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 Benji was a Beagle, who was just 6 months old when he came to us for residential training. His main problems were jumping up, lead walking and the recall. Benji tended to put his nose to the ground and that was that. The recall was pretty much non existent and if he came back, it was when Benji was ready.
He
was taught to recall by focusing him on his reward, rather that nagging him to
return. Again, with consistent training Benji soon decided that it was better to
come back for a treat, rather than continuing his own sniffing game. As his
owners had a few acres of ground and he could have been a good distance from
them, we trained him to respond to a whistle. This means that they can now get
Benji to join them, even if they cannot initially see him. |
 Minky was a 2yr old Lab/Mastiff cross. She came to us for training as her owners could not get her to walk on the lead. She also had "selective hearing" whenever they called her to them and she was not too friendly towards other dogs either. We
gave
Minky a few days to settle into the kennels and got used to us, and then her
training began. As always training
starts with either teaching or
reinforcing the basic commands, such as sit, wait and food manners. Minky was
quite a stubborn dog and would rather plod round the field, having a good sniff,
than responding to a recall command. Through consistency and repetition, and a lot of patience, Minky started to enjoy the recall, knowing that she would get a reward if she listened and responded. Once the recall was in
place Ron concentrated on the lead work. This didn’t take very long and Minky was
becoming a more responsive dog all round. She
was walking nicely, on and off lead, and coming back when called. The next step was to
introduce some other dogs. By using the remote ’Masterplus Collar’ Minky soon
learnt that she did not need to make an enemy of other dogs and was soon
accepting them and would walk off lead past them, whilst they were playing. Minky's owners have also been given training and are aware that they must continue with the training program, to ensure that Minky does not slip back into her old ways. They are very happy with the progress and results and are doing everything they were shown and Minky is responding very well. It is often the case that the owners lack
the confidence in certain situations. Once the dog's behaviour has been changed,
the owners will grow in confidence. Where they would shy away from the problems
before, they are now confident enough to face the situations. |
 Bruno was a Rottweiller who came to us with similar problems to Minky Moo. Bruno was also mouthing, which needed to be stopped. Training was similar to Minky and again good results were achieved with Bruno. He
is now a more enjoyable dog to live with. |
  Sass
was an exuberant chocolate Labrador puppy, who just needed to learn some manners,
and to understand that lying down was not the answer to anything that Sass chose
not to do! Sass was a beautiful puppy, whom we enjoyed training each day. We have had a few younger puppies in for training and it helps them to learn the basics. It may be that you just don’t have the time yourself or you want to ensure that the correct basic information is taught from the start. Sometimes bad habits may have already crept in and these need rectifying. It also helps puppies to socialise and helps to avoid separation anxiety problems. All the puppies that have been to us for training are all doing really well. |
 Lizzy was a very excitable young puppy who would jump up for attention all the time. It's easy to understand how these problems are allowed to creep in. Once that dog looks at you with those big eyes you tend to want to give in and this allows the unwanted behaviour to develop. The problem is that before you know it the problems get out of hand and then you cannot correct the mistakes that you have allowed. Unfortunately, dogs know how to manipulate you just enough to get their own way! Remember
that you are the one that is setting the boundaries so it is your responsibility
to uphold the rules you make for your household.
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 Well, Max was the first dog that Ron thought was going to get the better of him. Max was a rescued Springer Spaniel and his past was not the most pleasant. He didn’t like strangers or new situations. His owners had problems touching his feet and his ears. Max
spent the first week hating all of us. He was very aggressive to
everyone and continually showed us how white his teeth were! Ron
decided it was kill or cure with Max. As Max was not able to deal with
confrontation Ron took a chair and just sat in Max's kennel ignoring him. After
a day or two of Ron sitting with treats in his hand Max decided to get brave. He
approached Ron and gradually relaxed. About an hour or so later Ron appeared
outside with Max on his lead. This was a big breakthrough and very
rewarding. Max
still has the odd setback, but he is much better now and comes in to the kennels
for his grooming. There are times when he thinks that he is in charge and growls
at us, whilst grooming him. However, if we don't give in, he does. Sometimes
dogs may never totally be cured of some unwanted behaviour but they will usually
need strong confident owners to help them. They become much more enjoyable dogs
to live with and to take out if we can help to overcome their fears. |
 Suzie and Freddy were Westie puppies, from the same litter. It is always more difficult f  or to train puppies when you have two from the same litter as they
tend to bond and compete for things, such as who can eat the quickest, pull on
the lead to be in front, and not listen on the recall because they are having so
much fun together. We did lots of basic training with these pups, both individually and together. We also decided to use indoor cages for bedtime as they were not toilet trained and this was causing the owner a real headache.
It
is usually easier when training the younger dogs but when they come as a pair,
it is a lot more difficult. I would not recommend taking two puppies from the
same litter as they generally compete and listen to each other rather than the
owners. |
 Max, although a lovable, gentle dog would be manic over food. He also pulled on the lead, made worse by his searching for food at the same time. He did not like to meet other dogs on his walks and he would bare his teeth and raise his hackles. He
was a nightmare when food was around or being prepared. He had also made himself
very ill from eating horse poo, as he got an infection from it. He was
obsessed with the orchard full of apples and it was a real problem for his owner
to pick up the apples, before Max would eat the lot! Todd
was not as bad, but would not stay in one place and only walked to heel if he
felt like it. With
both the dogs, the training was undertaken both individually and together. Basic
commands were taught and before long they were both walking around the field,
off lead, staying close to Ron's side. He introduced other dogs and they were
fine, because they listened to Ron's guidance. Over
the next few weeks, with food used as the reward, Ron taught the dogs that they
were only to eat what was actually given to them. Both dogs would ignore treats
and food left on the ground and would only eat on command. They also ignored
apples that were left on the ground. Again,
through regular consistent training these dogs were de-sensitised to their
’hang ups’ and this has made life so much easier for their owner, who was
delighted with the results. Upon
collection of all the residential dogs, following their training, Ron will spend
time going over the methods and showing the owners what has been achieved.
It is important that they understand the training program so that they
can continue with confidence. Every owner has been very happy with the results
from the residential training. We will, hopefully, be able to add their comments
to the website shortly. |
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Jumping
up was the first thing that needed tackling in Lizzy's case. Through the same
message being given every time the jumping up was stopped. 
Within
a week of the new routine both dogs were clean through the night. There was the
odd accident in the day, but they were so much better. We also managed to get
them to come back on command and sit, rather than go into a frenzied attack of
each other. 