Practical Sessions are where we work with the client and dog on a one-to-one basis so that the therapy is tailored to the dog. Proud Of Dog behaviour counsellors call upon a variety of methods to assist clients and their dogs to learn to enjoy life better, together. Our behaviour counsellors work under the premise of 'do no harm' and we will never employ unpleasant and potentially dangerous tools and methods. Please view the Ethics section for more information.
It's important to recognise there is often no quick fix for many of the issues Proud Of Dog works on. People (some other trainers, neighbours, friends and so on) who say they can fix a behaviour issue quickly are often either not telling the truth or will be using punishment-orientated techniques. We encourage pet parents to ask in more detail about exactly what methods are going to be employed on their pet and why, before employing someone or handing their dog over to a neighbour or friend.
Questions to ask anyone before engaging them to work with your dog are - what will happen when my dog gets it right and what will happen when my dog gets it wrong.
Clients should be realistic; whereas some issues are relatively easy to solve, others may require a longer period of time of management and modification. Purely using management is not a failing on pet parent's part. This simply means avoiding situations that cause the reactivity so that the behaviour is no longer practised, whilst new learning can take place in parallel.
For social-based aggression, we do not currently offer classroom-based services where reactive dogs are working alongside other reactive dogs in a small space. Under these situations, it's our experience that it can be more difficult to control the stress levels within the environment, some dogs can feel trapped and under pressure, others can require more time to learn than others, it can sometimes be difficult to give individual guidance to clients, and of course, there is always a chance of a mild to severe setback if dogs are reacting towards each other at close proximity. Our aim is to avoid dogs reacting during their learning process. We see this as a failing on our part and if it does ever occur, we take steps to rectify the situation immediately so the dog can learn more easily. So we like to work with lots of space if the dog needs it, to give the dog more choices and take off the pressure, closing the gap as the dog becomes more confident.
We also respect the dog's need to make choices and to feel empowered to make those choices so we do not focus all our attention on obedience, control-based training. However, we do train impulse control and focus exercises where these are needed.
We work in the client's home, at one of our set up locations, on the street, in the park - all depending on the needs of the dog. Our set up locations in South Hampshire are large indoor training venues and outdoor spaces, where we can honour the dog's natural need for space and relaxation during learning.
We offer single Therapy Session bookings so you can get a feel for how we work with you and your dog, or discounts for multiple bookings.