My partner's desire for a German Shepherds is key to me becoming a dog trainer and behaviourist, and the reason I took the path I did and now run my own business. The dog he chose was Gem. She is the foundation bitch to my Elsonway GSDs; and the Great Great Grandmother of my youngest dog; Evie.

When we lived in an idyllic Oxfordshire village Gem had a little Norfolk Terrier friend.  Down in the local pub Gem use to lie down with her little mate, as that's only fair when it's 40kg versus 7kg, and they would play bite your paws off!  It was so funny and people always commented how cute it was.

Then I decided to breed my first litter and I kept her once mated, as I was told to by the stud dog's owner, hidden away.  And then continued to keeping her in all the way through to the pups leaving to their new homes.

Unfortunately, when Gem came back out into the doggy community many months later whilst out with my then partner, she met her old doggy friend and promptly attacked her! Yep that's what I said "Attacked her!"; with nasty little bites everywhere.

It was horrid feeling.  We were confused, upset, embarrassed, shocked.  Plus we now had a vet bill to pay and people we knew very well had to be apologised to. And of course the trust we had with her was broken. She went from being the apple of our eye to a problem dog; in a matter of minutes. We couldn't understand it.  And I knew all about dogs!  As a child it had been my job with every new dog or pup to teach all the basics; including "give a paw" and "let me take your bone!".

But they say every cloud has a silver lining and this one certainly does. That Christmas my then partner bought me a copy of Ian Dunbar's book 'Dog Behaviour'.  It was one of the earliest attempts at a new generation of modern dog trainers to move away from just thinking dominance and to actually examine in a scientific way how dogs think and how this creates behaviours?  Now, I thought I knew dogs but as soon as I started reading this I realised I didn't.

This book opened my eyes to the world of dog behaviour and I was hooked. It took me on a number of other bizarre journeys, which I will keep for another day, and which involves the other dogs in the picture. But it started me finding out why dogs are driven to do the things they do.

Gem was the catalyst for me learning about dogs but she was also the catalyst for me learning to help owners who are in a similar position. I love dog training but obviously reactive dog work holds a special place in my heart.

Fortunately for my clients I then started a new journey of discovery of how dogs think!

Also fortunately I love human psychology and luckily for my clients I love teaching people.  No matter how tired I am or cheesed off I might be as soon as I get into a training environment that all just falls away.

So if you have a reactive dog join our rehabilitation programme. With over ten years experience, and lots of success and knowing how you feel makes us the perfect retrainer for you.  

Actually if you have a non-reactive dog join our K-Nine Essentials programme.  You'll love teaching you how to train your dog!