Your dog is not being difficult.
They are trying to tell you something.
One to one support for families who are struggling with their dog and want to understand them instead. Twenty five years of experience, in your home and online.
Over 25 years with dogs · Five years at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home · Licensed Family Dog Mediator · The only one in the UK with the Total Welfare App · Aylesbury and surrounding area, plus online · Trusted by families in the public eye
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You have tried. It has not stuck.
You did the puppy classes. Then life got busy, and the training quietly slipped down the list.
Or you brought home a rescue you adore, and now they are doing things you do not understand and nobody has explained.
So now you are juggling the dog, the children, the school run and the job, and the dog needs you to have eyes in the back of your head.
The doorbell goes and the house erupts. Your dog jumps all over anyone who walks in. The children cannot have friends round without somebody having to manage the dog. Mealtimes are a fight. If you have two dogs, they wind each other up until nobody can settle. And the evening you were looking forward to turns into another one spent keeping everybody apart.
Outside is no easier. A walk round the park that was meant to include ten minutes of training turns into a fight, and you come home more wound up than when you left.
You have looked online, where every account says the opposite of the last one, and come away more confused than when you started.
And your dog clearly knows what you are asking. They just do not do it when it matters.
None of this means you have failed. It means nobody has shown you what your dog is actually saying.
Most training works on obedience skills, not the behaviour you see driven by your dog’s emotional state.
Barking at the door. Jumping on visitors. Guarding the sofa. Two dogs who cannot be in the same room when they are tired. Pulling, lunging, refusing to come back. These are not faults to be corrected out of a dog. They are the visible end of something that has not been met.
Try to train the behaviour away without dealing with what is underneath, and one of two things happens. It comes back, or it moves somewhere else.
That is why the distraction techniques did not hold. Why the obedience work did not change anything out in the world. Why you can do everything the video said and still be stood in a field with a dog who has stopped hearing you.
It is also why your frustration keeps building, and if you are honest, so does a bit of resentment. Meanwhile your dog is getting more confused and overwhelmed too, and the behaviour gets louder. Walks shrink. Visitors become a problem. The dog ends up shut in the kitchen when anyone comes round.
Nobody wants that. It is just very hard to work out the way through on your own.
There is a reason behind everything your dog does. We start there.
The way I work
I am a licensed Family Dog Mediator. It means I do not start with what your dog is doing wrong. I start with who your dog is.
Three stages, and they run in this order for a reason.
One. Understand the dog you actually have
Not the breed stereotype, not the dog you expected, not somebody else’s dog on social media. Yours. Their learning, their environment, their genetics and who they are as an individual. Four things, and every behaviour you are struggling with sits in one of them.
Two. Find what is being missed
Nutrition. Their physical environment. Health and comfort. How they interact with the world around them. Their mental state. Dogs do not act out for no reason. Something in there is not being met, and until it is, no amount of training will hold.
Three. Take it into real life
We start where your dog is comfortable, usually your own home. If your dog finds visitors hard, we start on Zoom instead so the first session is not the first problem. As their confidence grows we move to a secure field. Then out into the places you actually want to go, at the pace your dog can take.
And because you have access to the Total Welfare App, you can track and see how to meet all their needs and improve their welfare, both at home and out, rather than guessing whether you are moving in the right direction.
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Good Life for a Good Dog
One to one work with the dog you already have. For families who love their dog and want to stop clashing with them.
Meet Your Dog
I find, assess and place the right dog for your family, then stay with you while everyone settles. For families who want to get the decision right first time.
What people say
Jo and Kenny
“Debbie has helped me understand Kenny on a completely different level. I have learned to read his body language and recognise when he is happy, uncertain or uncomfortable. He is calmer, more focused, and genuinely enjoys his walks now.”
Rosie and Max
“Meeting Debbie completely changed my mindset about our Manchester Terrier, Max. He had been through significant trauma, which left him reactive to other dogs. Other trainers took us through distraction techniques and obedience work, but it did not bring much change. Debbie made me stop and understand life through his eyes. I have gone from anxious walking him to calm and confident. I just wish we had met sooner.”
Zeiba, Saoirse and Lumi
“We first met Debbie over nine years ago when we brought home our German Shepherd puppy. The work she has done with both our dog and our family has been nothing short of phenomenal. When we adopted again this year, a tiny Shih Tzu, there was never any question about who to turn to.”
Who this is for
This is for you if
You have a puppy, a rescue or an adolescent and you are out of your depth
There are children in the house and you want everyone safe and happy, not just the dog trained
You have more than one dog, or more than one person involved in their day
You have tried other trainers and the change did not last
You want to understand your dog, not just control them
This is not for you if
You want a quick fix in one session
You want someone to take the dog away and hand them back fixed
You are not willing to change anything about how the household works
Common questions
Do you come to us?
Yes. I work in and around Aylesbury, within about ten miles, and we usually start in your home because that is where your dog is most themselves and where most of your real life happens. If you are a little further out, say so on the call and we will sort it.
Can you work with us online?
Yes. Plenty of the work happens over Zoom, and for some dogs that is the right place to start.
My dog is reactive. Is that too much?
No. A lot of the dogs I work with are reactive, and almost all of them are frightened rather than difficult.
What about the children?
They are part of it. I use the DIAL Method, a 40 minute video and workbook to help your children understand their dog, and to help you navigate the parenting of them living together successfully.
Do you use any aversive methods?
Absolutely not. Everything I do is ethical, science led and welfare led, and entirely force free. If something only works by frightening your dog, it is not working.
How soon can we start?
I take five one to one clients a month, which is what it takes to give each family the support they need. The call tells us both whether there is a space that suits you.
Fifteen minutes, no cost, no pressure.
Tell me what is going on. I will tell you honestly whether I can help, and what I would do about it. If I am not the right person, I will say so and point you somewhere better.
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