wait when guest arrive, how to not charge the gate and to start work on his seperation anxiety and to introdue the Halti head collar so it is a pleasant experience and one he enjoys - we also showed how to calm things down (Excitement is not a great state for dogs to be in - although we love it!!). The basis of this is to reward the behaviour we want and to ignore the unwanted, we only stroke him slowly to avoid working him up, if he gets excited at the lead just drop it on the floor and sit down - do not leave the house with an excited dog. Gate work requires patience and teaching a strong stay so we worked on that to create 3 good paces of distance (this grows over time). Really looking forward to our next sessions and seeing the improvements!!

Meet Milly, a stunning Staffordshire Bull Terrier rescued by a very caring family - I was called due to my expertise with Rescue Dogs and Bully type breeds. When I met Milly she was such a sweet loving little girl I wondered what the issues were as the owners were doing a great job - the main issue was that they also had 5 cats and on the first couple of days had showed signs of fixation on the cats - on my visit some 3 days later we had her in the garden within a foot of the cats with no reaction only when the cats ran did her chase instinct trigger, we continued the desensitisation work inside and that went really well. Vigilance is the key along with patience and constant rewarding (in the short term) when she behaves as desired in the presence of the cats - over time we will reduce the treating and have longer distances from ignoring the cat and rewarding - Well Done

This is Ripley & Roxy two adorable Labrador's Ripley's behaviour was giving the owner some cause forconcern. Ripley is a nervous/anxious dog and can be dog reactive through fear but he is generally a submissive dog which leads to urination when he becomes fearful or over-excited. We discussed entry routines for guests to help keep the excitment down. We also did a door exercise as Ripley would bolt out of the door if left open we managed to get him sat waiting while I looked in through the window with the door wide open - Great job Ripley - The owners are committed to the programme so I fully expect to see a much improved Ripley when I return.

This is Chase a 2 year old Labrador - he is a nervous/anxious dog and sometimes snaps in fear - this behaviour hides a really sweet natured dog. We started working with him a few weeks ago and we are already seeing improvements. We are pleased to have him staying in the dog hotel for a week and hope to continue seeing the improvements. This requires calm, patient leadership and taking steps slowly to help Chase not be so stressed.

Meet Bella - A nervous/exciteable Husky/Staffy Cross - She has developed a tendency to snap at peoples hands if they go to stroke her and is aggressive towards other dogs (generally on lead). She also displays food aggression and resource guards - although is happy to play with toys and let them go. On the whole Bella is a nervous dog and is sensitive to tensions around - I spent two hours with Bella and in that time she went from being fearful to allowing me tom stroke her and even coming in for a real close snuggle. The key here is to let here go at her pace so she becomes comfortable - This is one of those cases that proves positive reward based training the most effective.

This is Django a Doberman that has a real special place in my heart - very playful which can lead to problems with some dogs but he really has a good nature - we are trying to work on keeping him calm and in particular play sessions - Django can be a little lead reactive; however this is common in Adolescent Males. Love Him. Django's play sessions with Missy often get a little too rough so we have had to reduce that down - he has taken to playing tug of war with his owners clothes but they are working superbly well on redircting he to a stick/toy - Great Progress here.

This is the adorable Princess, who had some barking and aggression issues to people approaching the house, she was an incredibly quick learner who within 30 minutes had learnt to wait in "her" spot when the door bell rang. Intellectual games kept Princess occupied and tired her out.

Canine Assist have a real soft spot for Rottweilers - and on this case we met Lexie an adorable 16 week old female Rottie Pup - Lexie was exhibiting alot of excitement (General Puppy Behaviour) but we gave the owners some tips on how to control the situation and keep her calm - We are all excited because Lexie will be coming to stay with us in a few weeks at our Dog Hotel --- they may not get her back :)

This is Riley - he is staying with us for three weeks making use of our dog camp, Riley has settled in really well and if you follow us on Twitter you can watch some of the videos of them playing together.....   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrUaDjL0NmI