Meet My Dogs Who Started My Dog Behaviourist Journey

Tiny was a Heinz 57 and I had him when I was 6 years old, he should have been called Houdini as any opportunity he would escape and disappear for days before returning as if nothing was wrong, I never did find out where he went.

Rhos was a Labrador that came from a farm in Wales, he was a strong brute of a dog, but all he needed to calm him down was mental stimulation and plenty of exercise. 

Major was a rescued German Shepherd with some major behavioural issues, his original owners had given up on him and I rose to the challenge, I suppose he was the start of my dog training and behavioural management journey. Once I had gained his trust, he was an amazingly intelligent dog, very quick to learn new tricks such as collecting the mail and carrying things upstairs for me.

Jasper was our first Border Collie, again a farm reared dog, with many reactive issues to address he wasn’t comfortable with visitors or people. My husband and I wanted a Collie with all the working traits but not as hard wired as a pedigree dog. It was hard work but fun to turn this ‘monster’ into probably the gentlest dog we’ve ever owned.

Bryn is our current Border Collie, his training started with an eight hour drive from his breeder in Cornwall to Redcar. We joined dog classes, taught him good manners, took him everywhere determined he would be an integral part of our life. Bryn’s training was going so well we went on to do agility, but at two years old he was diagnosed with chronic arthritis which our vet said would significantly shorten his life. Once again, I was set a challenge to give this wonderful dog a full, happy and pain free life. Bryn is now eight years old, he is doing great with minimal pain relief and the vet is quite impressed at how well he’s doing…

I hope you enjoyed this article. Please let me know about your dogs in the comments below.