Perhaps my voyage into the dog training world was a little different to most. I never grew up around dogs, was never close to dogs, never experienced that magical close emotional bond that can occur between human and dog. In fact I experienced the complete opposite!  

After countless incidents around a certain dog as I approached teenager hood an intense fear of dogs slowly built up inside, resulting in an acute phobia for many years. During those years I tried various strategies to overcome my phobia. I read many dog training books, watched dog training shows, enrolled and passed various courses with distinction, for example, in NLP, CBT, EFT, Acupressure, Human Psychology to no avail whatsoever. 

Then in 2004 I was shown something where within 20 seconds I felt something switch inside me. That immediate switch resulted in five and a half years of intense study into canine behaviour and body language. Countless books written by many authors were digested, hundreds if not thousands of articles were read online, many academic pieces. Courses in dog behaviour were completed with distinction, various seminars on dog behaviour and body language were attended. I visited a captive wolf sanctuary where I would study the wolves behaviour and walk with them. Equally I studied the history of dog training, learning all the various techniques. I desperately learned everything I could about the behaviour and body language of dogs as I never wanted to be afraid of them again. 

The next step was to put into practice the theory I had learned, what I suspected the truth to be and signed up to volunteer at a dog rescue centre. There I could try different methods and watch and learn how the dogs responded. Equally I could watch and observe how others were interacting with the dogs and how the dogs in turn reacted. I ended up volunteering for around seven years at three different rescue centres. At all three rescue centres I very quickly progressed through the ranks to work with the most problematic dogs where very few others did, including professionally certified professionals. Dogs with intense fear, anxiety, frustration, excitement, obsession etc. I’m not going to say aggression as aggression is an outcome of one or more of the aforementioned emotions. I learnt so much from those rescue centres and am truly grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to observe, study and learn. The dogs taught me many things but perhaps the most important lesson learnt wasn’t from the dogs!

Going back to the beginning of this page, the vast majority of dog trainers, behaviourists, consultants choose this career as they have always been around dogs, they love being around dogs, they are emotionally connected to the dogs. I wasn’t, it was the opposite for me. I had to learn everything I could possibly learn about dog behaviour, body language and interaction. If I got it wrong then the phobia would have likely returned and I would have spent the rest of my life terrified. That never happened. Whatever state of mind was in front of me, I gained the trust and respect of 99% of the dogs I worked with.  

Many of my clients over the years have commented that it can’t be that easy when they see the dog change before their eyes. It truly can if you can change. Now let me teach you!

I’m very excited to announce I have a book coming out soon detailing the origin of my fear, how it affected me and how I overcame it, including what happens biologically within our brains when we feel that way. Plus there is so much information about dogs themselves, puppies, rescue dogs and includes many tips. Please keep revisiting my site as I believe you will learn so much from my book both about dogs and yourself.

Contact me now on 07950253669 or info@happydogservices.co.uk

Surrey Hampshire Dog Behaviour Consultant

1 to 1 Training for You and You and your dog

Patience and consistency whilst being calm and confident

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