My Philosophy

Dog behaviourist or dog trainer? Confused about what you need?

 

Many people often ask me what the difference is between the two. The way I see it, a behaviourist is someone who looks to understand the reasoning behind a dog's responses and actions through observation and interaction. Using this knowledge the behaviour can be altered by us changing how we are and giving the dog a new option.

 

I work with both people and dogs to help the dog understand it has a choice and to choose the right one!

 

Behaviourist work is usually centred around reducing/removing unwanted actions from the dog, by understanding the root cause of the problem. By indentifying this cause it is possible to change his/her need to make the wrong choices! I completely promote the philosophy that prevention is better than cure!!

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A trainer is someone who doesn't necessarily look to the past of the dog, or try to understand the dog's history. A trainer is usually there to teach the dog new behaviour's and actions, not to remove old ones! 

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Many professionals are one or the other. I believe the best approach is to be a combination of the two. If I can observe and interact with your dog and understand why it is behaving in such a way, I can help alter these responses. In addition I can assist owners in understanding how to then train new, desirable actions successfully because we have a good understanding of the dog.

 

I believe the two go hand in hand and pride myself on my unique combining of the two professions. 

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For me the key is in communication. Many of our dogs' "issues" have been learnt through poor communication with their human friends. This is no-ones fault, but merely a lack of understanding on our part. A huge part of my work with you and your dogs will be around teaching you how to effectivelly communicate with each other.

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