It would be great if owning a dog came with a manual to highlight all the possible things that can go wrong and how to put them right in our relationship with our dogs.

When we have got the adopted four legged addition to the family home we are often in for some surprises.

Dogs have a behavioural repertoire all of their own which is often incompatible with our expectations.

Dogs bite, fight, hunt, guard, bark, toilet, dig and chew.

This is the nature of the dog.

When these behaviours arise the dog is not being naughty he is just being a dog.

Problems frequently arise between us and our dogs because untrained many of these behaviours will surface at an inappropriate time, under the wrong circumstances in the wrong place.

In short we do not want our dog to toilet on the carpet, chew our Gucci shoes and antique furniture, bark and howl on the balcony, chase the neighbours’ cat or bite our friends, guests and family.

Training is not about teaching our dog to sit or lie down, stay, or toilet he already knows how to do all these actions. Training is about bridging the communication gap so that we can tell our, dog in a way he can understand, when and where we want him to do these actions and get a reliable response.

It is about effectively communicating to our dog what he is allowed to do as well as where and when so his life is safe and secure in knowing what is required of him.

Training is about developing a happy and satisfying relationship based on mutual trust and respect.

After all he is our best friend isn’t he!

The question is how?

The answer is with positive gentle reward based training methods suitable for all dogs of all ages including very young puppies .This type of training involves rewarding and congratulating our dogs for everything they get right thereby motivating them to reach new goals.

Positive reward based training makes dogs attentive and responsive to their owners.

It is fast and effective and anyone can learn how to do it